Foyle Industry DayFoyle Industry Day
Nerve Centre, Magazine Street, Derry~Londonderry
Foyle Film Festival was founded by filmmakers from the local area intent on shining a light on stories and talent from the North West. The 2024 Industry Day welcomes leading talent from across Ireland and the UK for a focused discussion on the opportunities and challenges facing the screen sector and the inspirational stories and talent that represent the best of us.
This is an essential event for established and emerging talent working in the screen and creative industries both sides of the border.
If You Build It, They Will Come: Developing the North West as a Production Ecosystem
11am
In conversation with Donegal Film Office & Errigal Studios
Recent film and television successes have put Donegal on the map as an attractive location for productions. In this panel, Donegal Film Officer Aideen Doherty, producer Eileen Rafferty, actor and writer Dorothy Duffy talk with Producer John Peto about building capacity for Donegal and the North West to develop regional production.
Meet Aideen Doherty, Eileen Rafferty, Dorothy Duffy & John Peto
Aideen Doherty
Aideen Doherty is the Film Officer in Donegal County Council. She has managed Features, TV Drama, and commercials into Donegal, acting as a fixer to production companies looking to locate there. In 2023, she manged in 4 feature films and 2 TV dramas alongside several commercials resulting in a direct spend of €9.3m in the county. She is supporting the team behind Errigal Studios and is looking forward to seeing it open in 2025. She is currently participating in the Emerge Producers course offered by Screen Producers Ireland and Screen Ireland.
Eileen Rafferty
Eileen Rafferty, a Donegal native, is an experienced media producer with a track record in advertising and experiential content creation in the TV, radio, print and screen industries as well as feature film and TV drama production. She has produced multi-million euro campaigns for clients including Sky & Churchill in the UK as well as line producing internationally co-produced feature films and TV drama series in Ireland. She is co-director of The Bothy, and is co-founder of Errigal Studios, a state of the art virtual production studio coming to Donegal in 2025.
Dorothy Duffy
Dorothy Duffy is an actress, writer and director based in Donegal. In May 2024, she completed her debut short film titled Morning After with the help of a €10,000 bursary which she was awarded by The Donegal Film Office and Creative Ireland. She has over 20 years of experience as an actor having worked on many films with directors such as Mike Leigh on Peterloo and Peter Mullan on The Magdalene Sisters. She is currently developing a number of projects including her first feature film.
John Peto
John is an IFTA winning documentary maker with over twenty years broadcast experience. He has produced and directed a range of films for BBC 4, BBC NI and UTV looking at various elements of conflict, and its legacy, in Northern Ireland. Since 2000 John has worked at the Nerve Centre, serving in roles including Director of Education, which has seen him leading a large range of film skills, teacher upskilling, industry and curriculum linked programmes across Northern Ireland, the UK and internationally. He has helped to develop skills academies with the BFI and NI Screen and has been an examiner for the NI Curriculum Moving Image Arts A’ Level qualification for the last 15 years.
Future Proofing Feature Docs with BFI Doc Society
12.15pm
In conversation with Hannah Bush Bailey, Ross McClean, Rabie Mustapha and Roisin Agnew
Despite rave reviews and record audiences for feature documentaries online, cinema attendance for documentaries is falling, traditional distribution pathways through the festival circuit are less accessible, and the funding landscape for independent documentary has grown evermore precarious.Documentary filmmakers are in conversation alongside BFI Docs Society and John Peto to talk about the realities of developing and funding non-fiction and what it might take to future proof independent documentary.
Meet Hannah Bush Bailey, Ross McClean, Rabie Mustapha & Roisin Agnew
Roisin Agnew
Roisin Agnew is an Italian-Irish filmmaker and writer based in London. She’s the director of The Ban (2024) that premiered at IDFA 2024. She’s a PhD student at the Centre for Research Architecture and an Associate Lecturer at the London Film School. She programmes Storming Heaven, a screening series on activist film. She has previously worked for PlayStation. She’s currently in development with a narrative feature with Tailored Films (Bring Them Down, The Apprentice) and a documentary feature with Fine Point Films (Kneecap).
Ross McClean
Ross McClean is a filmmaker from Belfast, Northern Ireland. His films have screened in over 50 local and international film festivals. Hydebank (2019) premiered at DokLeipzig, IDFA, Hot Docs and won Best Short Documentary at Galway, London Short, Spektrum, Docs Ireland and Leeds. His latest short film, Echo (2023), premiered at IDFA, True/False, Sheffield DocFest & Camerimage. Ross is currently in production on his first feature length documentary supported by BFI DocSociety & Arte and a short documentary supported by Sandbox & The New York Times.
