Dream Kitchen

Synopsis: Fiction short. An allegory on ‘coming out’ set in working-class Dublin. A son comes home to his family to find his father repairing the car, and his mother in the kitchen cooking as usual. As he watches his mother doing the dishes, he imagines how things could have been different and dreams up a luxurious kitchen as a way of telling his parents the good news that he is gay. In his ideal kitchen his language becomes that of the ideal family; he remembers the Shakespeare he has seen on television and everyone now speaks pseudo-Shakespearean, his father saying’I am not deserving of such good fortune. A son of mine, gay?'.
Language: English
Country: Ireland
Medium: Film
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Year of release: 1999
Duration: 9 mins

Director

Barry Dignam

Producer

Barry Dignam; Conor McKiernan; Katherina Fay

Cinematographer

David O’Sullivan

Screenplay

Barry Dignam

Cast

Production type: Fiction Films
Subjects: Literature
Keywords: homosexuality; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616); Gay and lesbian interpretations

General: From a short play by Kevin McCarthy.
Awards: Nominated for a Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 2000 for Best Short Film. Won Audience Award for Best Short Film at the New York Independent Film & Video Festival (2001, Spring).
Reviews: Film West no. 38, October 1999.

British Universities Film & Video Council