ABOUT EMMA BRENNAN
Writer/Director/Producer
Emma Brennan is an Irish filmmaker and award-winning director. Her debut short 'Hello Brother' screened at the Galway Film Fleadh in 2018 going on to win 'Best Super Short' at New York City International Film Festival in 2019.
Her second short, 'Butter', was screened for Shot by the Sea Film Festival in Galway 2019 and was selected to screen at Marché Du Film at the Cannes Film Festival 2020. Butter was selected to screen at New York City International Film Festival 2020, receiving 4 nominations for Best Short Film, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Actor. Butter was selected for the Richard Harris International Film Festival 2020. Both films were written, directed and produced by Emma Brennan.
She directed her third short 'Smoulder', produced by Idiosync Films, which screened at IndieCork 2020, Underground Cinema, LIFT-OFF 2020 and won "Spirit of the Festival Award" at FNI 2020 VISION screening in Dublin 2019.
Her fourth short "Screaming Red" screened at Bloomsday Film Festival 2022.
She was co-creator, director and composer on "At the Abbey" and "At the Castle" - two site-specific live multimedia shows at 2 OPW sites produced by Roscommon County Council Arts Office under the Local Live Performance Programming Scheme 2021. She worked alongside Algorithm Productions and Mintesinot Wolde Dance to create the multimedia shows involving live music, dance, film, projections and lighting that took place at Boyle Abbey for the closing night of Boyle Arts Festival 2021 and Roscommon Castle for Culture Night 2021.
She was commissioned to produce the 11 minute documentary "At the Abbey & At the Castle" by Roscommon County Council Arts Office on the two live events, which she filmed and edited.
In 2021 she received a Creative Roscommon grant to run a 1-week acting and film workshop in partnership with Catherine Sheridan (Roscommon County Youth Theatre Founder) and Mike Hourigan (Mimar Media Founder) open to the youth of Roscommon under the project title "Youth In The Frame". During this week, participants played an active role in creating, devising and filming a short film "The Secret" under the mentorship of the 3 workshop leaders, which was selected to screen at Fresh Film Festival 2022 and screened at the Connaught Regional Finals of the festival which took place at the Town Hall Theatre in Galway in March 2022.
In 2021 she received an Agility Award from the Arts Council to create work for her debut video exhibition "The Faces That We Wear" which took place at Trinity Arts Centre, Castlerea, Co. Roscommon in July 2022. The filmed piece explored powerplay in relationships and the subtle impact of early coersive control behaviour.
In 2022 she co-produced and directed "The Odyssey Tour" at Strokestown Park House and Famine Museum under the Local Live Performance Programming Scheme 2022. As well as live traditional music, the cultural tour included a dramatic excerpt from Sean O'Casey's play Juno and the Paycock performed by Gary Lydon and Conor Lambert; a dramatic reading of the opening of Tarry Flynn and a dramatic monologue from Ulysses performed by Lucy Brennan Shiel.
She co-produced "Songs for Samhain", a live music event at Trinity Arts Centre, Castlerea, Co. Roscommon under the Local Live Performance Programming Scheme 2022. Head-lining was Irish soprano Emer Barry with Mary McCague on piano/violin and Teresa O'Donnell on harp. Two songs composed by Emma Brennan had their world premiere performed by Emer Barry at this concert.
As well as directing for film, Emma is a certified Michael Chekhov Technique tutor from the Gaiety School of Acting and Michael Chekhov Studio Berlin. She made her debut in directing for theatre in 2015 with "The Washerwomen", an excerpt from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, adapted and performed for theatre on Bloomsday at The James Joyce Tower, Sandycove in 2015, 2016 and 2018. She directed "Miniature Warfare" for Short & Sweet Festival at the Seán O'Casey Theatre in 2019.
She tutors actors in the Michael Chekhov Method in Dublin and is the founder of The Actor Lab.
She received an Individual Artist Bursary award from Roscommon County Council in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and holds an M. Phil in Music & Media Technologies from Trinity College, Dublin.