FESTIVAL TEAM

Dr. Susan Liddy lectures in the Department of Media and Communication Studies in MIC, Limerick for her day job! She has published extensively on the screen industries and is especially interested in equality and diversity issues.

Susan is President of Women in Film and Television International and Chair of Women in Film and Television Ireland. She is a board member of the Writers Guild of Ireland, Raising Films Ireland and the Irish Film Institute. She is a member of the Steering Committee for the National Talent Academy Film and TV Crew South and the Mid-West Film and TV Training and Education Group. She regularly organizes and contributes to debates about the Irish screen industries nationally and internationally.

Dan Airey is a presenter, podcaster, producer and filmmaker. He is the co-producer and co-presenter of the award-winning Dan and Darragh Do Ability Podcast, talking to people with disabilities and trying to get people to see life through their eyes and so much more. He has considerable experience of the production process from beginning to end following a four-year degree in Creative Digital Media and a Masters in Broadcast Production for TV and Radio. He wrote and directed the short documentary L.I.F.E. (Live. It. Fully. Everyday). as part of Virgin Media Sharp Shorts 2023. He has worked as a researcher in RTÉ on Angela Scanlon’s Ask Me Anything, The Late Late Show, The Late Late Toy Show and developed content for 2023 and beyond. He has produced films and documentaries such as A Deluge of Memories and Swim With Richard that focus on human stories.

He has collaborated extensively with the Irish Wheelchair Association, National Youth Council of Ireland and Youth Work Ireland promoting disability rights through various speaking engagements, acting as an EU Youth Delegate for Ireland at the EU Youth Conference in Vienna, Austria. He has a unique set of skills and a different way of looking at the world.

 Aisha Bolaji is a Nigerian-Irish filmmaker currently specialising in fiction direction and producing at the National Film School, IADT. In 2022, Aisha was a member of WEFT Studio, a POC artists group run by the Dublin Fringe Festival as well as Writers Room, a scheme developed by Writers Guild of Ireland. Aisha has varying experience within film curation and programming working for festivals such as CHROMA International Film Festival, Her International Film Festival, NOISE Flicks Youth Film Festival, Dublin University Film Festival and Dublin International Film Festival. Her passions reside in arts activism and advocating for meaningful representation both in front of and behind the camera. She is co-founder of the GALPAL Collective an arts and media collective dedicated to the celebration and cultivation of community for young ethnic minorities, women and queer people within Ireland. 

  Vanessa 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.