''Secret Child'' is a 2018 British

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

short film directed by Yewweng Ho and is his directing debut. The screenplay, written by Sam Hoare, is based on the memoirs from the book ''Secret Child'' by Gordon Lewis. The film stars Fiona Glascott, Austin Taylor and Aaron McCusker, and tells the story of a single mother and her eight-year-old son meeting her man from her past after nine years. ''Secret Child'' had its world premiere at the Hollyshorts Film Festival in 2018 and was nominated for Best Period Piece, and its London premiere at New Renaissance Film Festival, in which it won Best Debut Film. The film has received over 20 international awards and nominations with generally positive reviews, who praised the performances of Glascott, Taylor and McCusker, Ho's direction and

Darius Shu Darius Shu (born 5 May 1994) is a British cinematographer, film director and producer. He is best known for his work on the films ''His Hands (film), His Hands, Mical'' and ''Secret Child''. His directorial debut short film ''His Hands (film ...

's cinematography of the film.

Plot

At the age of eight, Gordon (played by Austin Taylor) is introduced to a much older man called Bill (played by

Aaron McCusker Aaron McCusker is a Northern Irish actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Jamie Maguire in the Channel 4's television series '' Shameless'' and Jim Hutton, Freddie Mercury's boyfriend, in the 2018 feature film '' Bohemian Rhapsody''. E ...

) by his mother, Cathleen (played by

Fiona Glascott Fiona Glascott (born 22 November 1982) is an Irish actress. She is best known for playing the young Minerva McGonagall in the ''Fantastic Beasts'' franchise, which is a spin-off prequel of the ''Harry Potter'' film series. Early life Glascott ...

Cast

as Cathleen * Austin Taylor as Gordon *

as Bill

Production

In 2017, producer Gordon Lewis and director Yewweng Ho teamed up with cinematographer

to begin principal photography of the film. Fiona Glascott (

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald),

(

Bohemian Rhapsody "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock music, rock band Queen (band), Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, ''A Night at the Opera (Queen album), A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by Queen's lead si ...

, Shameless) and Austin Taylor (

My Cousin Rachel ''My Cousin Rachel'' is a Gothic novel written by English author Daphne du Maurier, published in 1951. Bearing thematic similarities to her earlier and more famous novel ''Rebecca'', it is a mystery-romance, set primarily on a large estate i ...

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

) were cast in the main roles for the film. Lewis is in talks to develop Secret Child into a full-length feature or a television series with his second book ''Secret to Sultan'' coming soon.

Release

''Secret Child'' had its world premiere at the Hollyshorts Film Festival at the Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on August 13, 2018. The film had its London premiere at Close Up Cinema at the New Renaissance Film Festival on August 24, 2018.

Reception

Critical response

Anna Mayers from Close Up Culture praised the film as '...beautiful" and that it was '...brought to life in a sweet yet truthful way'.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official website
*
Secret Child
' on

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

{{Mother and baby homes in Ireland British drama films 2010s English-language films