James Joyce's The Sisters

Director Statement

Sometimes, when you start a project, you can't imagine the journey that awaits you.

I first read Joyce's The Dead as part of a British Literature course in my last year of undergrad, and quickly fell in love with his prose and capacity to write complex characters trapped by nature and circumstance. Within days of being introduced to Joyce, I had read through all of his short story collection Dubliners, twice. It is from this book that The Sisters appears. It tells the story of a young boy who is forced to confront death for the first time, after his friend and mentor dies.

When I started writing the script for this adaptation, I was in my first semester of Graduate School, and originally planned on directing the short as one of my first films. It soon became apparent that the film was going to be much more ambitious than I had intended.

A period drama, set in early 1900's Ireland, The Sisters tells a coming of age story about the intertwining lives of a young boy and his mentor, a local parish priest. As each is confronted with questions of faith, loss and doubt, their lives are changed by an event that will connect them forever.