Lydia, a short film about the groundbreaking and history-making legal battle of Dr Lydia Foy fighting for her gender to be recognised, is now available on Virgin Media Player. Dr Foy’s battle led to the Gender Recognition Act of 2015, 22 years after she began fighting for it.

The short, which premiered at DIFF, was written and directed by Caleb J Roberts of Purebred. Roberts is a founding member of team TITE, Ireland’s first trans and non-binary film festival, which debuted last April. Lydia highlights Dr Foy’s perspective during her trial of 2007.

Liath Hannon of the 2025 feature film Girls & Boys, and upcoming housing crisis horror short Hostile Architecture, stars in the eponymous role of Dr Foy. Hannon’s co-stars in Lydia include Diarmuid Noyes, Jonathan Harden, Michael Smiley, James Doran and Cailum Carragher.

Foy first applied for a new birth certificate to reflect her gender in 1993, and finally became the first person recognised by the Gender Recognition Act in 2015. Ireland is often praised for the Gender Recognition Act, but this act is the result of years of denying those same human rights to trans people in Ireland.

In 12 minutes, the focus of the short is on moments from a trial in 2007, detailing just part of the over 20-year fight. The rights Dr Foy won for trans people of Ireland are enormous, but the fight is far from over, with trans rights worldwide being stripped back daily.

The short TV film was funded and shot as part of Virgin Media Discovers Series Six, which looks to highlight and bolster voices and stories of diversity, and was co-funded by Screen Ireland.

Hannon and Roberts are part of an exciting and talented wave of trans filmmakers currently based in Ireland and are absolutely ones to watch. Roberts’ debut feature film, Under the Cover of the Night, about a closeted mechanic during the troubles, is currently in development with Northern Ireland Screen.

Watch Lydia on Virgin Media Player here.