Film Ireland‘s InConversation presents a live podcast recording at Filmbase on Monday, 3rd July 2017 at 6.30 pm. This recording will be open to the public, with all welcome.
The live podcast will explore diversity in the Irish Film Community, with regards representation of various viewpoints and backgrounds. The discussion will focus on how our film industry, can extend working and training opportunities across the social spectrum, thus tackling the obstacles at grass roots level. The speakers include the actor/writer John Connors (Love/Hate, Cardboard Gangsters), actor/writer Amanda Doherty (Poppi + Gonzo), and writer Mary Duffin (All About Eva).
The event will be moderated by actor/writer Sam Lucas Smith (Imperfect Sky) and the audio will be recorded to be broadcast from the Film Ireland website.
Check out the event on Facebook. And get your tickets here.
John Connors is an actor, screen writer, filmmaker and activist from Coolock, North Dublin. He’s also a part of the travelling community. He studied in the Abbey School of Acting. His first role was in Mark O’Connor’s 2011 film King of the Travellers. His most notable acting role to date was playing Patrick Ward in the award-winning RTÉ crime drama Love/Hate, for which he received a 2014 IFTA nomination. He has worked in over 20 film, television and documentary productions. John can currently be seen in cinemas in Cardboard Gangsters, which he co-wrote with Mark O’Connor.
Amanda Doherty is an actor, artist, and activist from Derry City, Ireland. Reviewed as both “an actor of tremendous depth, subtlety, and animal physicality” and “one of Ireland’s foremost young actors”, Amanda trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, London, and Lucid Body House, New York, before studying for an MA in Film at Queen’s University, Belfast. She has worked for stage and screen for several years.
Amanda is currently in development for her solo show ‘Hear Much//Say Little’; a project which she initially started work on while representing Ireland at the Biennial of Emerging Artists, Romania, which has since had a work-in-progress showing in Stockholm and is due to tour in early 2018.
Amanda’s previous solo work includes ‘Inheritance’; premiered in Derry City, ‘Inheritance’ examines and challenges inter-generational PTSD in post-conflict Northern Ireland. The work was a final nominee for the Digital Culture Award at the Digital Awards of Northern Ireland, a nominee for Backstage Magazine’s United Solo Audience Award in the U.S.A. and winner of the Festival Spirit Award at the Stockholm Fringe, 2015-proudly supported by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Culture Ireland, and the Irish Ambassador of Sweden.
Amanda has also recently completed post-production on her first film, Poppi + Gonzo, a neorealist short which challenges abortion laws in Ireland, highlighting specifically how working class and homeless women are affected by this issue.
Mary Duffin is a dramatist who is passionate about drama & story in all its forms. Her varied work ranges from street to stage to screen. In street theatre, Mary is an experienced director, performer, choreographer & event manager for both private companies and community projects.
On stage, Mary is an actor, writer, director and, most importantly, a Theatre Of The Oppressed & group-work expert. She has vast experience of issue-based theatre for social, community & personal development. Mary has taught in NUIM & designed and delivered a course for City of Galway VEC & NUIG.
For screen, Mary received first class honours in her MA in Scriptwriting from IADT and received the National Film School/ Irish Playwright’s & Screenwriter’s Guild Award for Screenwriting and is currently a board member of the Writers’ Guild of Ireland. She was nominated for the 2015 JDIFF Cine TALENT Award for co-writing the feature film All About Eva.
Mary was also one of the founding members of the Waking The Feminists movement and was part of the research team that produced the Gender Counts report that was launched just recently.
Sam Lucas Smith is a BA Hons graduate of the MMU School of Theatre. He went on to train under the mentorship of leading directors, including Kirsten Sheridan and Lance Daly as part of the Bow Street Screen Acting Programme and he recently graduated from Dublin’s IADT National Film School with an MA in Screenwriting. He has further experience in improvisation and comedy, having trained at the renowned Upright Citizen’s Brigade theatre in LA and the Soho Theatre comedy school in London.
Sam’s previous film and television credits include Vikings and numerous Irish and BBC drama productions. He was awarded Best Supporting Actor at the Sydney International Film Festival for his work as Abel in the Imperative Pictures feature Imperfect Sky and his upcoming work includes the Irish thriller feature film Killers Within and he will be seen as James in the Filmbase feature film Writing Home.
InConversation is a series of personal interviews with people working across the many aspects of the Irish filmmaking industry.
Film Ireland provides both practical and academic coverage of Irish filmmaking.
Filmbase is a not-for-profit resource centre for filmmakers supported by the Arts Council.