Born and raised in Galway, Barra was creatively founded in music and theatre before graduating from Brighton Screen and Film School in 2020, and has recently completed post-production on his debut narrative short, 'West of the Horizon'.

In 2023, Barra was one of ten Irish filmmakers selected for First Cut's music video competition and selected to take part in Odense Film Festival's 'Talent Camp', sponsored by Ardán.

Barra also worked as First Assistant Director to Oscar long-listed filmmakers The Morgan Brothers on their sophomore independent feature, 'Froggie'.

In 2022, Barra's poetry film adaptation of 'Finding Mothers' by Lorna Shaughnessy was awarded a pre-selection to Cork International Film Festival with programmer Don O'Mahony commenting on the piece as- “an ambitious, layered film in terms of visuals, sounds and ideas, touching on ideas of childhood, masculinity and growing up.”