Film Ireland Podcast

In this episode of the Film Ireland podcast, we are delighted to welcome producer Jack Tarling of Shudder Films.
In this discussion, Jack talks about his career producing acclaimed independent cinema, from God's Own Country and Kneecap to his latest feature, Learning to Breathe Underwater, which recently had its world premiere at the 60th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and won the audience award at this year's Galway Film Fleadh.
Listen now on SoundCloud, Apple, Spotify, Acast and Amazon, or subscribe to Film Ireland wherever you get your podcasts and/or watch the original recording here. https://www.filmireland.net/podcast-producer-jack-tarling-kneecap-learning-to-breathe-underwater

The World Premiere of Learning to Breathe Underwater took place at the 60th Karlovy Vary Film Festival and the film screened again on 10th July at the Galway Film Fleadh, winning the festival's audience award.
Starring Rory Kinnear, Maria Bakalova and Ezra Carlisle, Learning to Breathe Underwater follows eight-year-old Leo, who lives with his dad and a giant shark, which crashed through the roof of their home. Yes, you read that correctly. The shark is Leo’s best friend, to whom he can confide all his secrets. He can’t really talk to his dad; he must be missing mum, who’s been gone five years now. Then Anya the au pair bursts into their lives, and their world suddenly changes. It’s more cheerful and Leo discovers that the metal shark doesn’t have to be his only friend.
The film is directed by Rebekah Fortune from a script by Richard Barbin. The project is produced by Jack Tarling of the UK’s Shudder Films and Patrick O’Neill of Ireland’s Wildcard, co-produced by KeyFilm in the Netherlands, One Wave Films in Wales and made in association with Eiru Films in the west of Ireland.
Learning to Breathe Under Water was filmed in Galway last year and is proudly supported by Screen Ireland, BFI Global Screen Fund, Ffilm Cymru, WRAP Fund, Netherlands Film Fund, Finite Films, Bankside Films and Three Point Capital. Bankside Films handle international sales.

Jack Tarling
Jack has produced five feature films and many short films through his company Shudder Films. Kneecap, featuring rap trio Kneecap alongside Michael Fassbender, premiered at Sundance 2024 and sold to Sony Pictures Classics. It was shortlisted for two Academy Awards, nominated for six BAFTAs (winning Best Debut), and won seven British Independent Film Awards.
God's Own Country, which won prizes in 2017 at Sundance, Berlin, Edinburgh, Galway and many other festivals, won four BIFAs, including Best Film, received a BAFTA nomination for Outstanding British Film, and was the highest-grossing UK debut of the year. Await Further Instructions was a Critics' Pick in The New York Times and sold to Netflix.
Currently in post-production for 2026 releases, Jack has produced:
Learning to Breathe Under Water, directed by Rebekah Fortune and starring Ezra Carlisle, Rory Kinnear and Oscar nominee Maria Bakalova, is financed by Screen Ireland, UK Global Screen Fund, Ffilm Cymru and the Netherlands Film Fund, and sold by Bankside.
Daughter of Eden, written and directed by Fateme Ahmadi, starring Yasmin Al-Khudhairi, Hiam Abbas, Amir El Masry and Lindsay Duncan, is financed by BFI, BBC Film, Screen Ireland and Civic Studios.
Jack has also line produced several other feature films for the BFI, BBC Films and others, including two which premiered at Venice, and he previously worked in development at Ridley Scott's production company, Scott Free. In 2019/2020, he worked to produce an unannounced US-set interactive feature film for Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Jack has produced short-form content for Disney/Hulu, executive produced a slate of ten short films for Northern Film + Media, and produced the short film Assessment, which was shortlisted for a BAFTA in 2010.
Over the years, the podcast has featured acclaimed guests such as Phyllida Lloyd, Lenny Abrahamson, M. Night Shyamalan, John Boorman, Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell, Aisha Tyler, Colm Meaney, Paul Reiser, Niamh Algar, David Freyne, Ciarán Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John Crowley, Niamh Algar, Gene Stupnitsky, and Terence Davies, alongside many of the most influential voices working in film and television today.

So make sure to subscribe and listen back!

