FILM & INCLUSIVITY
DISCUSSION ROUND
12:00 -13:30
Sunday 25th August | Upstairs at The Roundy
Hosted by Shane Joyce
Free Entry
A Discussion Round on queer representation in film and diversity in the industry.
PRISMA invites Sam Ahern (writer/director and festival manager of GAZE), Alba Fernandez (director of photography) and Natasha Waugh (director/screenwriter) to a conversation about their work and their experiences as queer crew in the film industry.
The event will be hosted by Shane Joyce (camera assistant and cinematographer).
Alba Fernandez
Alba Fernandez is a queer cinematographer and director based in Dublin. Following her directing debut film Oisín in 2022, Alba has gone on to direct 3 other shorts which have been selected for festivals such as Galway, Iris Prize and BFI Flare. For her directing and writing work she has been nominated for Best Director, Best Short Film and Best Screenwriting in some of the world’s top festivals and was nominated at the Kerry Film Festival for the Taking Flight Award. Alba is a member of Women in Film and TV Ireland and is currently completing a Masters in Screenwriting at IADT.
Sam Ahern
Sam’s latest film NIGHT GLANCES, just played at the 2024 Galway Film Fleadh. A follow-on from their successful writing/directing debut LATE BLOOMERS, which was selected for the Belfast Film Festival 2023, Gaze Film Festival 2023, and a GLIFF in Austin, TX. Both of these films were made with Komo Collective, led by Sam and Kieran (Sherry) Sheridan, and are both heartfelt, queer coming-of-age stories.
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Sam wrote the short film SAFE AS HOUSES (Screen Ireland’s Focus Shorts) which screened at Slamdance Film Festival and 50 film festivals internationally, winning multiple awards. SAFE AS HOUSES received development funding from Screen Ireland to turn the world of the short into
a TV series on which Sam is the lead writer, with Mia Mullarkey directing, and Claire McCabe and Jeanie Igoe producing. Sam and the team were awarded funding from Moviebloc to make a short film from the SAFE AS HOUSES world this summer, called YELLOW IS THE COLOUR OF, which is currently in post-production. Sam’s writing work has focused on social realism and long-form community research in the last 3 years.
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Sam is the proud new festival manager for GAZE Film Festival and watches shorts for the Tribeca Film Festival annually, co-programming the 2023 shorts Pride programme with Alice Shone. Sam previously worked at Copper Alley Productions with Lara Hickey and Jack Hickey for two years as the production and development executive, working across a slate of successful projects. From 2014-2018 Sam worked at DIFF as the projects manager.
Over the last year, Sam has been selected for the Screen Ireland Mentorship Programme with writer Malcolm Campbell, a Tyrone Gutherie Residency, and X-Pollinator 2024. Sam holds an MA in Screenwriting from the National Film School at IADT, a BDes in Visual Communication from NCAD, is a 2019 Warner Bros. Creative Talent alumni and a full member of the Writer’s Guild of Ireland.
Natasha Waugh
Natasha is an IFTA-nominated director and writer.
Her most successful film, Terminal, was inspired by the women affected by the 8th amendment in Ireland which restricted access to abortion. It went on to critical acclaim, winning several awards at home and abroad including a Writer’s Guild of Ireland ‘Zebbie’ award for Best Short Film Script, a nominations for Best Short film at the Irish Film & Television Academy Awards (IFTAs).
In 2017, Natasha was chosen to direct Mother - a short film commissioned by the Galway Film Centre, and RTÉ written by Jonathan Hughes. Natasha was mentored by Emmy winning director Dearbhla Walsh during
production of the short, which won runner up Best Short Film at the Dublin Feminist Film Festival, 2019, and Best Short Film at the Clones Short Film Festival, 2019.
Natasha recently co-wrote and directed the WeConsent ad with Chris Cottam. The ad is part of Dublin Rape Crises Centre’s nationwide consent awareness campaign which aired on Sky Ireland, and across social media. The video was in collaboration with Droga 5, and produced by Pull The Trigger.
In 2019, she directed short film We Don’t Choose How, funded by Kildare County Council Short Grass Films fund. The film won two audience awards: one at the Capital Irish Film Festival, and the other at the Chicago Irish Film Festival.
Natasha is the co-writer, and director of feature film Consentuality, which was developed with Screen Ireland.
Her latest short, La Tumba, was a second collaboration with Jonathan Hughes, writer of Mother, with Natalie McAuley of Subotica (Aisha) producing. The film won the Audience Award at the Solas Nua Capital Irish Film Festival, 2023.
For our event on Sunday 25th August, we are expanding our usual monthly evening session into a small one day film festival. This festival will focus on the LGBTQ+ community in Cork, including their representation in film, their use of film as activism, and their role in the film industry.
Alongside our regular Out of Frame film talk, we will offer space throughout the day for different activities geared toward educating festival goers and providing topical entertainment in the form of workshops and a panel of queer themed short films.
More details to be announced soon!