Martha Dunlea’s new short film, U home?x is a psychological drama exploring women’s safety in public spaces. It follows Nancy, a young professional in her 30′s, on her journey home from work on a winter’s evening.

As Nancy walks home, the true crime podcast she’s listening to transforms her ordinary commute into something far more daunting.

Through her experience, the film invites audiences to reflect on the heightened awareness and constant calculations that many women make when simply trying to get home safely. Martha outlines her approach to this story and the experiences for women behind it…

I WAS SITTING in an office in central London in January 2022. I was in a recruitment job that I really didn’t enjoy, but I had no acting work, so I needed the job to pay my bills.

I was at my desk scrolling through the news headlines when I saw one that shocked me: “Female jogger killed in attack in Co Offaly.” This was the horrific story of the death of Ashling Murphy.

I was so deeply affected by this story that I started asking people around me if they had seen the news about the young woman who had been murdered in Ireland. Most hadn’t, but they quickly found the story online and read it. We were all so shocked and shaken.

Most of the people in the office were between the ages of 21 and 30. This young woman felt like someone we could have known. Her murder sparked a conversation among us. A conversation about the small decisions we make every day to keep ourselves safe.

It quickly became clear that those decisions........

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