An initiative to help address gender diversity in the Irish screen industry.
27/02/2026
Thanks to writer/director Nanouk Leopold for today’s X-Pollinator / Dublin International Film Festival Director in Focus discussion, moderated by film critic Tara Brady.
An insightful conversation covering Nanouk Leopold’s work to date, from films BROWNIAN MOVEMENT, COBAIN, and her latest film WHITETAIL, which had its Irish premiere in Dublin International Film Festival last night; as well as her experience in festivals, and what it means to be a female filmmaker.
27/01/2026
X-Pollinator, in association with Dublin International Film Festival, are delighted to present a discussion with one of the Netherland's most acclaimed directors, Nanouk Leopold - following the Irish premiere of her latest film WHITETAIL at DIFF '26.
X-Pollinator has an allocation of tickets for this event, available to the X-Pollinator alumni network. Link in bio to book a free ticket - please contact [email protected] for the promo code.
Nanouk Leopold graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam and from the Dutch Film and Television Academy.
Her debut ÎLES FLOTTANTES was selected for the IFFR Tiger Competition in 2001. GUERNSEY was selected for the Quinzaine at Cannes in 2005. WOLFSBERGEN premiered at the Forum of the Berlinale 2007 and was selected for TIFF in the same year. BROWNIAN MOVEMENT, starring Sandra Hüller, premiered in Toronto in 2010 and had its European premiere at the Forum in Berlin in 2011. In 2013 IT''S ALL SO QUIET was the opening film of the Berlinale Panorama Special. In 2018 COBAIN had its world premiere at the Berlinale in the Generation section.
Nanouk became a member of the Society of the Arts of the Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences in 2016. In 2017 she directed her first play, FROM THE LIFE OF THE MARIONETTES, for the prestigious Amsterdam theatre group ITA and in 2019 THE HOMECOMING by Harold Pinter. Nanouk also makes video installations together with visual artist Daan Emmen. Early 2021 they finished an installation for the Eye Film Museum in Amsterdam. The same year she made her opera debut with DER ZWERG by Zemlinsky for the Dutch National Opera. She also directed ANATOMY OF A SU***DE by Alice Birch in 2021.
With WHITETAIL, Leopold makes her highly anticipated return to the silver screen, which has premiered at Toronto International Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Thessaloniki Film Festival, IFFR and Ostend Film Festival.
WHITETAIL, a Dutch/Irish/Belgian co-production which shot in Kerry and Cork, stars Natasha O'Keeffe, Andrew Bennett, Aaron McCusker, Rory Nolan, Simone Kirby and Aidan O'Hare.
In the isolated beauty of southern Ireland, Jen works as a conservation ranger in the same woods where, years ago, her younger sister lost her life in a tragic accident. The sudden return of Oscar, a boyfriend from her distant past, stir memories long buried, forcing her to confront their shared history. As a poacher begins leaving violent traces across the land she protects, the line between past and present starts to blur and Jen has to face what's been haunting her all along.
Dublin International Film Festival will screen the Irish premiere of WHITETAIL on Thursday 26 February, 20:15 in the Light House Cinema. Tickets are now available: https://www.diff.ie/programme/whitetail
Thanks to the panel for our last 2025 event - Directors in Focus: 2025 Award Winning Shorts with directors Niamh Bryson (TRASNA NA LíNE), Aisling Byrne (MARY IS MISSING), Jeda de Brí (NAKED LIGHTS) and Zoë Nolan (INTERNAL BLEEDING), moderated by Rachel Carey.
Coimisiún na Meán Screen Ireland National Talent Academies Ireland
26/11/2025
X-Pollinator are thrilled to host a Directors in Focus panel on Monday 8 December with the directors Niamh Bryson, Aisling Byrne, Jeda de Brí and Zoë Nolan - the filmmakers behind the award winning shorts from the 2025 Irish film festival circuit, having collectively won awards at Dublin International Film Festival, Cork International Film Festival, Clones Film Festival, Di**le Distillery International Film Festival, Galway Film Fleadh and Belfast Film Festival.
The panel will focus on each award-winning short; the importance of having a film festival strategy, and the transition from shorts to features. The panel will be followed by a networking reception.
TRASNA NA LÍNE, directed and co-written by Niamh Bryson, was the winner of the Sue Bruce-Smith Award for Best Irish Short Film at Dublin International Film Festival. Selected as part of Virgin Media Discovers.
