With the Dublin International Film Festival underway, here at WFT, we are excited to celebrate all our members whose work was selected as part of the festival!
Listen back for a special WFT Ireland panel discussion where WFT Board Member Fiona Kinsella sat down with some of the talented voices behind this year’s selection for the DIFF Shorts Programme:
- Alba Fernandez, DOP: Callus – Screen Ireland Shorts Programme 2
- Naomi Sheridan, Writer/Director: Kiki – Virgin Media Discovers Shorts Programme
- Martina McGlynn, Director: Wrecker – Screen Ireland Shorts Programme 1
- Natalie Britton, Actor/Producer: Two For The Road – Screen Ireland Shorts Programme 2
- Hannah Mamalis, Writer/Director/Star: Baby Steps – Dublin On Screen 1
Panellists:
Alba Fernandez, DOP: Callus
Alba Fernandez is a cinematographer based in Dublin and is currently one of Ireland’s most exciting female cinematographers. Recent work includes Callus and Animal, both winners of Best Cinematography at the European Cinematography Awards 2023, Stable (Winner of Best Cinematography at Women in Film & TV Ireland Showcase 2023) and Licence for Nil, which were all selected for Galway Film Fleadh 2023. She also shot Irish language feature Documentary Reds na hEireann for TG4 and Virgin Media TV’s Inside The Hospice alongside Eleanor Bowman. In 2021, she won the Donal Gilligan Award for Best Cinematography in a Short Film for her work in Faitíos.
Naomi Sheridan, Producer: Kiki
Naomi Sheridan has been working in Film and Television for years in a wide variety of genres. She is an Academy Award nominated writer and has written teleplays and screenplays for Paramount, NBC Universal, Tribeca Films, Disney, and Element Pictures. She has recently developed ‘In America’ as a TV series for HBO.
She is currently developing a feature film with Four Quadrant Films and Screen Ireland. She has also directed three short films. Her recent short film, ‘Kiki’ was developed as part of the Virgin Media Discovers programme.
Martina McGlynn, Director: Wrecker
Martina has an extensive film and documentary career including the award winning Nothing To Declare, The Secret Market and A Nightingale Falling. ‘Wrecker’ is her directorial debut.
Credits as TV Director/Producer include:
Wrecker (short film) Director
Nothing To Declare (short documentary IFTA winner 2022) Producer
You Are Enough Music Video Tolu Makay Director
The Secret Market (IFTA nominated short) Producer
Striking Out TV Series Shadow Director
A Nightingale Falling, Feature Film, Co-Director
‘A Grand Experience’ (Arts Documentary RTÉ) Producer
‘Who is Dervla Murphy?’ (Award Winning Documentary) Producer
Natalie Britton, Actor/Producer: Two For The Road
Natalie is an award winning independent film producer & actor. She began producing narrative content in Los Angeles in 2016 and has produced over 30 short films to date. In 2018, she won the Irish Screen America Rising Star Producer Award and went on to found production company Queen’s Gambit Films. QGF focuses on giving a platform to underserved voices and telling stories that matter while having an inclusive mandate guaranteeing 75% of their crew come from under-represented people. In 2022, they won the audience award at SXSW for short film “Aspirational Slut”. Natalie was awarded an Honorable Mention in 2023 by WFT and her most recent Focus Short “Two For The Road” was longlisted for the 2024 Oscars. Natalie currently works between Ireland & L.A. Current producing projects include “How Did I Get Here” which wrapped November in L.A, Screen Ireland Focus Short “Trying” shooting in Dublin, Feb 2024 and Nell Riley’s (Netflix) “Missed” which will shoot in May. As an actor she has appeared in many movies & network TV series including NCIS:LA, Maxine, Quantum Leap & Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Hannah Mamalis, Writer/Director/Star: Baby Steps
Hannah works across film, theatre and comedy as a performer and writer. She has written four award winning comedy/theatre shows, STARS (2023), Symphony of Worms (2019), The Egg is a Lonely Hunter (2017) and In Between (2021) which have garnered acclaim in both Ireland and Edinburgh. Her acting work has appeared on BBC1, BBC3, BBCR4, RTE2 and RTE Radio One. She regularly collaborates with comedy group Dreamgun, as well as performing her own stand up, improv and comedy characters. Baby Steps is her debut as a director. It premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh 2023 where it won the Best New Short Drama Award and Hannah was nominated for the Bingham Ray New Talent Award. Hannah went on to win the Taking Flight: Rising Talent Award at Kerry International Film Festival. Most recently Hannah was nominated for the Discovery Award at DIFF where Baby Steps will also screen.
