Galway Film Fleadh has announced the subjects of the 2022 Filmmaker’s Masterclass series. The annual masterclass series at the Fleadh’s industry section, Galway Film Fair, offers Actors, Directors and Screenwriters a unique chance to learn from experts in their respective fields, in an intimate engaging environment.
Lisa McGee will be the subject of this year’s Screenwriters Masterclass, sponsored by Gréasán na Meán Skillnet. An award-winning screenwriter and playwright from Derry, McGee is best known as the creator, writer, and executive producer of the critically acclaimed Channel 4 show Derry Girls (2018-22), which wrapped its final season last month. The series was inspired by McGee’s personal experience growing up in Derry in the 1990s amidst immense political conflict. Since its release in 2018, it has become an instant global phenomenon with two BAFTA nominations for Best Scripted Comedy Series.
McGee has received numerous accolades for her writing including the award for Best Comedy Writing on Television from the British Screenwriters’ Awards and Best Writer in a Comedy from the IFTA Gala Television Awards. In 2018, she was listed as one of BBC’s 100 Women.
McGee co-created The Deceived with her husband Tobias Beer, and her other TV credits include London Irish, Raw, Being Human, The White Queen and Indian Summers. Most recently, she worked as a creative director and writer for the BBC Four series, Skint, a powerful collection of monologues about poverty.
Mike Newell will be the subject of this year’s Director Masterclass, sponsored by Screen Ireland. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Donnie Brasco (1997), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) are just some of the wide-ranging filmography of the award-winning director, which includes Dance with a Stranger (1984) winner of Cannes’ Prix de la Jeunesse, The Good Father (1985) winner of the Prix Italia, Enchanted April (1991) winner of 2 Golden Globes and the modern Irish classic, Into the West (1992).
In 1994, Newell directed Four Weddings and a Funeral, the record-breaking romantic comedy, which went on to win four BAFTA’s including Best Film and Best Direction and garnered two Academy Award nominations including Best Picture. In America, Newell made the mafia thriller Donnie Brasco (1997) starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino, followed by such films as Pushing Tin (1999), starring Cate Blanchett, John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie, and Mona Lisa Smile (2003) with Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Newell served as Executive Producer on several projects including Traffic (2000) and High Fidelity (2000).
As the Director of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Newell became the first British director to helm an instalment of the hugely popular franchise. Newell’s recent feature credits include Prince of Persia, Great Expectations and his latest, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society for Studio Canal starring Lily James and Michiel Huisman.
Fresh from her recent Best Performance win at Cannes for playing Empress Elisabeth of Austria in Corsage, we are delighted to welcome Vicky Krieps as the subject of this year’s Actors Masterclass, proudly sponsored by Screen Ireland. A highly talented Luxembourg actor, Krieps is best known for playing Alma Elson, the leading role in the Academy Award-nominated film Phantom Thread (2017) where she starred opposite Daniel Day-Lewis.
Krieps played the morally compromised Alsatian interpreter in the television series Das Boot for which she also received a German Television Award for Best Actress.
Other works include Hanna (2011), Rommel (2012), Before the Winter Chill (2013), and The Girl in the Spider’s Web (2018). In 2021, Krieps starred in M. Night Shyamalan’s mystery thriller Old and in Mia Hansen-Løve’s romantic drama film Bergman Island (2021).
The latest feature from the director & actor Mathieu Amalric, Hold Me Tight (2021), stars Krieps in a tour-de-force performance as a mother who may or may not have abandoned her family, for which she was nominated for the 2022 César Award for Best Actress.
For more information or to apply for a place in any of the masterclasses, please contact Emma Owen by email: emma@filmfleadh.ie or visit our website www.galwayfilmfleadh.com