MARY IS MISSING, directed and co-written by Aisling Byrne, was the winner of the Grand Prix Irish Short at Cork International Film Festival.
NAKED LIGHTS, written and directed by Jeda de Brí, was the winner of the Short Film Competition at Clones Film Festival, the Dovinia Award for Best International Short Film at Di**le Distillery International Film Festival, and was the Audience Award winner at Dublin International Film Festival. Selected as part of Screen Ireland’s Focus Shorts.
INTERNAL BLEEDING, written and directed by Zoë Nolan, was the winner of the James Flynn Award for Best First Short Drama at Galway Film Fleadh, and was the Shorts Competition Winner at Belfast Film Festival.
Filmmaker Lucile Hadžihalilović (Innocence, The Ice Tower) joins the IFI for a very special masterclass, reflecting on her work with host film critic Tara Brady.
Hadžihalilović also joins the festival on 20 Nov for a Q&A screening of her latest film The Ice Tower, a dark and mesmirising modern fairy tale.
Award-winning auteur filmmaker Lucile Hadžihalilović (born 1961 in Lyon) studied filmmaking at the prestigious IDHEC (now La Fémis) in 1983. With fellow filmmaker and partner Gaspar Noé, she founded Les Cinémas de la Zone in the 1990s. Her debut La Bouche de Jean-Pierre (1996) and breakthrough Innocence (2004) established her as one of France’s most formally distinctive and daring filmmakers of the last few decades.
The Ice Tower, won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution, Berlin International Film Festival 2025.
07/11/2025
Following last night’s Irish premiere of SAIPAN as the Cork International Film Festival Opening Gala, X-Pollinator are thrilled to have hosted a Directors in Conversation panel at In The Frame: SAIPAN at Republic of Work, as part of the festival’s industry programme.
Thank you to directors Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn for their insights, filmmaker Oonagh Kearney for moderating, and Cork International Film Festival for their partnership.
SAIPAN comes to Irish cinemas on January 1, and UK cinemas on January 23.
15/10/2025
X-Pollinator is thrilled to be partnering with Cork International Film Festival on IN THE FRAME: SAIPAN, a special event which will focus on this year’s Opening Night film.
IN THE FRAME: SAIPAN will take place on Friday 7 November, 14:00 in Republic of Work.
X-Pollinator has a number of tickets available for our alumni network. If you would like to avail of a ticket and attend this event, please contact [email protected].
The 70th Cork International Film Festival takes place from 6th - 16th November.
For more information on IN THE FRAME: SAIPAN, as well as this year’s Cork International Film Festival programme: https://corkfilmfest.org
To coincide with the Cork International Film Festival Opening Night Gala celebration of SAIPAN, the festival will present a special event focusing on the craft of the film, which will comprise three conversations with key creative players behind the project, and include in-depth explorations of their individual processes.
To begin the event, SAIPAN co-directors Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn will join X-Pollinator to discuss their directorial vision for the film, and the journey from inception, through collaborating with the screenwriter, casting, prep, production and post.
Dove-tailing this conversation, Irish Screen Editors will examine the editorial process with editors John Murphy and Gavin Buckley. Finally, the Screen Composers Guild of Ireland will analyse the score of the film with its composer David Holmes, a long-standing collaborator of the filmmakers.
The event will be followed by a networking drinks reception, and is supported by Coimisiún na Meán, in collaboration with X-Pollinator, Irish Screen Editors and Screen Composers Ireland.
Session breakdown:
1. SAIPAN: Directors in Conversation
Speakers: Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn - Co-directors, SAIPAN
Host: Sarah McTeigue - Co-Chair, Irish Screen Editors
In partnership with Irish Screen Editors
3. SAIPAN: The Score
Speaker - David Holmes - Composer, SAIPAN
Host: Sarah Glennane - CEO, Screen Composers Ireland
In partnership with Screen Composers Ireland
03/10/2025
⚡ Screen Ireland is seeking ambitious creative talent to participate in the next round of the Screen Mentoring Scheme.
Emerging writers, directors, producers can apply for 1-to-1 mentoring support to further their professional development.
Apply by Tuesday, 7 October, 11.59pm ➡️ bit.ly/4pURx1o
22/09/2025
Today marked the end of X-Pollinator: INCUBATOR 2.0, our talent development programme which aims to build on the success of X-Pollinator by inviting previous participants to get together into teams to collaborate on new feature film or long-form TV ideas, pitches and treatments.
