In a year that the Film Fleadh is committed to pushing female film talent with their Women In Film line of events, Galway actress Emma Eliza Regan is busy carving a solid name for herself with thriller Darkness on the Edge of Town. The film in which she plays a bad-ass teenager opposite Brian Gleeson, was released to over fifty million viewers across America and Canada on Netflix this year, after receiving rave reviews on the Irish and International festival circuit, screening in the presence of guests such as Orlando Bloom, Mark Ruffalo and Martin Freeman. This week, the Moycullen native and a UNESCO Ambassador for Galway City Of Film will return to the Town Hall Theatre, with two films premiering as part of this year’s Galway Film Fleadh.
She stars in two notable films, Ar Scáth Le Chéile, directed by the prolific Hollywood actor and director Aisha Tyler (Friends, Criminal Minds, Arrow). The film also stars Irish talent Emmet Hughes and Dean Rossiter as long lost brothers. It was filmed in locations around Galway City in December, and premiered at Newport Film Festival last month. It screens as part of the Way Out West section at 2pm Wednesday July 6th in the Raddison Blu Hotel.
Regan also stars in Adulting, a film focusing on a fresh perspective of youth culture in modern day Connemara and Galway City. The film is written and directed by Linda Breathnach, who well known for her work on TG4 in series Corp & Anam, Seacht, and Ros Na Run. Adulting screens at 12:30pm Thursday July 7th at the Town Hall Theatre.
A quiet force in the new wave of Irish cinema, the young Galway woman trained in Bow Street, and is only beginning to reveal the depth and scope of her talent. She debuted in the Abbey Theatre back in 2010, and was seen in Irish cinemas last summer opposite Peter Coonan and Killian Scott in Get Up and Go. She has also nabbed the role of a romantic interest of Pete Doherty in Australian movie The Second Coming, and will soon be seen playing a drummer opposite Antonia Campbell Hughes in Fading Away. Other credits include Brendan Muldowney’s Love Eternal, fantasy film The Shadows, and TV series Jack Taylor.
2016 is shaping up to be her busiest yet, having recently wrapped a lead role in thriller The Calling for Shoreline Entertainment opposite Hollywood star Dominique Swaine (Alpha Dog, Lolita). That film is due for release next year. Regan has also announced a new feature film Wild Summer Nights, which she has written and hopes to direct, that will begin shooting in Aran Islands and Galway City over the coming months.
Regan describesWild Summer Nights as:
It’s an upbeat, coming of age drama which centers around a young girl who ends up on a road trip with a wild musician, taking them to Galway on a motor bike, with many secrets and lies unraveling along the way. Galway is my home, so it’s natural that I’ve always really wanted to make something here that captures that unique atmosphere on the streets… it’s taken a good two years of rewrites and meetings, but pre-production is finally underway so I’m keeping my head down and just focused so much on working hard to get that made now.. There’s a really passionate film community emerging here in Galway, as well as getting the UNESCO City of Film recognition, and I feel it’s the right time…