Drámaíocht Gaeilge ar ardán idirnáisiúnta – Irish language drama on an international stage
Sponsored by BAI
Location: The Works
Time: Thursday 17th November, 11am
Irish language drama is having a big moment. Critical acclaim and box office success has enabled it to put the Irish language on an international platform, capturing the attention of Irish speakers and non-Irish speakers the world over. In this session we will hear from broadcasters and funders on the various initiatives they have been running to encourage and support new talent in Irish language film making.
We’ll also hear from local director Damian McCann on his experience with his first feature film Doineann and Robert McCann Finn of Breakout Pictures, the distribution company behind Oscar nominated An Cailín Ciúin, will discuss what it is, he believes, that made it such a huge success.
Chair: Antaine Ó Donnaile
Aine Walsh - NIS;
Máire Ní Chonláin - TG4
Karen Kirby - BBC
Damian McCann - Puca Pictures
Robert McCann Finn - Breakout Pictures
Áine Walsh
ILBF, Northern Ireland Screen
Áine Walsh joined Northern Ireland Screen in 2007 and is responsible for the strategic management and delivery of the Irish Language Broadcast Fund. She works closely with the Irish language production sector and the broadcasters to ensure delivery of quality Irish language content across a range of genres and to help the sector grow and develop. She is also responsible for a range of training programmes for Irish speakers working or seeking to work in the local production sector.
Prior to taking up her current position, Áine had spent 10 years working in production – as an assistant producer and producer in UTV, working across entertainment and documentary programmes and also as a radio presenter and producer for BBC Northern Ireland’s Irish Language Unit.
Áine is also an executive board member of the Celtic Media Festival.
Damian McCann
Director
Damian McCann is an award-winning director with 15 years documentary experience working alongside BBC, TG4 and RTÉ. His first feature-length narrative film Doineann premiered internationally at Newport Beach Film Festival in October 2021 and was screened at Belfast Film Festival and Galway Film Fleadh amongst others.
Doineann was released theatrically in the UK and Ireland in January 2022 (Wildcard Distribution). Other drama work includes short films Máthair (ILBF), and Just the Two of Us (BBC 4 / BBC Arts / Lyric Theatre). Damian is part of a new wave of bilingual film-makers creating work in both English and Irish.
Karen Kirby
Commissioning Executive, BBC NI
Karen Kirby is a Commissioning Executive for BBC Northern Ireland with particular responsibility for the BBC Gaeilge portfolio on Television, Radio and Digital. She has worked as Series Producer, multi-camera Director, Producer and Presenter on a variety of content since she joined BBC Northern Ireland in 1995, including weekly magazine series’ and events in Entertainment and Factual, and worked in News & Current Affairs before joining BBC Gaeilge as television producer in 2004.
As part of the Commissioning team at BBC Northern Ireland, Karen commissions and exec-produces a range of Factual Entertainment, Arts, Music and Documentary content for the local and network BBC One and BBC Two schedules. She works with the independent television production sector and other broadcasters and funders to commission content with wide audience appeal, including the Feature Drama initiative, Gealán, from which came Doineann, the first Irish-language feature to be made and produced in Northern Ireland.
Robert McCann Finn
CO-Founder, Break Out Pictures
Formerly Head of Sales in Element Pictures, Robert headed the sales strategy for the most successful independent Irish film of all time THE GUARD among other successful releases. During his time in Element he also project managed the opening of LIGHT HOUSE CINEMA and the build of PÁLÁS CINEMA GALWAY
Robert left Element in August 2017 to set up his own IT company which he sold and returned to Film Distribution by co-founding BREAK OUT PICTURES with Nell Roddy which specialise in the theatrical release of films in the UK and Ireland.
Previous releases include the award winning RIALTO, the best performing Irish film at the box office in 2020 BROKEN LAW , the box office hit ARRACHT and the global sensation AN CAILÍN CIÚIN which has returned over €1m at the box office. RÓISE & FRANK is BREAK OUT PICTURES latest release in CInemas at the moment and the slate for 2022 include Toronto Selected Pray For Us Sinners, the festival hit LOLA and Ken Wardrope’s latest documentary .
BREAK OUT PICTURES also acquire socially impacting documentaries for Cinematic release including LOVE YOURSELF TODAY, PHIL LYNOTT: SONGS FOR WHILE I'M AWAY and the PECULIAR SENSATION OF BEING PAT INGOLDSBY among others. BREAK OUT PICTURES also acquire for the full life cycle of the film including TV, SVOD , TVOD etc. .
Antaine Ó Donnaile
Producer
Antaine is an award-winning television producer who has played key roles in developing multimedia content for top media companies.
Before setting up Macha Media in 2012, Antaine was an executive producer and commissioning editor at BBC Northern Ireland.
Máire Ní Chonláin
Commissioning Editor, TG4
In her wide-ranging TV career, Máire has worked across development, production, and acquisitions of scripted and unscripted programming. Beginning her career in the free-lance sector, Máire later joined TG4 as commissioning editor in 2000.
Máire is responsible for history, heritage, science, and social documentaries both hour and feature length. She also co-commissions all drama for TG4 and is also responsible for factual entertainment.