After a nine month period of development, congratulations to our six projects who have now finalised their treatments and pitch decks, as well as pitched their projects at today’s event at Droga5 Dublin.
BRÍD: A GIRL BECOMES A LEGEND - writer Joanne Heffernan and director Cat Mangan Williams
DANCE MOVE - writer Joanna McClurg and producer Tamryn Reinecke
DOWN BY THE RIVER - writers Eva O'Connor and Eimear Reilly
FISHING - writer/director Aisling O'Regan Sargent and producer Philip Emo
HOLD TIGHT - writer/director Ayla Amano and producers Aisling Malone and Lorraine Higgins
MEDIOCRE LAND - writers Áine Gallagher and Síomha McQuinn
Thank you to writer/director Kim Bartley and producer Rachel Lysaght for coming in to talk about their project LEMONADE, which took part in our first edition of INCUBATOR.
Thank you to our pitch panel - Julianne Forde (Tailored Films), Claire Dunlop (Eclipse Pictures) and Grainne Humphreys (Dublin International Film Festival).
Thank you to our INCUBATOR 2.0 mentors - Chelsea Morgan Hoffman, Gilly Fogg, Alison Spittle, Aisling Walsh, Peter McKenna and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly.
Thank you to our INCUBATOR 2.0 script editors - Jack Casey, Dee Roycroft, Sarah Golding, Julie O’Leary and Meredith Duff.
Thank you to our pitch book designers - Conor Merriman, Jules O'Connor and Ais Brady.
Thank you to our pitch consultant - Agathe Berman.
Thank you to our funders - Screen Ireland, National Talent Academies Ireland and Coimisiún na Meán, as well as Droga5 Dublin for their continued support.
Keep an eye out for these incredible projects 💥
📸 : Freddie Greenall
15/09/2025
X-Pollinator are thrilled to host an online case study panel on the feature documentary A WANT IN HER on Monday 6 October, 17:00 - 18:00 with director Myrid Carten and producer Roisín Geraghty, with thanks to Break Out Pictures. This panel will be moderated by filmmaker Cara Holmes.
Following its world premiere at IDFA in November 2024, A WANT IN HER has screened at DocPoint - Helsinki Documentary Film Festival - winner of the International Competition; Dublin International Film Festival, where it won both Best Documentary and the Audience Award; Docs Ireland, winning the Pull Focus Best Irish Documentary Competition; as well as featuring at True/False Film Festival, Sheffield DocFest, Millennium Docs Against Gravity, Göteburg Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival and the Irish Film Institute Documentary Festival.
When her mother goes missing somewhere in Ireland, artist Myrid Carten returns from London to find her. Her search takes her into a feuding family, a contested house; and a history that threatens to take everyone down, including herself. Intimate, surprising, and often darkly funny conversations with her mother and other family members reveal the trials of loving someone who struggles with addiction and madness.
A WANT IN HER is an immersive, first person account of the cost of love, and how difficult it can be to escape. It asks the universal question: how can we be with those we love without losing ourselves?
A WANT IN HER will be released in Irish and UK cinemas on Friday 10 October.
X-Pollinator is supported by Coimisiún na Meán, Screen Ireland through the Screen Stakeholders Scheme and the National Talent Academies Ireland.
30/08/2025
Thank you to everyone for our recent X-Pollinator and Strandhill Film & Folk Festival panel with National Talent Academies: Director in Focus with Neasa Ní Chianáin (YOUNG PLATO, SCHOOL LIFE).
Thank you to Neasa, Marian Quinn for moderating, and Vincent, Alice and Stephen from the Strandhill Film & Folk Festival team, as well as the team from Shells Cafe for the post event networking reception.
And to our funders - National Talent Academies, Screen Ireland and Coimisiún na Meán.
06/08/2025
X-Pollinator and Strandhill Film & Folk Festival, with the support of the National Talent Academies Film & TV Drama, are thrilled to host a panel with director Neasa Ní Chianáin, one of Ireland’s most established documentary talents, moderated by writer/director Marian Quinn.
Neasa Ní Chianáín is a documentary film director and writer, who has directed nine single docs (five feature length) and one TV series.
Her film IN LOCO PARENTIS (aka SCHOOL LIFE), an observational documentary following the lives of two inspirational teachers in Ireland’s only remaining primary-age boarding school, premiered in competition at both IDFA 2016 and Sundance 2017, and won the Special Jury Prize in the Golden Gate Awards at the San Francisco Film Festival, and the Audience Award at Visions du Réel in Nyon.
