Pavee Lackeen

Pavee Lackeen tells the story of Winnie, a ten year old Irish Traveller girl, who lives with her mother and siblings in a ramshackle trailer on the side of the road in a desolate industrialized area of Dublin. The film follows Winnie through several weeks of her life as she struggles for her identity as a young Traveller girl in contemporary Ireland. Winnie fills her time wandering through the run-down shops and stalls of Dublin’s inner city, while her mother Rosie struggles to get her family housed by the local council. Pavee Lackeen presents an unflinching portrait of a marginalized community often living in Third World poverty in a modern, prosperous Ireland. The Travelling people of Ireland maintain a culture and language which sets them apart from the rest of the population, and have been the victims of much misunderstanding and prejudice that continues to this day. Shattering existing stereotypes, Pavee Lackeen presents an intimate portrait of a resilient and spirited young girl and her proud, dignified family struggling day by day against faceless bureaucracy, poverty and prejudice.