EXCLUSIVE : Juno Films has acquired worldwide rights to Ciarán Cassidy ‘s documentary Housewife of the Year , ahead of its North American premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival. World premiering at CPH:DOX before going on to win Best Irish Feature Documentary at the Galway Film Fleadh, the film will be released in theaters next spring. Housewife of the Year tells the story of Ireland and the state’s treatment of women through the prism of a unique, surreal, live televised competition.
Running from 1969-1995, Calor Housewife of the Year was a primetime televised competition, which pitted housewives from around Ireland to compete for the title of Housewife of the Year and the prize of a luxury gas cooker. In front of a live audience, the contestants were quizzed by host Gay Byrne about how they met their partners, how many children they had and how they managed to remain glamorous, all while cooking live on stage. The film explores the gap between what the audience saw on screen and the reality at home for Irish housewives.
The competition began at a time when women were not allowed to work after they got married and it finished before the arrival of the Celtic Tiger. It was a different Ireland — especially for women — and the doc looks at the story of the competition from the perspective of the only people who can tell it: the contestants. Their stories reflect the gamut of experiences of women in Ireland.
They share their direct experiences of marriage bars, la.