Rabie Mustapha
Rabie Mustapha is a Belfast based Palestinian filmmaker. He works on creative documentaries that tackle living in troubled places where individual paths are heavily impacted by outside forces. His latest work is the personal short documentary “The Cities I Live In” that is centred around his experience of leaving Beirut in 2020 to become a father in Belfast. He is currently developing a feature documentary that looks back at one massacre committed by the Israeli Army during its 1982 invasion of Lebanon with funding from the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC). At the same time he’s working on a participatory short doc that tells the story of a diverse school in Belfast with funding from Doc Society’s Made of Truth strand.
BFI Doc Society
The BFI Doc Society Fund, as a delegate partner of BFI, supports and nurtures independent non-fiction film and immersive projects by UK filmmakers, prioritising cinematic, expansive, director-led storytelling. It facilitates a Features, Short Film, and Research & Development fund alongside a wider talent development programme. Key partners include BBC Films, Creative Scotland, Ffilm Cymru Wales, Screen Scotland, Doc Society’s Climate Story Fund, Field of Vision and Northern Ireland Screen.
Co-Production & Distribution Case Study: That They May Face The Rising Sun
2.30pm
In conversation with Tina O’Reilly, Brendan J. Byrne and Robert McCann Finn
Post Brexit and despite the introduction of a new tax credit, UK film producers are navigating a challenging funding landscape. Less capital coming into the market and falling pre-sales are impacting and new ways of working are needed. Producers are being challenged to create new co-production business models to finance production.
A recent success story bucking the trend is That They May Face The Rising Sun. With UK/Irish co-producers and UK/Irish co-distributors, the film has grossed a strong box office return to date. Pearse Moore hosts That They May Face The Rising Sun co-producers Tina O’Reilly and Brendan J Byrne alongside Robert McCann Finn from Breakout Pictures to go behind the scenes of one of the most successful Irish box office stories of 2024.
Meet Tina O’Reilly, Brendan J. Byrne & Robert McCann Finn
Tina O’Reilly
Tina is an award winning producer working across media, film and television in Ireland. She founded Front Room Films in 2023 with co-producer Grainne Carroll. Her production credits include That They May Face the Rising Sun (2023), Gabriel Byrne: Stories from Home (2008) and A Turning Tide in the Life of Man (2014) and is currently in post production on the Jim Sheridan and David Merriman feature Re-Creation. Tina has also produced several editions of Other Voices for RTE including the 2013 Other Voices weekend in Derry-Londonderry as part of the UK City of Culture festival.
Brendan J Byrne
Producer/Director/Executive Producer at Cyprus Avenue Films, Brendan Byrne is an award winning filmmaker from Belfast. Over his 30 year career, Brendan has gained a reputation for creating documentaries that challenge perceptions, draw attention to the underdog and transport viewers to places rarely seen on screen. His credits include That They May Face The Rising Sun (2024 IFTA nominee) The Go Go's (Sundance 2020), Gaza (Sundance 2019) No Stone Unturned (NYFF, 2018) Maze and Bobby Sands: 66 Days.
Robert McCann-Finn
Robert McCann-Finn, joint founder of Break Out Pictures, has been integral to the success of many acclaimed independent films such as An Cailín Cúin, Mrs. Robinson, Arracht, Rialto and That They May Face The Rising Sun. These projects have significantly raised the profile of Break Out Pictures and the Irish film industry globally. An Cailín Cúin made history as Ireland’s first feature to earn a nomination for Best International Film at the Academy Awards, while Mrs. Robinson has emerged as the best-performing Irish documentary in recent times. This years box office hit That They May Face The Rising Sun also won the IFTA for Best Film in 2024. Robert’s strategic vision has made Break Out Pictures a leader in promoting unique, compelling narratives. Before founding Break Out Pictures, Robert worked for Element Pictures, Odeon Cinemas and in Tech startups and serves on the board of Access Cinema and the Irish Cinematograph Trade Benevolent Fund.
Leading From the Front
3.45pm
In conversation with Shona McCarthy, Dearbhla Regan, Andrea Harkin & Shannon Welby
Foyle Film Festival welcomes four outstanding talents in the creative industries, all with strong connections to the North West. Shona McCarthy, Dearbhla Regan, Andrea Harkin, and Shannon Welby will join Eavan King for an engaging conversation about their contributions to the creative sector, the stories they tell, and the impacts they've made.
