Wilde’s De Profundis, addressed to Lord Alfred Douglas (Bosie), was the only work that the Irish writer completed during his two-year imprisonment in Reading Gaol for ‘gross indecency’. Now, 125 years after Wilde’s death, this new film, produced by the Museum of Literature Ireland (MoLI), revisits this moving and richly layered text – perhaps the most raw and honest version
of Wilde available to us, at times deeply philosophical, at times white with rage, at times heartbreakingly tender.

Alongside images of key locations, passages are read by a host of LGBTQ+ writers, artists and activists. They include Paul D’Alton, Jane Clarke, Naoise Dolan, Seán Hewitt, Adiba Jaigirdar, Sonya Kelly, Bulelani Mfaco, Una Mullally, Sonya Mulligan, Katherine O’Donnell, Declan Toohey, and Tonie Walsh.

Presented by IFI, MoLI & Oscariana: A Wilde Dublin Festival. Produced with the support of Ebow Digital.

Followed by a conversation with writer Katherine O’Donnell and MoLI’s Benedict Schlepper-Connolly, hosted by Margaret Kelleher (UCD).

Notes by Sunniva O’Flyn