Hunger is a 2008 historical drama film about the 1981 Irish hunger strike. It was directed by Steve McQueen and starred Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham, and Liam McMahon.
UK release poster
The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government withdrew Special Category Status for convicted paramilitary prisoners. In 1978, the dispute escalated into the dirty protest, where prisoners refused to leave their cells to wash and covered the walls of their cells with excrement. In 1980, seven prisoners participated in the first hunger strike, which ended after 53 days.
A commemoration on the 25th anniversary of the hunger strike
Hunger Strikers Memorial Glasnevin Cemetery Dublin
Tommy McKearney, who took part in the blanket protest, dirty protest and 1980 hunger strike
Maze prison outside of Belfast where the hunger strike took place