Festival Guests – 69th Edition

The 69th Edition of the Cork International Film Festival is brimming with special guests!

The perfect occasion for audiences to engage with filmmakers during post-screening Q&As, dine at our unique Culinary events, and attend enriching Industry Day sessions comprising a vast array of cinema industry professionals.

Galas

  • Sinéad O’Shea, director of Blue Road : The Edna O’Brien Story.
  • Will Sliney, RTE Storyteller for Fox and Hare Save the Forest.
  • Ema Ryan Yamazaki, director of The Making of a Japanese.

Spirit of the Festival

  • Mo Harawe, director of The Village Next to Paradise.

Best New Irish

  • Christopher Andrews, director of Bring Them Down.
  • Maurice O’Brien, director of Chasing The Light.
  • Aislinn Clarke, director of Fréwaka.

Irish Voice

  • Carmel Winters, director of The Art of Loss, and Ken Wardrop, filmmaker.
  • Declan Clarke, director of If I Fall Don’t Pick Me Up.
  • Darina Clancy, director of The Irish Lumières – The Horgan Brothers.
  • Eóin Heaney, director of M/S.
  • Damian McCann, director, and Neil Martin, subject of Neil Martin: Bothar an Cheoil.
  • Yvonne McDevitt, director of Trumpets, and Maximilian Le Cain, director and film critic.

World Tour

  • Ram Reddy, director of The Fable.
  • Joshua Oppenheimer, director and Conor Barry, producer for The End.
  • John Crowley, director of We Live in Time.

Momentum

  • Cécile Embleton and Alys Tomlinson, directors of Mother Vera.
  • Georgia Kumari Bradburn, co-director of The Stimming Pool.

Illuminate

  • Duncan Cowles, director of Silent Men.

Green Screen

  • Doris Metz, director of Petra Kelly – Act Now!; Gisela Holfter, director of the Centre for Irish-German Studies at University of Limerick; Ingrid de Doncker, Co-founder & Head of Research and Innovation at Future Planet.

Culinary

  • Federico Conti, Director & Martha Grillo, Writer of The Keep; Sally Barnes of the Woodcock Smokery; Aishling Moore of Goldie.
  • Joe McNamee, Food Writer and Journalist; Liam Spacey, Governor Cork Prison; Karen C. Whelan, Chief Officer Work Training, Cork Prison; JJ Healy, Culinary Lecturer MTU & The Open Door Project Coordinator, and William O’Brien, Chef de Partie, Rose Hotel, Tralee for a panel on Welcome to Jail.

Disruptors

  • Benoît Sabatier, director, and Christophe Paou, actor of Fotogenico.
  • Dean Puckett, director of The Severed Sun.
  • Bruce Robinson, director, and Paul McGann, actor of Withnail & I.

Parallax

  • Armağan Lale, producer of Strange Abandoned Deranged.

First Take

  • Deirdre Barry, Programme Director at the National Talent Academy for Animation; Moe Honan, Producer at Motion Films and Chair of Animation Ireland for the “Exploring career opportunities in the Irish Animation industry” session, hosted by Susan Liddy, Co-Chair of Women in Film & Television Ireland.
  • Georgia Kumari Bradburn, Co-director of The Stimming Pool; Olaya Chesneau, Camera Department and Colourist; Shannon Haly, Actress, Writer, Producer for the “Neurodivergent Voices in the Screen Industries” session, hosted by Eleanor McSherry, Programme Coordinator, Adult and Continuing Education (ACE) at University College Cork.
  • Federico Julian Gonzalez, Jonathan Hughes, Esosa Ighodaro, Janet Moran for the “Spotlight on Writers | Stage to Screen” session, hosted by Carmel Winters, Writer & Director.
  • Lara Hickey, Producer at Copper Alley Productions and Chelsea Morgan Hoffmann, Producer at Element Pictures for the “September Says | A Focus on Debut Feature Development” session.
  • Aislinn Clarke, director of Fréwacka for the “Fréwacka | Folk Horror Production Case Study” hosted by Rory Cashin, Entertainment & Culture Journalist.

Doc Day Live

  • Alexia de Montalembert, Coordinator at EURODOC and Zlata Filipovic, Producer at Invisible Thread Films for the “EURODOC | Empowering Documentary Makers” session.
  • Maurice O’Brien, Director and Clare Stronge, Producer for the “Chasing the Light | Indigenous Documentary Case Study” session.
  • Tom Burke, Documentarian and Academic for the “The Gap in Consent | Navigating the relationship with your documentary subject” session.
  • Aurelie Godet, Director of Programming at Cork International Film Festival, Mads Mikkelsen, Head of Programme at CPH:DOX and Christopher Small, Editorial & Publications at Locarno Film Festival for the “Close-up on Non-Fiction Curation” session.
  • Ema Ryan Yamazaki, Director and Eric Nyari, Producer for the “The Making of a Japanese | So Japanese yet so universal” session hosted by Ken Wardrop, Director and Producer at Venom Films.

Jury

You can find the 69th Edition Jurors on their dedicated page.

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