'My grandad was at my Everyman screening': Meet the new generation of filmmakers in Cork

Ahead of the Cork Film Festival, Darragh Leen profiles three of the emerging filmmakers showcasing their work at the event

Liadán Roche, David Murphy, and Shannon Haly.

Liadán Roche

Director of Hostile Architecture (part of the Best Cork Short competition).

Liadán Roche on set.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Cork and went to secondary school in Bandon.

How did you get into filmmaking?

It was only when I got into college. It was through smart phone competitions that I got a taste for it. I had the opportunity to study screenwriting in London in the NFTS [National Film and Television School] and that’s when things started clicking into place in my mind.

What are your early cinema memories?

A very close friend who I thought was super intellectual said I had to see American Beauty. I remember watching that late at night and being transfixed at what a movie can be.

What ideas do you gravitate towards?

I primarily explore gender identity and sex. I gravitate to it because I feel like there is so much narrative potential there.

What in your opinion are the most important movies about the trans experience?

There’s been a real flourishing in the trans scene recently. Divine Hammer by the M sisters captures online spaces in a way I’ve never seen. Castration Movie is another big one.

Liadán Roche.

Why do you think it’s a struggle to get these sort of ideas funded nowadays?

Especially in Ireland, the funding bodies can be quite conservative. When a funding body sees my ideas on paper they can shy away. It feels like the diversity of funding is becoming narrower too.

It must be a special moment bringing a film to the CIFF.

I grew up around the film festival so it feels like a full circle moment. After moving to Dublin and studying there, I came out as trans and that’s when I got into filmmaking, so bringing back a film like this is rewarding.

Tell us about Hostile Architecture.

It’s a horror about trans romance and the housing crisis. Billy has been stuck at his childhood home perpetually and can’t seem to find a way out, and Grace is effectively homeless. We’re meeting them both at a time of great precarity but they’re still able to connect for a moment of intimacy in this shared space.

Where are we right now with the audience’s appetite for sex on screen?

A lot has been written about how Gen Z is more sex-averse. I have seen in queer and trans spaces that sex in film can be embraced. My boyfriend James programmed Trans Sex On Screen and seeing the amount of passion for it, it changed my mind. I’ve seen that there is an audience for it.

Future plans?

I’m getting a short film off the ground about a young trans woman who has cut herself off from the outside world to fully transition. It’s going to be a body horror.

Shannon Haly

Director of Showpony (part of the World Premiere Shorts programme).

Megan Haly in short film Showpony, directed by her sister Shannon Haly.

Where are you from?

I’m from Kerry Pike in Cork but living in London at the moment.

Where did your journey into filmmaking begin?

I messaged Peter Foott and asked if I could be on the Young Offenders set and watch what he does. From there, I started getting assistant director jobs. Then I went to New York to study at the Stella Adler School of Acting, but covid happened so I dropped out. That’s when my sister Megan and I started writing together.

How is it getting to work with your sister? How does that creative bond work?

We’ve done short films Breakfast Roll, Dollar Babies and Showpony and wrote Cortisol together during covid. Our roles will depend on the project and what feels right. I love working together.

We’ve both been doing this long enough to know it’s hard. It’s amazing to have somebody who fully understands that feeling.

Any early memories that opened your eyes to the possibilities of the art form?

I saw Blood Brothers in the Opera House when I was 12 and I remember everyone around me crying. I kept thinking it is insane how you can create this work of art that brings people together for a universal experience.

What artists are inspiring your work these days?

Shannon Haly. Picture: Fionn Hennessy

I really love Sean Baker’s work. Olga Sokal, a Polish photographer. Her work is extraordinary too and directing-wise it inspires me a lot.

It must be a proud moment for you to have a film screened here at CIFF?

In 2024, my film was screened at the Everyman where I grew up going to plays. My grandad, who introduced us to theatre, was there and it was so special.

What is it that you want audiences to take away from Showpony?

I want people who aren’t comfortable in their sexuality to watch Showpony and understand that coming out can be a positive experience. The film is about a comfortably queer woman who finds her grandmother at a queer club. The conversation that they have is safe and gentle.

Where do you think we stand at the moment in terms of opportunities for filmmakers in Ireland and funding for creatives?

In Ireland, we are so lucky for the funding opportunities that we have. It’s so much harder to get things made in the US, for example. At home, at least we have the potential to get help.

What’s next?

We are working on our second play with Des Kennedy at the Everyman at the moment and we are trying to get Fruity made into a show.

David Murphy

Director of documentary Chris Kent Goes Offline.

A still from Chris Kent Goes Offline.

How did you get into filmmaking?

I’m from Tralee but I came to study in UCC where we would make comedy sketches and short films together. I cut my teeth in comedy sketches and that caught the eye of Bernard Casey and through that I got to know other comedians.

Was that a pathway into working with Chris Kent?

I filmed some behind-the-scenes stuff with Chris’ support act Cornelius O’Sullivan, who recommended me to him. It was a bit of a gamble from his perspective because I hadn’t made a project on this scale before.

What filmmakers inspire?

Steve Coogan, Nathan Fielder and Bill Hader. They are unique voices in comedy who seem to be able to go further than just comedy. I love The Rehearsal, which really blurs the line between fiction and non-fiction. That excites me a lot, the idea of being able to manipulate reality.

David Murphy.

What ideas and/or types of people do you gravitate most towards most in your work?

Being able to show a side to someone that not everyone gets to see. In the context of a standup comedian, what someone sees is the act. What they don’t see is the work that goes into it. It’s not revealing the secrets behind the card trick. I don’t think it takes anything away from someone’s enjoyment. I think it enhances it.

How much of a look behind the curtain do we get with Offline?

Chris feels like he has nothing to hide. He was happy to film everything. I got to be in his house and see how he juggles career and fatherhood. It’s a raw glimpse into his life.

The doc is about disconnecting from our phones. What do you think we have to gain from disconnecting?

If someone is experiencing any minor stress, that is when they turn to that instant gratification. It allows us to not deal with our problems appropriately. I’ve tried introducing that into my own life, dealing with things head on.

What’s next for David Murphy?

I’d like to take what I learned from this experience and make some short-form content again.