2025 Judges

Cara Holmes is a film editor and director and has worked on feature and short documentaries on a wide range of subjects, from the surreal world of self-experimentation to a visceral snapshot of choreographer and dancer, Oona Doherty. Cara's editing credits include feature documentaries 'Housewife of the Year' CPH: DOX 2025 'Piano Dreams', 'Father of the Cyborgs' TRIBECA 2021 and 'Lost in France' CPH: DOX 2017. Her directing credits include the award-winning films 'Welcome To A Bright White Limbo' and 'Notes From Sheepland'. She has presented her directing work at festivals including Telluride, HotDocs, Sheffield Doc|Fest, Aesthetica, Catalyst Film Festival, IFI Documentary Festival, GAZE, Offline Film Festival, Dublin International Film Festival, and the Edinburgh Film Festival. 'Welcome To A Bright White Limbo' received a Special Jury mention at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2020 and won an IFTA for Best Short Film. 'Notes From Sheepland' won Best Irish Feature Documentary at the Dublin International Film Festival in 2023 and the Pull Focus Best Irish Feature Documentary at Docs Ireland 2023. Her upcoming feature documentary 'Lesbian Lines' will be released in 2025. 

Melanie Iredale is a film exhibitor, audience development strategist and cine-activist. In 2021, she became Director of Reclaim The Frame, the charity behind the UK’s campaign for gender equity in cinema, known formerly as Birds’ Eye View Film Festival. Now in its 20th year, through film campaigns, training programmes and data-based advocacy, the organisation seeks to build a community for filmmakers of all marginalised genders and their work, with a mission to promote equity in all film spaces. Prior to this, Melanie was Deputy Director at Sheffield DocFest 2014-2021, one of the world’s leading documentary festivals and marketplaces, and served as Director of Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival 2009-2014, renowned for its award-winning commissions. Melanie is invited to speak regularly on EDI in the sector, has served on more than a dozen juries globally, including the Teddy Awards at Berlinale, and is a BAFTA member.

Fatoumata Gandega is a writer, director and multidisciplinary artist. Her work focuses on themes of identity, displacement, and belonging, centring voices from diasporic, Muslim, and Black communities. Her craft developed in residencies like Fire Station Artists' Studio and Awards like The National Talent Academy First Credit brings impactful stories to life, where unique perspectives are celebrated and embraced. Fatoumata’s first documentary "Where The Heart Is" is an official selection for the Catalyst International Film Festival 2024. She was published in several magazines as a writer and was the 2023 Young Writer Delegate for the Belfast Book Festival. The European Parliament and other EU organisations have supported her decolonial exhibition, Beyond Borders, launched in Brussels and premiered at the WXOOL Film Festival in Paris. Her short drama 'I Belong' premiered at the Dublin International Film Festival 2025.

Kwaku Fortune is an actor and playwright known for his work across stage and screen. He will play Kwaku in The Haircut, written and directed by Wayne Jordan for The Ark, and recently appeared as Vet in Amelia at the Dublin Theatre Festival. On screen, he plays Dec in season 2 of The Dry (Element Pictures) and the Narrator in Anniversary, directed by Jan Komasa. He starred as Josh Ola in Hidden Assets, reprising the role in season two. His recent stage work includes You Belong to Me (as Gary, directed by Lynne Parker), Piaf (Gate Theatre), and The Beauty Queen of Leenane (Lyric Hammersmith & Chichester Festival Theatre). His TV credits include Line of Duty (BBC), Redemption (ITV), and Normal People (BBC/Hulu). He starred in Burn It All and Animals, opposite Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat. Kwaku voices Gael in Skydance Animation/Apple+’s Luck. His theater credits also include Asking for It (Birmingham Rep), Peat, and Raftery’s Hill (Abbey Theatre). He has been nominated for the 2024 Screen Ireland - IFTA Rising Star Award.

Ruth Meehan is a writer/director of award-winning & nominated film and television since the early 2000s. Ruth’s debut film, The Bright Side was the recipient of the Audience Award at the 2020 Cork International Film Festival, the Jury Award at The Sonoma International Film Festival 2021 and the Grand Logis, Prix du Public in Rennes in Brittany in 2022. More recently Ruth has directed the Lionsgate-funded TV series Northern Lights for Deadpan Pictures in Dublin. Ruth is currently in development with three features and a number of TV series for both Irish and International producers. She also mentors at Bow Street Acting Academy, The Lir Academy, IADT, and Queens University Belfast, along with Stowe Story Lab. Ruth is an active board member of The Screen Director’s Guild of Ireland, and a member of the Writer’s Guild of Ireland and Women in Film and TV.

Brendan Byrne is an internationally recognised filmmaker who has made 15 feature length films in the last 10 years in both the fiction and nonfiction genres. Selected credits include That They May Face The Rising Sun, In The Shadow Of Beirut, Gaza, Bobby Sands: 66 Days, Mercury 13, One Million American Dreams, Hear My Voice, An Engineer Imagines, Maze And Jump.

Dr Neasa Hardiman is an IFTA- and twice-BAFTA winning Director, Writer and Executive Producer who has created large-scale globally successful prestige dramas with Netflix, Amazon, Disney, and Hulu; as well as making high-end drama with public service media including the BBC and Channel 4. Her feature film Sea Fever screened in competition on the opening night of TIFF 2019, the film won numerous plaudits as well as worldwide distribution. In addition to her professional practice, Neasa serves on the Boards of RTÉ, Trinity College Dublin, the Irish Film Institute and the Dublin International Film Festival.

