Violet Gibson: The Irish Woman Who Shot Mussolini

Ireland

2020, 1h 57m, Ireland
Director: Barrie Dowdall, Kevin de la Isla O’Neill
Cast: Olwen Fouéré, Padraig Cullen, Michael Heavey
Genre: Documentary/Drama

In 1926, 49-year-old Violet Gibson, daughter of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, a debutant at the Court of Queen Victoria, shot Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini at point-blank range in front of an adoring crowd in CampidoglIo Rome. Her assassination attempt saw her imprisoned and interrogated, before a deal was brokered by Mussolini and the British Foreign Office to have Violet committed to a lunatic asylum, written off as a lone “mad Irishwoman”, to be locked up for the rest of her life and written out of history. This revelatory documentary details Violet’s early life, from rejecting her Anglo-Irish upbringing in a well-connected, political class to becoming a bold freethinker committed to social justice,  anti-war activism, and opposition to fascism. VIOLET GIBSON is the story of why one woman attempted such a brazen assassination and how the world conspired to bury her in the aftermath.

All films at CEFF are presented in their original language with English subtitles.

In-Cinema: Tue Nov 9 at 7:30PM at (Globe Cinema 2)
Stream: Nov 6-14 across Canada