FUNDING CONTINUES TO pour in for a film directed by an Irish man with Motor Neuron Disease, with €90,000 raised so far.

There is just a week left to raise the €110,000 to reach the target in the fundraising drive for My Name is Emily, written by the inspirational director Simon Fitzmaurice. The dad of five has Motor Neuron Disease (MND), but hasn’t let his physical limitations place any barriers on his work.

He has teamed up with Kennedy Films and Newgrange Pictures, who are producing the film, and together they launched a major crowd-funding campaign on 7 November, using the site IndieGoGo.

So far, between this and private donations they have raised almost a huge €90,000, but there is still some bit to go to reach the target of €200,000. Over the past number of weeks, Hollywood names such as Colin Farrell, Alan Rickman and Sam Neill have also weighed in with their words of support.

Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Kathryn Kennedy of Kennedy Films said that Fitzmaurice is an inspiration: “It is a challenge but it’s also an amazing experience. He’s a fantastic person. I feel lucky.”

The money will be used to fund Simon’s on-set support, and enable him to direct the film. Kennedy said today that the positive support from the Irish public has been “amazing” and that they believed this is the largest amount ever raised through crowdfunding for an Irish feature film.

The team say that the response to the fundraising drive “has been nothing less than extraordinary”.

“Support for a crowd funding campaign in Ireland is unprecedented and the Irish public have proved themselves exceptionally supportive,” they said, adding that the story is featuring in Vanity Fair magazine this week.

Fitzmaurice is an award-winning film director who was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease in 2008, just after his second short film The Sound Of People was screened at the prestigious Sundance Film festival.

After five years, he finished the script for My Name is Emily using his iris-recognition screen, which meant he was effectively typing with his eyes.

There are five days left in the crowd-funding campaign for the film, as it closes on 7 December.

If they don’t reach the €200k target, they will make up the gap in funding through other means. The Fitzmaurice family are “absolutely bowled over” by the response to the film, and it has given Simon a boost, said Kennedy.

We want to give thanks to the Irish people by making a really great Irish film.

The team behind My Name is Emily say they are hoping people will give “one last push to make this wonderful film become a reality”.

The fundraising page is available here.

Read: Fundraising begins for “extraordinary” director’s first feature film>

Read: Colm Murray raised ‘enormous awareness’ about devastating MND>