Round 26: Cork International Film Festival
PURE CORK
This months round of Out of Frame is our second official collaboration with Cork International Film Festival. We are excited to feature some of the filmmakers from the Irish Shorts 3: Pure Cork programme, screening the same day - 14:30pm - in the Everyman, Cork. We are looking forward to conversation with the filmmakers about their short films in the CIFF 2025 programme.
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Róisín (Ró) O’Donovan
Róisín (Ró) O'Donovan is a Dublin-based actor, intimacy professional and filmmaker.
With an acting career spanning 15 years (Conversations with Friends, Red Rock, Vivere), Ró holds a BA in Drama and Theatre Studies & English from UCC/Pace University and is an alumna of the inaugural programme for Screen Acting at The Factory in Dublin (now Bow St Academy).
Ró has an affinity for various elements of the industry, as one of Ireland’s first intimacy coordinators (Foundation, Chevalier, Wednesday), she is also a trained a Well-being Practitioner for the TV/Film industry and is a regular tutor of Screen Intimacy workshops for actors and filmmakers. Moan marks her first film and second directorial endeavour.
Ró hopes to reprise her collaboration with Neil O’Driscoll on their new script 'Womb Raider' which recently won Best Short Screenplay at Catalyst International Film Festival, was chosen for NTA's Short Film Exchange at Galway's Film Fleadh as well as Best Screenplay finalist at Kerry International Film Festival.
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Neil O'Driscoll
Neil O’Driscoll is an illustrator, theatre designer and filmmaker.
Neil is a video designer for stage whilst maintaining a practice as an illustrator and filmmaker. His recent theatre work includes ‘Fun Home’ at the Gate, Dublin, ‘Burnt Out’ at the Lyric, Belfast, ‘Palimpsest’ at the Complex, Dublin and ‘The Summer I Robbed A Bank’ at the Everyman, Cork.
Having completed a degree in Film and TV at Edinburgh College of Art in 2008, following certificates in animation and crafts, Neil worked as a freelance illustrator whilst writing and directing independent films, many of which have premiered at the Cork and Galway film festivals. Following a request to design set and video for Happy End (dir Jimmy Fay) in 2012, he moved into video design, often integrating drawing and other handmade elements into his theatre work.
Following a degree in Film and TV at Edinburgh College of Art, Neil moved into freelance illustration whilst writing and directing independent films and web series,
Following a request to design set and video for theatre in 2012, he then moved into projection design. His recent theatre work includes The Giggler Treatment at the Ark, Dublin; Eugene Onegin at the Belfast Opera House and Fun Home at the Gate, Dublin.
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Annie Mar
With roots in Ireland and Catalunya, Anna Mar’s practice employs painting and drawing to conjure dreamlike visual worlds which probe notions of belonging, identity and collective experience through connections to the natural world. This focus has led to telling environmental stories through animation with motion graphics designer Aaron Ross, working together on commissions for conscientious videos on specialist ecological subjects such as climate change, biodiversity and soil fertility. Glen Folk is their debut film with an artistic and experimental focus, blending elements of documentary and animation with a creative focus.
Annie and Aaron have worked with many environmental organisations on animation projects including WWF, Burrenbeo Trust, Great Irish Grasslands, Farming For Nature, NPWS, Capitals Coalition, Natural Capital Ireland.
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Brian Denis Matthew
Brian Denis Matthew is a Cork/Dublin-based actor, writer, and filmmaker. Brian began professional life as a Primary School teacher in 2017, but left his career to enrol in Bow Street Academy’s Programme for Screen Acting in 2020. Since graduating in 2021, Brian has worked on several projects spanning stage and screen. His recent work includes Am Abú! (TV, TG4, 2025), Dale Leadon Bolger's WEIGHT (Short, Galway Film Fleadh, 2024), Conor King’s A PASSING PLACE (Feature, Galway Film Fleadh, 2023), Lianne O’Shea’s PLAY (Stage, 2024)
As a writer and filmmaker, Brian founded ByMinute Productions while writing and directing his first short film, The Burning at Ballymanny, which was funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport, and Media, and Kildare County Council as part of its Decade of Commemorations 2013-2023. The project received nominations from the Fasnet Film Festival (Best Cork Short), the Richard Harris International Film Festival (Best National Short), and the Dublin International Short Film and Music Awards (Best Score).
Culchie received the ShortGrass Film Bursary from Kildare County Council, marking the latest collaboration between Brian and Richard Lennon, following several projects spanning stage and screen. They are hoping to reprise their partnership and are working hard on numerous future projects.
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Richard Lennon
Richard Lennon is an award-winning Filmmaker (Director / Cinematographer / Writer / Producer / Editor), Musician (Composer / Performer / Producer), Actor, and University Teacher, with a career spanning decades and continents. His resume includes award-winning films (feature, documentary, short & music video), gallery installation films, music videos, session and stage musician credits, as well as a Grammy Award for scholastic group performance. He is the co-artistic director and co-founder of Darn Skippy Productions.
Richard currently teaches Acting For Camera and Behind the Lens courses at the Gaiety School of Acting, Dublin. From 2009 until 2016 Richard taught filmmaking at New York University at Tisch School of the Arts (Dublin, Ireland and New York) and NYU Abu Dhabi.
Recently, Richard has been awarded grants from The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media; Kildare County Council; and Kildare's Short Grass Film Bursary for new work.
Richard's new short film Culchie (his second narrative fiction film as a director) is premiering as an Official Selection at the 2025 Cork International Film Festival, November 2025 and is nominated for the festival's Redbreast Unhidden Short Film Award.
Also, he won Best Film Score for his work on SWAN, UNMUTED at the 2025 Naas Film Festival and was nominated for Best Film, Director, Cinematography, Editing, and Sound.
He took home the Best Music Video Award at the 2022 Dublin International Short Film and Music Festival for his music film for Christian Wethered's song "La Madeleine." The video was also an Official Selection at the Prague Music Video Awards 2022 and the Disappear Here Film Festival 2023.
Richard received a "Best Score" nomination for his original music score for the short film The Burning at Ballymanny at the Dublin International Short Film and Music Festival 2023. This is also the first film collaboration between ByMinute Productions and Darn Skippy Productions, producers of Culchie @culchie_shortfilm
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Steve Canty
Born in 1976, he is an occasional filmmaker based in Cork with a lifelong passion for film and music. He first started making short movies with my brothers back in the 1980s — mostly action and horror, shot on whatever camera we could get our hands on.
Steve is fascinated by all aspects of filmmaking, from concept to final cut, though I’ll admit that writing is always the toughest part of the process.
This is his second time taking part in the Cork International Film Festival, with Chatter. My first film, A Christmas Drop, screened online in 2020 during the Covid era, so this marks my first time sharing a film with a live audience — which makes it extra special.
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