Amazing women on this The Hollywood Reporter list! Emer Reynolds, Nora Twomey, Aoife McArdle and Kate McCullough. 

 

Taken from the Hollywood Reporter, 19/10/17:

10 Rising Irish Stars to Watch

Directors, writers, producers, cinematographers and actors from the Emerald Isle have been making noise in projects from ‘The Avengers’ to ‘The Breadwinner.’

• Peter Foott

  Director-writer, ‘The Young Offenders’

  

  The Young Offenders — Foott’s low-budget debut feature about a couple of hapless Cork teens chasing a lost bale of cocaine washed up on the coast — was a smash hit last year, becoming 2016’s biggest local film at the box office (and the fastest ever to pass 1 million euros). It was snatched up by Netflix and spawned a BBC TV adaptation, which the 41-year-old is currently shooting.

• Aoife McArdle

  Director-writer, ‘Kissing Candice’

  

  Already a highly respected name in commercials and music videos — most notably the critically acclaimed 13-minute short for U2’s “Every Breaking Wave” and Bryan Ferry’s “Loop Di Li” — Omagh-born McArdle made the leap to feature films with her Toronto-debuting Kissing Candice, an unconventional love story and coming-of-age drama — which she also wrote — set in a seaside town along Ireland’s north/south border.

• David Freyne

  Director-writer, ‘The Cured’

  

  After a number of award-winning shorts, Freyne, 35, landed Ellen Page and Sam Keeley for his directorial debut The Cured, a zombie horror-thriller that unfolds in the aftermath of a devastating virus where the infected can be cured and reintegrated into society. The film bowed as a special presentation in Toronto, earning solid reviews and picking up a North American distributor in IFC.

• Nora Twomey

  Director, ‘The Breadwinner’

  

  After working on Oscar-nominated animated features Song of the Sea and Secret of Kells with Cartoon Saloon (which she co-founded), Twomey’s directorial debut The Breadwinner — about a headstrong young Afghan girl and based on a beloved novel — looks likely to follow a similar path to the Academy Awards. Coming with A-list support from executive producer Angelina Jolie, the film was a critical hit after premiering in Toronto.

• Emer Reynolds

  Director, ‘The Farthest’

  

  The Grierson Awards-nominated feature documentary director and multi-award-winning editor saw her doc debut Here Was Cuba — described by The Hollywood Reporter as a “real-life end of the world thriller” — screen at festivals worldwide. And Reynolds’ latest film, The Farthest, telling the ongoing story of the Voyager space mission, scooped three awards — including the audience award — at the Dublin Film Festival, screened at Tribeca and was picked up for broadcast by PBS.

   

• Andrew Freedman

  Producer, ‘Kissing Candice,’ ‘His & Hers’

  

  After half a decade producing shorts, Freedman, 36, broke into the feature world with the acclaimed and imaginative doc His & Hers, a 90-year-old love story told through the collective voices of 70 ladies at different stages of their lives. His latest feature, the searing and atmospheric coming-of-age drama Kissing Candice, directed by fellow rising name Aoife McArdle and produced via Freedman’s own Dublin-based Venom Films banner, debuted in Toronto’s Discovery section in September.

• Piers McGrail

  Cinematographer, ‘The Cured’

  

  After several years shooting shorts, music videos and commercials, McGrail, 31, filmed his first feature, Kelly + Victor, in 2011. The drama would go on to earn a BAFTA for outstanding debut. Since then, McGrail has been behind the lens for features such as Glassland, starring Toni Collette and Will Poulter, and, more recently, the PBS/BBC TV miniseries Little Women. His latest film, the Toronto-bowing postapocalyptic zombie drama The Cured, starred Ellen Page and was acquired by IFC.

• Alan Maher

  Producer, ‘Song of Granite’

  

  In producing SXSW-bowing doc/feature hybrid Song of Granite, Maher, 44, helped bring the dramatic life of legendary Irish sean nós (old style) folk singer Joe Heaney to the big screen. The film has since been selected as Ireland’s submission for the  foreign-language Oscar race. Maher also exec-produced this year’s doc Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami.

• Tom Vaughan-Lawlor

  Actor, ‘The Cured,’ ‘Maze,’ ‘Avengers: Infinity War’

  

  Although Vaughan-Lawlor received positive reactions for his turn in zombie horror flick The Cured, has the real-life prison escape thriller Maze coming up. This year also sees him star in acclaimed Brit indie Daphne, and the future for this 39-year-old already seems secure: He’s set to appear in Avengers: Infinity War.

• Kate McCullough

  Cinematographer, ‘The Farthest’

  

  A Sundance winner in 2010 for her cinematography on the documentary His & Hers, and with awards already under her belt for Mummy’s Little Helper, Out of the Blue and Hibernation, McCullough, 36, recently earned high praise for The Farthest — recounting the story of NASA’s ongoing Voyager space mission.