Maríssa Aroy is an Emmy award-winning director renowned for her impactful documentaries, including the celebrated PBS program “Sikhs in America.” Her work also earned her an Emmy nomination for "The Delano Manongs," highlighting the pivotal yet overlooked contributions of Filipinos in the U.S. labor movement. A Fulbright Scholar, Aroy was awarded the inaugural Hatsuye Yamasaki Award for Visionary Leadership by the College of William and Mary. Her career also encompasses educational roles, having taught at Trinity College Dublin, Berkeley City College in California and The New School in New York. Recently transitioning into TV drama, Aroy continues to push boundaries in storytelling. She resides in Wicklow Town, Ireland, with her husband and creative collaborator Niall McKay. 

Rouzie Hassanova is an award-winning writer and director whose Muslim identity gives her an authentic and fresh vision to her work. She is known for her commitment to collaboration, powerful themes and true-to-life performances. Her debut feature film, Radiogram, won several awards, including the Audience Award at the Sofia International Film Festival, the Best Debut Award at the Golden Rose Film Festival, and the Special Mention Award at the Vukovar International Film Festival. Radiogram was screened at international festivals in Haifa, Dubai, Heartlands, Istanbul, and Transilvania, and is available on Amazon Prime and SBS Australia. Her collection of award-winning shorts Song for Serbia, Tree Without a Root, Vicky, and The Portrait, travelled to various festivals including Show Me Shorts, Raindance, In the Palace, Galway, Big Sur, Sofia, and Wairoa Māori Film Festival. Rouzie is also a creative leader with extensive experience in international film financing, development, production and post-production. While in London, she worked for the renowned post-production company Prime Focus, and the international sales agents HanWay Films and Mister Smith Entertainment. Since moving to New Zealand with her Kiwi husband, she has worked in Development at Great Southern TV, the New Zealand Film Commission, and Libertine Pictures. Currently at The Sweetshop Entertainment, Rouzie played an integral part in financing Mārama by Taratoa Stappard, while developing their content slate. 

Kirsten Sheridan is an Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated writer, a studio feature director, and an independent producer. She co-founded The Factory, Ireland’s premier filmmaking collective, and currently works in film and television in Los Angeles.

Richie Conroy is an award-winning comedy and drama writer. Richie co-created and co-wrote the Irish-language crime drama series Crá (TG4/Fibin), now streaming on BBC iPlayer, and wrote the upcoming feature mockumentary Fran The Man (Forty Foot Pictures/Screen Ireland/RTÉ) starring Ardal O’Hanlon, adapted from Richie’s own series Fran: Assistant Manager, which he also directed. Other recent credits include the Two by Two feature films and Malory Towers, a lavish BBC adaptation of the much-loved Enid Blyton books. 

Ciaran Cassidy is an award-winning filmmaker and founder of Little Wing Films, specializing in factual storytelling across cinema, TV, and audio. His films have premiered at major festivals like Sundance, Telluride, IDFA, and SXSW, earning over 40 international awards. In 2024, his documentary Housewife of the Year premiered at CPH:DOX, won Best Irish Documentary at Galway Film Fleadh, and the Jury Award for Best Documentary at Newport Beach Film Festival. That year, he also produced Stakeknife, a BBC Sounds podcast about an IRA enforcer-turned-double agent, praised by The Observer as “riveting” and “exceptional.” His debut feature Jihad Jane (2020) received a theatrical release in the UK and Ireland, earning critical acclaim. He also wrote The Racer, which premiered at SXSW. His short films The Moderators (2017) and The Last Days of Peter Bergman (Sundance premiere) won multiple awards, including an IFTA. His debut short Collaboration Horizontale premiered at Telluride and won at Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Sinead O’Brien is an award-winning producer, director, writer, and non-fiction author with a 25-year career spanning documentary and drama. She has worked with Screen Ireland, BBC, Sky Arts, RTE, and others on various films. She recently produced Legends in My Backyard and is in production on The Double Killing of George Nkencho as writer, director, and executive producer. She co-authored Left for Dead (Sunday Times Sports Book of the Year) and Striking Back (Irish Independent Political Book of the Year), which is being adapted for the stage by Matt Spangler (The Kite Runner). Since 2023, she has focused on drama, directing The Invitation (DLR First Frames), being a finalist for RTE Storyland and The Stowe Connemara Lab 2024, and completing an MA in Screenwriting at IADT. She attended MIDPOINT TV Writers Room under Gabor Krigler and Ben Morris and recently shadow-directed Hannah Quinn on Sanctuary: A Witches Tale (AMC+), mentored by Lisa Mulcahy. Sinead is currently in post-production on her second short film, Little Btch*, funded by Ardan and RTE.

Vanessa Gildea is an award winning Producer / Director / Writer and Head of Department Film + Media and the National Film School, IADT. She has a Masters in Screenwriting (First class hons) from the NFS and a BA in Media & Communication and English. Vanessa has received five IFTA nominations including as writer / director of The White Dress, as producer in the Feature Documentary category for Dambé – The Mali Project , John Ford – Dreaming the Quiet Man, as Producer / Director of The 34th – A history of Marriage Equality in Ireland and as part of the team that made the IFTA winning 1916 The Irish Rebellion. She is a former Vice-Chair of Women in Film & TV Ireland and served on the board for three years.