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In this Film Ireland podcast, recorded live on location in Washington, D.C. at the Capital Irish Film Festival, Gemma Creagh chats with filmmaker Nuala O’Connor about her film In Time: Dónal Lunny. The documentary chronicles the enigmatic and innovative musician Dónal Lunny, tracing his profound influence on Irish music and his role in shaping its modern evolution.
In this conversation, Nuala shares insights into her varied career, balancing her two passions - film and music - her craft, and the challenge of capturing the spirit of such a pioneering artist on screen.
The episode was recorded live at the Irish film festival, presented annually by Solas Nua. The 20th edition of the festival took place in Washington, D.C., from February 26 to March 1, 2026.
Listen now on SoundCloud, Apple, Spotify, Acast and Amazon, subscribe to Film Ireland wherever you get your podcasts or watch the otigional recording here:
https://www.filmireland.net/podcast-filmmaker-nuala-oconnor-on-in-time-donal-lunny

About In Time: Dónal Lunny

Charting the life and legacy of the iconic Irish traditional musician Dónal Lunny, one of Ireland’s most outstanding artists, this film offers an insightful appraisal of his creative process, exploring the enduring and far-reaching influence he has had on Irish traditional music. The film reveals a life lived entirely for art’s sake. The major events of his creative and personal life have converged with major cultural, political and historic changes in Ireland and around the world and reflects the impact this had on his art from the 1950s to the present day.
Music fuses with the personal material of Dónal Lunny’s biographical journey and brings the artist into being in this film. That journey is the journey of Irish culture and people who lived through those decades from the 1950s to the present day.

Nuala O’Connor
Nuala O’Connor has worked for nearly twenty years in broadcasting: in RTÉ for nine years as a researcher and radio producer, and for the past ten years in the independent film sector. In 1987, Nuala established Hummingbird Productions with Philip King to produce high quality music and arts documentaries. With Philip King, she worked as assistant producer on Bringing It All Back Home and is the author of the book which accompanied the series.
Nuala went on to produce documentaries including A River of Sound, Christy, Meitheal and Bláth Gach Géag Dá dTig, collaborating with Donal Lunny, Liam O’Flynn, Seamus Heaney, Sinéad O’Connor and Mary Black.
Subsequently, with Philip King and Tina Moran, she was a founder director of South Wind Blows Productions, initially directing the Irish history documentary series The Limits of Liberty with Professor Diarmaid Ferriter. In 2013, she co-directed An Glaoch: The President’s Call with President Michael D. Higgins and also that year wrote and directed From Moment to Moment about the Irish band The Gloaming. In 2014, she worked as co-producer on the acclaimed Ceiliúradhconcert at the Royal Albert Hall.
Nuala also worked as the traditional music reviewer for The Irish Times for many years.
Capital Irish Film Festival
Solas Nua’s annual Capital Irish Film Festival in Washington, D.C., presents one of the largest programmes of Irish cinema in North America, showcasing the latest Irish dramatic and documentary features, shorts, art films and animation releases by Irish and Ireland-based filmmakers. The 20th edition of the four-day festival takes place 26 February – 1 March 2026 in partnership with the prestigious American Film Institute’s Silver Theatre & Cultural Center.

Over the years, the podcast has featured acclaimed guests such as Phyllida Lloyd, Lenny Abrahamson, M. Night Shyamalan, John Boorman, Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell, Aisha Tyler, Colm Meaney, Paul Reiser, Niamh Algar, David Freyne, Ciarán Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John Crowley, Niamh Algar, Gene Stupnitsky, and Terence Davies, alongside many of the most influential voices working in film and television today.

So make sure to subscribe and listen back!

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In this very special festival podcast, recorded on location at Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) earlier this year, writer and academic Naemi Victoria sits down with writer-director Olive Nwosu to discuss her latest film, Lady, which screened in the festival's Panorama section.
Olive is also joined by members of the film's cast: Agu Chinenye Esthyraph (Fanta), Precious Agu Eke (Lolo), Fadesaye Olateru-Olagbegi (Lekpa), and Eva Ibiam (Cinderella). Together, they reflect on the making of the film, their performances, and bringing the world of Lady to the screen.
Lady had its European premiere on 18th February 2026 at the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), where it screened as part of the Panorama programme.
Listen now on SoundCloud, Apple, Spotify, Acast and Amazon, or subscribe to Film Ireland wherever you get your podcasts.
https://www.filmireland.net/podcast-filmmaker-olive-nwosu-cast-of-lady-at-berlinale

About Lady
In the restless night of Lagos, one of the city’s few female cab drivers, Lady, survives by staying tough and focused. She dreams of escape, saving her earnings for a new life far from the chaos of this Nigerian metropolis. But when her long-lost childhood friend, Pinky – now a sex worker – returns with a burst of colour and trouble, Lady is pulled reluctantly into her orbit. Soon, she is driving a crew of glamorous, reckless, fun-loving women through the underbelly of Lagos nightlife. What begins as judgement develops into unexpected sisterhood: wild, tender and disarming. As Lady becomes entangled in their world, the nights grow more dangerous, and the city presses harder against old wounds that she has never confronted. Forced to face the trauma she has long outrun, Lady cracks open – learning to feel, to belong, to see herself through new eyes. When everything reaches breaking point, Lady must make a choice that will change her life’s direction forever.

