Housewife of the Year

HOUSEWIFE OF THE YEAR tells the story of Ireland’s treatment of women through the prism of a unique, surreal, live televised competition, that has to be seen to be believed, where a generation of Irish women competed in front of a live audience for the title of ‘Housewife of the Year’. The former contestants share their direct experiences of marriage bars, lack of contraception, Magdalene laundries, financial vulnerability, boredom and shame and of course, of being contestants in the competition. It is a poignant, often hilarious, uplifting story of a resilient generation of women and how they changed a country.

Ciaran Cassidy is an award-winning filmmaker. He is the founder and director of Little Wing Films in Dublin, Ireland – specialising in factual storytelling through cinema, TV and audio formats. His films have premiered at film festivals like Sundance, Telluride, IDFA, SXSW, and Sheffield DocFest and he is the winner of over forty international awards. 

Ciaran is producer and director of a range of projects on the Little Wing slate including‘ STOCKHOLM SYNDROME’, the story of three Swedish bank employees who were the first people ever diagnosed with Stockholm Syndrome but were they misdiagnosed by a police psychiatrist? This feature film is being produced by Little Wing Films in collaboration with Oscar-winning Story Syndicate for Amazon. Award-winning filmmaker Liz Garbus has signed on to direct. 

Ciaran Cassidy’s second theatrical documentary ‘HOUSEWIFE OF THE YEAR’ had its world premiere at CPH:DOX in March 2024. The documentary, funded by Screen Ireland with supportfrom RTÉ, DR, NRK and SVT, tells the story of a unique Irish cultural phenomenon, which forthree decades saw women from around Ireland compete on stage for the title of Housewife of theYear.

In February 2020, his debut documentary feature, JIHAD JANE, received a theatrical release in the UK and Ireland and garnered critical acclaim with four star reviews in the Guardian, Empire, Total Film, Irish Times and Little White Lies. The documentary was produced by Fastnet Films with support from Screen Ireland, BAI, the Netherlands Film Fund, and as well as public broadcasters RTÉ and SVT.

Ciaran wrote the screenplay for THE RACER, which received its world premiere at SXSW in2020. The drama-comedy was directed by Kieron J. Walsh and produced by Blinder Films. The film is supported by Screen Ireland, Film Fund Luxembourg, Eurimages, Screen Flanders, BAI and RTE

In 2017, his short film THE MODERATORS screened at SXSW and Sheffield DocFest. Produced by Field of Vision, the film was an exploration of the murky world of content moderation.

Previously, his short film THE LAST DAYS OF PETER BERGMAN premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and screened at over 50 festivals across the world. It went on to pick up eight international awards including the IFTA for Best Short Film, the Grand Jury Award at Nashville Film Festival, and Melbourne International Film Festival Award and Camden Film Festival for Best Documentary Short Film.

His debut documentary short COLLABORATION HORIZONTALE premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and won an award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Cassidy's background is in audio documentaries, where he has won over twenty international awards including the Prix Europa, Premios Ondas and Third Coast Radio Impact Award. He recently produced and edited WHERE IS GEORGE GIBNEY? a ten-part 2020 podcast series produced by Second Captains's for BBC Sounds. The Observer said it “gripping”, “heart stopping”, the Guardian newspaper called it a “slow burning global hit” and the Irish Times said the series “sets a new benchmark for the genre.” The series has won numerous awards including Justice media awards, UK podcast award, a Banff media award, an Arie and a Webby award.

This year will see the release of a new audio series, which he is producing for BBC Sounds -‘STAKEKNIFE’ - about an IRA enforcer who became a British double agent and is linked to over forty murders.

His documentary THE RUNNERS, which tells the story of a child who escaped from an Irish industrial school won the Prix Europa for Best Radio Documentary in Europe. Other award-winning radio documentaries include THE DIARY OF LEANNE WOLFE and THE BALLAD OF PATRICK FOLEN.