YOUNG PLATO, set in post conflict Belfast’s Ardoyne, charts the dream of Headmaster Kevin McArevey and his dedicated visionary team, illustrating how critical thinking and pastoral care can empower and encourage children to see beyond the boundaries and limitations of their own community. The IFTA-winning documentary played at over seventy film festivals, and was theatrically released in seven countries, including a six month run in Japan; winning 14 awards, and was nominated for IDA, BIFA, Grierson and Satellite Awards in 2023.
Neasa’s last feature documentary, THE ALEXANDER COMPLEX, had its world premiere at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival 2024, and tells the story of when the tomb of Alexander the Great, which was believed to be lost to history, is allegedly discovered by an enigmatic, amateur French treasure hunter, an international group of experts is assembled and attempts to locate the lost tomb and the treasures inside.
19:00 - 19:30 Registration / Arrival
19:30 - 20:30 Director in Focus: Neasa Ní Chianáin
20:30 - 22:00 Networking reception, with thanks to the National Talent Academy Film & TV Drama
Registrations opens Sunday 10 August, 17:00.
X-Pollinator is supported by Screen Ireland, Coimisiún na Meán and the National Talent Academies Film & TV Drama.
Strandhill Film & Folk Festival is supported by The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon, CreativeIrl and Sligo County Council.
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CALL FOR APPLICATIONS:
A NEW INITIATIVE X-POLLINATOR ANNOUNCED TO HELP RAPIDLY ADDRESS THE GENDER IMBALANCE IN IRISH FILM INDUSTRY
X-POLLINATOR was launched today is an ambitious new cross-disciplinary professional development and networking initiative aiming to kickstart collaborations between female writing and directing talent and take positive action to rapidly address the gender imbalance in the Irish audio-visual industry.
Conceived by leading film and television producer Katie Holly (Love & Friendship, Extra Ordinary) and developed in collaboration with theatre, arts and film producer Lara Hickey (Where We Live, THISISPOPBABY), X-POLLINATORis supported by BAI, Screen Skills Ireland, Screen Ireland and Creative Europe Desk Ireland and is presented in association with The Lir Academy.
For the inaugural event taking place over two weekends on 2nd / 3rd November and 7th / 8th December, X-POLLINATOR invites applications to participate from female writing and directing talent, both emerging and established, working across the disciplines of film, theatre, literature, comedy and visual arts. Producers of any gender are also invited to apply.
X-POLLINATOR wants to inspire the forging of new creative teams to foster the production of new work for the screen from emerging and established female creative talent. TheX-POLLINATOR weekends will offer a carefully curated programme of talks, masterclasses, panel discussions, break-out sessions and keynote speeches from esteemed artists and industry figures, sharing their approach and experiences to inspire and inform participants. The initiative will also address the business and practical side of creative screen content and navigating the audio-visual industry.
The initiative will also provide crucial facilitated networking opportunities to make connections between participants and build the female creative teams of the future. The first wave of speakers will be announced shortly.
BAI chief executive, Michael O’Keeffe: “The BAI is proud to support X-POLLINATOR, which will bring together professionals in the audiovisual sector to promote and celebrate female talent. We want to see more female leaders and creative partnerships to address the gender imbalance in the audiovisual industry and foster a media landscape that better represents the diversity of Irish society. X-POLLINATOR is an innovative project that will inspire and encourage 150 participants to share ideas, form new creative partnerships and bring more women to the forefront of the audiovisual industry.”
Gareth Lee, Manager at Screen Skills Ireland, had the following to say: "Screen Skills Ireland believes that continuing to improve the diversity and inclusivity of the screen sector is vital, which is why we are delighted to support X-POLLINATOR. It’s a timely and exciting initiative that will contribute to addressing gender imbalance in the sector and encourage cross-pollination of diverse ideas from creative female talent."
Producer and Course Director Katie Holly: “I’m excited about the potential the X-POLLINATOR initiative has to build teams and advance the careers of the next generation of female Irish talent. Having participated in the first Catalyst scheme, I developed relationships with so many creative collaborators and peers, and two of my first features came directly from attending those weekends, as did many more films from other teams. I’m looking forward to being inspired by the brilliant female talent who are already making waves in the creative sector across so many disciplines but also to making an important positive step towards addressing the ongoing gender imbalance in the screen industry.”
Applications are currently open with the deadline of Monday 7th October, 5pm, visit the Screen Skills Ireland application page to apply.
