Entitled ‘Summer of Sorrow’ it tells the extraordinary untold story of Ireland’s forgotten Famine refugees, the poor and starving immigrants who went to Toronto, Canada seeking a new life but instead found only exploitation and death.
Cllr Martin says “the programme has been commissioned by RTE, History Television Canada and The History Channel and will use drama re-enactments, interviews and filming in present-day Ireland, Canada and the United States to tell the story of the 38,000 sick, weak and desperate famine refugees from Ireland who for six months between May and October of 1847, flooded into Toronto in the hope of survival and a better life.
“Genealogical research will be undertaken in order to trace present-day relatives of those who died, and of the surviving refugees who went on to make major contributions to the history of the United States and Canada.
“There will be three days of filming drama reconstruction in the deserted famine village on Achill Island and there has been casting for extras and actors in Westport. This is just the latest success we have had in attracting filming to Mayo and we have worked very closely with the producers to make it happen.”
According to Producer Rachel Towell ‘Summer of Sorrow’ “takes viewers inside one of the greatest humanitarian crises of the 19th century, a story that reveals the heroes and the villains, the opportunistic and the saintly, the tragedies and triumphs of this extraordinary time.”
Cllr Martin, who also heads up the Westport Film Office of Westport Town Council,has also announced that a major film company are currently scouting locations in suitable villages in south Mayo and that he and officials from Mayo County Council were working closely with the producers to promote Mayo as a location for film making.
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