Liam is a 2000 British-German film directed by Stephen Frears

Stephen Frears

Stephen Arthur Frears is an English film director.-Early life:Frears was born in Leicester, England to Ruth M., a social worker, and Dr Russell E. Frears, a general practitioner and accountant. He did not find out that his mother was Jewish until he was in his late 20s...

 and written by novelist/screenwriter Jimmy McGovern

Jimmy McGovern

Jimmy McGovern is a BAFTA award-winning English television scriptwriter from Liverpool.-Early career:McGovern started his career working on Channel 4's soap opera Brookside in 1982, tackling many social issues such as unemployment.-Successes:...

. McGovern (perhaps best known as the creator of British TV crime drama Cracker

Cracker (UK TV series)

Cracker is a British crime drama series produced by Granada Television for ITV and created and principally written by Jimmy McGovern. The series is centered on a criminal psychologist , Eddie "Fitz" Fitzgerald, played by Robbie Coltrane. Set in Manchester, it consists of three series which were...

) adapted Joseph Mckeown's novel Back Crack Boy into this emotionally raw meditation on innocence and pain. Frears in turn was influenced by James Joyce

James Joyce

James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...

's accounts of his stern childhood in late 19th century Catholic Dublin.

Megan Burns

Megan Burns

Megan Burns , also known as Betty Curse, is a British musician and award-winning actress.-Early life and acting career:...

 won the Marcello Mastroianni award at the Venice film festival for her performance.
Set in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 in the Depression of the 1930s, the story is told through the eyes of Liam (Anthony Borrows).