Paul Mescal has joined the Co Kildare-filmed short Mary Is Missing as an executive producer, with the makers of the psychological thriller and its ensemble of intellectually disabled actors hoping to be among the nominees for Best Live-Action Short Film at next year’s Oscars.
Directed by Aisling Byrne, co-written by Byrne and Caitríona Daly, and produced by Killian Coyle for Run of the Mill and Arcade Film, Mary Is Missing was “created through a collaborative writers’ room with learning-disabled artists”.
Thirteen of the award-winning film’s 19 cast members have intellectual disabilities.
As an Oscar-qualifying short film, Mary Is Missing is in contention to be among the 15 titles that will be included on the shortlist for Best Live-Action Short Film, which will be announced on Tuesday, 15 December.
The final five nominees for the Oscars category will be announced on Thursday, 21 January 2027.
“There are films that remind you just how exciting cinema can be when it opens itself up to new voices,” said Mescal.
“For me, Mary Is Missing is one of those films. It’s bold, surprising, and unlike anything else I’ve seen, and what stayed with me most when I first saw it was the collaborative spirit behind it.
“The film has been shaped through the imagination and lived experience of artists with intellectual disabilities, and that originality is there in every frame.
“Knowing it was created in Maynooth, where I grew up, makes it feel especially close to home.”
The cast of Mary Is Missing is led by Mark Smith alongside Derek McSweeney, Eoghan Ashe, Ella-Jane Moore, Jackie O’Hagan, John Egan, Keith Foley, Maurice Coll, Neil Coffey, Teresa Flood, Wesley Fairbrother, Lucy Smith, and Conor Begley.
The film also stars Lloyd Cooney, Lauren Larkin, Craig Connolly, Danny O’Connor, Clare Monnelly, and Kamilla Fenger.
“When care worker Mary vanishes without a trace from the Yellow Tree Day Service, Garda Foley arrives to investigate,” says the synopsis.
“The attendees, who were among the last people to see Mary, become key witnesses, but their accounts quickly begin to contradict one another.
“As their stories become increasingly confounding and fantastical, Foley must determine not only whether the witnesses are telling the truth – if not, why not?
“Are they protecting Mary, protecting themselves, or is the truth something far more complicated?”