Together, they’ll discuss the successes and challenges they’ve faced in their fields and the leadership needed to cultivate creative talent and champion new voices.
Meet Shona McCarthy, Dearbhla Regan, Andrea Harkin & Shannon Welby
Dearbhla Regan
Dearbhla is Head of Film And Talent Development with Wild Atlantic Pictures, producers of Black 47, Evil Dead Rise, The Green Knight, The Hole In The Ground and the upcoming Irish football film, Saipan.
Wild Atlantic Pictures are co-producers on Richard Linklater’s new film Blue Moon, with Andrew Scott, Ethan Hawke and Margaret Qualley, as well as Cocaine Bear, Bodkin, The Winx Saga and Foundation.
Prior to this she was an exec with Screen Ireland where, among others, she exec-produced Oscar-nominated An Cailín Cúin, Pray For Our Sinners, Dating Amber, Shane McGowan - A Crock of Gold and The Other Lamb.
Shona McCarthy
Shona McCarthy joined the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society as Chief Executive 9 years ago. Shona has championed the Edinburgh Fringe as the world’s leading performing arts festival and expo, founded on the principles of open access and freedom of expression. From 2011-2014 she was Chief Executive of the Culture Company, leading on Derry’s transformational year as UK City of Culture. Prior to that she was Director of the British Council Northern Ireland. She headed up Imagine Belfast to deliver Belfast’s bid to be European Capital of Culture. She also spent many years as Chief Executive of Cinemagic Film Festival for young people, Belfast; and the Foyle Film Festival, Derry; and was Head of Exhibition at the Northern Ireland Film Council. Shona has over 30 years experience working in senior leadership positions and was awarded a prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship for Innovation in 2014, making her part of a global network of leaders and influencers, and a NESTA cultural leadership award which took her to work with the Seagull Foundation for the Arts in Calcutta India in 2007. She is an Honorary Fellow of Surrey University. A visiting Professor at Napier University and an Honorary Fellow of the Marketing Society of Scotland.
Andrea Harkin
Andrea is a BAFTA-nominated filmmaker from Northern Ireland. She is currently in post-production on THE GIRLFRIEND for Amazon, starring Robin Wright and Olivia Cooke. Last year’s BBC prison drama TIME, starring Bella Ramsey and Jodie Whittaker, was described as ‘world-beating drama’ in The Guardian - winning the Broadcasting Press Guild award for Best Mini-Series and several RTS awards for the cast.
After gaining a BAFTA nod and a European Film Award for her short film THE PARTY, Andrea started her tv career directing the second block of BBC3’s hit drama-thriller CLIQUE, before lead directing mini-series COME HOME (BBC One), which won the RTS NI Award for Best Drama and an International Emmy nomination for actor Christopher Eccleston. COME HOME enjoyed a revival on Netflix landing at no.3 on the "UK Top 10" list in 2023.
Andrea was the lead director on the acclaimed series THE TRIAL OF CHRISTINE KEELER (BBC One/Ecosse Films) winning the RTS Southwest award for Best Drama, and on THE CONFESSIONS OF FRANNIE LANGTON, a 4-part drama for ITV and Britbox.
She has been developing several personal writing projects, including a novella through Curtis Brown Creative, and a debut feature film supported by Screen Ireland.
Shannon Welby
Shannon is a screenwriter writing both comedy and drama. A National Film School of Ireland graduate (MA in Screenwriting for Film & Television), Shannon’s recent accolades include a nomination at Galway Film Fleadh for the Bingham Ray New Talent Award, selection for the prestigious BBC Writers’ Voices programme, reaching the top 1% of 4,287 scripts for BBC Writers’ Open Call being named part of Virgin Media Discovers Final 30. She has development projects with RTÉ Storyland, Screen Ireland Spotlight TV Comedy and Screen Ireland Focus Shorts. In 2024 Shannon featured on BFI London Film Festival’s Industry Panel, spotlighting six emerging screenwriters across the UK.
Previous work includes being a member of the writer’s room for award-winning BBC drama BLUE LIGHTS, an episode of Cartoon Network series GOAT GIRL, and shadow writing on Kiwi-Irish thriller THE GONE. She is currently developing an original project with BBC Comedy, BBC Northern Ireland and Hat Trick Productions.
Her mantra is ‘good collaboration, good manners, and good craic’.
Women in Film & TV Networking Drinks
5pm
Join Women in Film & TV at this year’s Foyle Film Festival to celebrate the talents of women working in film.
WFTV is delighted to invite festival delegates and members to join us for an evening of networking with industry friends and colleagues over a drink.
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