A film which leads with the impression that it’s going to be a tough watch, but which is surprisingly warm throughout. Brendan Canty’s Christy, a young man struggling in the Irish foster care system, is more nuanced and tender that you’d think. The UK premiere is at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2025.
Evicted from his foster home, 17-year-old Christy (Danny Power) temporarily moves in with his brother Shane (Diarmuid Noyes), Shane’s girlfriend Stacey (Emma Willis) and their baby daughter in Cork City. From the start, people in the community remember him as a child and try to help him out, but he pushes them away. Finding suitable accommodation for an almost 18-year-old is taxing the Irish foster care system, and Christy is in danger of becoming involved with a section of his family who seem to have scant regard for the law.
As Christy contemplates his difficult childhood, he comes to realise that he has hidden skills, and that people really do care about him if he lets them in.
That’s not to say that Christy is a film which looks at the world through rose-coloured glasses or with a level of naïvety; the young man has had a tough start to life and some difficult experiences, and the film doesn’t shy away from bringing these up. There are several moments when Christy has decisions to make which will be life-changing, and others where he is just too fuelled by deep-rooted anger at the world to even start to think straight.
But despite this, I’m taken by how well Christy balances the anger and sense of alienation that face not just Christy but many young people in foster care, while still maintaining humour and the warmth of a community that remembers and really cares about others. Despite the deprivation in which people are living, there is plenty of genuine laughter to be had, along with birthday celebrations and people lending a helping hand. It means that the tinge of hope we see is not totally without foundation, and Christy might, just might, find his way in life after all.
The street kids who gather around Christy are a loud, vibrant, sweary bunch – but only up to mischief not evil, and I recommend that you stick around for their closing credits rap sequence – it’s a gas!
Christy has its UK Premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival (14th – 20th August 2025) on 15thAugust 2025.
A film which leads with the impression that it’s going to be a tough watch, but which is surprisingly warm throughout. Brendan Canty’s Christy, a young man struggling in the Irish foster care system, is more nuanced and tender that you’d think. The UK premiere is at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2025.
Evicted from his foster home, 17-year-old Christy (Danny Power) temporarily moves in with his brother Shane (Diarmuid Noyes), Shane’s girlfriend Stacey (Emma Willis) and their baby daughter in Cork City. From the start, people in the community remember him as a child and try to help him out, but he pushes them away. Finding suitable accommodation for an almost 18-year-old is taxing the Irish foster care system, and Christy is in danger of becoming involved with a section of his family who seem to have scant regard for the law.
As Christy contemplates his difficult childhood, he comes to realise that he has hidden skills, and that people really do care about him if he lets them in.
That’s not to say that Christy is a film which looks at the world through rose-coloured glasses or with a level of naïvety; the young man has had a tough start to life and some difficult experiences, and the film doesn’t shy away from bringing these up. There are several moments when Christy has decisions to make which will be life-changing, and others where he is just too fuelled by deep-rooted anger at the world to even start to think straight.
But despite this, I’m taken by how well Christy balances the anger and sense of alienation that face not just Christy but many young people in foster care, while still maintaining humour and the warmth of a community that remembers and really cares about others. Despite the deprivation in which people are living, there is plenty of genuine laughter to be had, along with birthday celebrations and people lending a helping hand. It means that the tinge of hope we see is not totally without foundation, and Christy might, just might, find his way in life after all.
The street kids who gather around Christy are a loud, vibrant, sweary bunch – but only up to mischief not evil, and I recommend that you stick around for their closing credits rap sequence – it’s a gas!
Christy has its UK Premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival (14th – 20th August 2025) on 15thAugust 2025.
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