Aisling Walsh studied Fine Art at the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art
Design and Technology. There was no film course there at that time but
there was a film appreciation society that she joined and through this
she developed an interest in filmmaking and started making her own
short movies. The year following her graduation she worked in a shop to
get the money together to go to the National Film School in
Beaconsfield. As Ashling felt there was no real film industry in
Ireland then, she continued to live in and work in England. She had a
number of projects financed there and also got regular work in
television.
Ashling has previously made two quite controversial films Joyriders and
Sinners. Song for a Raggy Boy is based on the true story by Patrick
Galvin and is set in the late 1930s. The film centres around a lay
teacher (Aidan Quinn) who joins an Irish Reformatory school and doesn't
like what he sees. He has to find the courage to stand up and fight
against the tough regime.
[on Sally Hawkins:]
...in that year [of delay] we got [Ethan Hawke] he was free. Sally had met him before at the Oscars. I think that most actors want to come out and work with Sally.