Olive Nwosu
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Olive Nwosu is an award-winning screenwriter and director living in London. Olive graduated with an MFA in Filmmaking from Columbia University School of the Arts, where she received a BAFTA Pigott 2020 Scholarship and was named 2020 Alex Sichel Fellow for a Female Filmmaker demonstrating promise. Olive won the Zaki Gordon Memorial Award for Excellence in Screenwriting and the James Ponsoldt Award for Best Director in her graduating year. She has written and directed two short films. Troublemaker, 2019, played at film festivals around the world and was acquired by Dedza Films and Kino Lorber. It is the first Igbo-language film on the Criterion Channel.
Egúngún (Masquerade), 2021, was financed by the British Film Institute and British Council as part of their More Films For Freedom Programme. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2021, screened at Sundance 2022, won Best Short Film at Hamptons International Film Festival and Aspen ShortsFest, amongst others. The film was nominated for the Best British Short Film at the 2021 British Independent Film Awards and is now available on the Criterion Channel.
Olive is a 2022 Sundance Screenwriting Fellow, a 2022 TIFF Filmmaker Lab Fellow, the first recipient of the TIFF Share Her Journey Fellowship in honour of Viola Desmond, and one of four ‘African Promises’ directors selected by the Institute Francais. In 2023, she received the Sundance NHK Award, presented each year to one filmmaker on the basis of his/her past work (feature film, short film, television drama, music video or commercial) and the script for their next feature film project.
She is currently in development on feature projects with Film4, the BBC and Fox Searchlight Pictures. Her work is informed by the intersectional nature of her life across multiple continents and identities. Her mission is to tell urgent, cinematic, African-centred stories.
Over the years, the podcast has featured acclaimed guests such as Phyllida Lloyd, Lenny Abrahamson, M. Night Shyamalan, John Boorman, Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell, Aisha Tyler, Colm Meaney, Paul Reiser, Niamh Algar, David Freyne, Ciarán Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John Crowley, Niamh Algar, Gene Stupnitsky, and Terence Davies, alongside many of the most influential voices working in film and television today.

So make sure to subscribe and listen back!

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In this episode of the Film Ireland podcast, we catch up with actor Diarmuid Noyes (Pure Mule, The Clinic) as his short A Knock at Your Door is about to premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh.
In this conversation, he discusses his creative practice, exploring his approach to character development, performance, and collaboration across film, television, and theatre.
Listen now on SoundCloud, Apple, Spotify, Acast and Amazon, or subscribe to Film Ireland wherever you get your podcasts.
https://www.filmireland.net/podcast-actor-diarmuid-noyes-christy-a-knock-at-your-door-the-walsh-sisters

A Knock at Your Door
A Knock at Your Door tells the story of Florence, a nurse, and James (Noyes), an internet-obsessed tech worker, whose lives are turned upside down when a teenager accused online of committing a heinous crime arrives at their door seeking shelter.
As tensions escalate outside, the couple's relationship is pushed to breaking point, forcing them to confront uncomfortable truths about themselves and exposing the biases they each carry.
Emerging from a climate of mounting social unrest fuelled by fear and misinformation spread across social media, the film draws inspiration from recent events in Ireland, including anti-immigration riots in Dublin city centre and the sustained public disorder outside the Citywest accommodation centre in Saggart, where protesters clashed with Gardaí over multiple nights, hurling fireworks, stones and bottles and setting a Garda van alight.
The cast features 2026 IFTA nominee Diarmuid Noyes (Christy), Yemisi Oyinloye (Cold Feet), Jonathan Heed (The Lost Children of Tuam, Lemonade, The Boys of Tommen) and Michael Mullen (The Problem With People).
Shot on location in Dublin in early 2026, the film is positioned to resonate with audiences as an urgent cinematic response to Ireland's recent social upheavals.
About Diarmuid Noyes
Irish actor Diarmuid Noyes works across film, television and theatre. He first came to prominence as a teenager with acclaimed Irish dramas The Clinic and Pure Mule. His film credits include Christy, opposite Danny Power; Double Blind; Good Vibrations, alongside Jodie Whittaker and Richard Dormer; Killing Bono, starring Ben Barnes and Robert Sheehan; Five Minutes of Heaven, opposite Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt; Parked, with Colm Meaney; and The Secret Scripture, directed by Jim Sheridan and starring Rooney Mara, Vanessa Redgrave and Theo James.
His television credits include the BBC hit Line of Duty; HBO's The Tudors, alongside Jonathan Rhys Meyers; Canal+'s Borgia; Virgin Media Television's Blood; The Gone; The Walsh Sisters; Pure Mule: The Last Weekend; and Cooper & Fry. Throughout his career, Noyes has received multiple Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) Award nominations, including Best Supporting Actor nominations for Double Blind and Christy, as well as a nomination for his performance in Pure Mule: The Last Weekend.
Over the years, the podcast has featured acclaimed guests such as Phyllida Lloyd, Lenny Abrahamson, M. Night Shyamalan, John Boorman, Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell, Aisha Tyler, Colm Meaney, Paul Reiser, Niamh Algar, David Freyne, Ciarán Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John Crowley, Niamh Algar, Gene Stupnitsky, and Terence Davies, alongside many of the most influential voices working in film and television today.

