Made Here, Made For Here: Home-Grown And Inward Production In The North WestMade Here, Made For Here: Home-Grown And Inward Production In The North West
Nerve Centre, 7-8 Magazine Street, Derry~Londonderry
The North West is growing its screen sector in two ways: making its own stories and attracting productions from elsewhere.
This panel looks at both. Crá is a cross-border Irish-language co-production shot in Donegal that has sold to 68 countries. The Lightkeeper is an Irish–Canadian feature filmed across Inishowen. Áine Walsh of Northern Ireland Screen's Irish Language Broadcast Fund, writer and director Ciaran Creagh and Aideen Doherty of Donegal Film Office will talk about how productions like these come together.
For filmmakers and crew in Derry, Donegal and the border region, this session asks how home-grown and inward production can sustain a local workforce and what's needed to grow activity in the region?
Meet Áine Walsh
Áine Walsh is Chief Language and Cultural Officer and Head of the Irish Language Broadcast Fund at Northern Ireland Screen. With an annual budget of over £4 million, the ILBF supports Northern Ireland-based companies to produce around 60 hours of television a year for TG4, BBC NI and RTÉ, alongside audio, digital and educational content and a wide-ranging skills programme.
Projects supported include the crime drama Crá, Oscar-entry features Aontas and Kneecap, Lí Ban, Rocky Ros Muc and the award-winning animation Sol.
Áine previously spent ten years working in production at UTV and BBC NI. She has chaired the Celtic Media Festival since 2024.
Meet Ciaran Creagh
Ciaran Creagh is a Dublin-based writer, producer and director. His first feature as a writer, Parked (2011), starring Colm Meaney, was released in eight countries and won awards at festivals including Mannheim-Heidelberg and the Galway Film Fleadh. His short film The Note (2013), starring Aidan Gillen, screened at more than 30 festivals.
He went on to write and direct the features In View (2017), which premiered at the Dallas International Film Festival, and Ann (2022). Ann was selected for four FIAPF A-category festivals, won the Michael Dwyer Discovery Award and received two IFTA nominations.
Ciaran wrote The Lightkeeper (2026), an Irish–Canadian feature starring Dominic Cooper, Sarah Gadon, Aidan Quinn and Sarah Bolger, filmed on location across Inishowen. His next film, Samanta Nobody, is due in cinemas in 2027. He has also written for Fair City and written and directed three stage plays.
Meet Aideen Doherty
Aideen Doherty manages the Donegal Film Office for Donegal County Council, where she has spent years championing the dramatic landscapes of north-west Ireland as a destination for international and independent screen production.
Acting as the key local liaison for incoming crews, she has facilitated major shoots across the county, including Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi at Malin Head, In the Land of Saints and Sinners, starring Liam Neeson, and God's Creatures, starring Paul Mescal and Emily Watson. Other productions include Obituary, Crá, The Lightkeeper, Dead Long Enough and The Three Urns.
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