Filmmaker Statement

Thank you for watching our film. We hope you enjoy it. We wanted to attach a short accompanying note to expand upon the cultural context of the film. One More Round is firmly rooted in Irish masculinity. Irish men don’t cry (there’s a book titled quite literally that). They are stoic. The majority of Irish men in their 20s have never seen their fathers cry. It would traditionally be taboo for an Irishman to cry in public, even at a funeral. Part of it is the harshness of Irish history. Part of it is inherited trauma. Part of it is related to the British “stiff upper lip” mentality. Of course, Irish men are as emotional as Irish women, but showing it, much less saying it, has never been on the agenda. That’s the social context in which this film is taking place. A need to connect and be vulnerable coming up against a cultural context that does not foster such conversations. Amid these forces, and despite them, our characters attempt to access vulnerability, emotion, and catharsis.