So make sure to subscribe and listen back!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Film Ireland podcast, we’re delighted to shine a light on three filmmakers whose short films are screening at this years’s Galway Film Fleadh. Gemma Creagh chats with Alan Hopkins (A Knock at Your Door), Jaro Waldeck (Linger) and Thomas Bennett (The Galley).

Watch the recording here:
https://www.filmireland.net/podcast-filmmakers-alan-hopkins-jaro-waldeck-thomas-bennett-at-galway-film-fleadh

A Knock at Your Door - DIR/WRI: Alan Hopkins
A young couple's life is thrown into disarray when they receive a late night knock on their door. Florence and James’s quiet evening in front of the TV comes to an abrupt end when a young teenager, Alex, arrives at their door badly beaten and in clear distress. Florence, a nurse, acts quickly and brings him inside, but James, who spends most of his free time in the darker sections of the internet, is immediately unsure. The situation escalates when James is sent a video purporting to show Alex, accompanied by extremely serious sexual allegations. Before James can eject Alex from the house, a mob, whipped up by online extremists, arrives outside seeking vigilante justice. Florence stands firm and won't hand Alex over based on an online accusation. Can their relationship survive as the mob's pressure grows?
A Knock at Your Door screens on Saturday, 11th of July in the Town Hall Cinema at 11.30 as part of Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland World Premiere Shorts

Linger - DIR: Jaro Waldeck • WRI: Bobby Moloney
In a secluded house, Eve cares for her bedridden husband, David, who is now a shell of the man he once was. With only an AI assistant to keep her company, Eve longs for the love and connection they once shared. When offered a miraculous pill that can restore David to full health for seven days, Eve chooses to seize one last chance at happiness, knowing she will set off the countdown to his final moments. As David awakens, unaware of the years lost or the sacrifice Eve has made, their reunion is joyful but fleeting.
Linger screens on Saturday, 11th of July, Town Hall Cinema at 11.30 as part of Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland World Premiere Shorts

The Galley - DIR: Thomas Bennett • WRI: Thomas Bennett, Niall McCloskey
As the coast of Northern Ireland sinks deep into the hands of gentrification, the workers of Crillis Arcade are struck with this reality when their workplace is sold for redevelopment; this news affects nobody greater than Helen (Bríd Brennan), a down on her luck woman living in a caravan along the coastline. When finding herself short on cash at the local chippy, Helen commits a victimless crime to pay for dinner...
The Galley screens on Friday 10th July, at 11:45 in the Town Hall Theatre as part of Irish Fiction 4.

Alan Hopkins
Alan Hopkins is a Dublin-based writer, director and co-founder of HAL Pictures. A graduate of the National Film School at IADT, he holds both a BA in Film & Television Production and a Master’s Degree in Screenwriting. His work has screened at festivals across Ireland and internationally, as well as on RTÉ. In 2024, his Screen Ireland Focus Short Ogham premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh before continuing its international festival run, receiving awards for cinematography and original score.

Jaro Waldeck
Jaro has been working in the Irish film and TV industry largely as a freelance cinematographer for 15 years. She shot over 50 short films (live action and documentary) as well as feature films DREAMTOWN and HOUSEWIFE OF THE YEAR. Jaro studied at Columbia College Chicago and FAMU Prague, two prestigious film universities, where she earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in cinematography, respectively.

Thomas Bennett
Thomas is a Belfast based artist and director focused on Hi-8 tape and Super 8. His short film directorial work has been funded by BFI Network, Arts Council NI and has been recognised and awarded nationally and internationally, showcasing at Academy®, BAFTA, BIFA & IFTA qualifying Film Festivals.
Over the years, the podcast has featured acclaimed guests such as Phyllida Lloyd, Lenny Abrahamson, M. Night Shyamalan, John Boorman, Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell, Aisha Tyler, Colm Meaney, Paul Reiser, Niamh Algar, David Freyne, Ciarán Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, John Crowley, Niamh Algar, Gene Stupnitsky, and Terence Davies, alongside many of the most influential voices working in film and television today.

So make sure to subscribe and listen back!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.