Oonagh Kearney has written and directed nine short films and one full-length arts documentary with the support of the Irish Arts Council, Irish Film Board, RTE, TG4, BRITDOC and The Welcome Trust.

Her work has screened globally at over one hundred film festivals around the world, at the ICA in London, BFI, IFI and as part of the 2014 Art on the London Underground Series. Her work has been broadcast on TV, distributed on online platforms such as the RTE and TG4 iplayer, and via dvd distribution with Aesthetica magazine and Tenderpixels Gallery in London.

Oonagh's 2010 short dance film "Her Mother’s Daughters" screened at over seventy festivals and won seven international awards. Her 2012 Reel Art film "Wonder House" took an experimental approach to the exploration of art and science by combining choreographic sequences with documentary interviews. Nominated for Best Emerging International Filmmaker, Oonagh was awarded special mention at The London Open City Docs Festival in 2013.

Oonagh first cut her teeth in film as casting director to Ken Loach on his Palm d’Or winning film "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" in 2005. She trained at the National Film and Television School in London before casting five more feature films. Since 2010, she has focused on writing and directing. For two years, she taught film part-time at the University of Suffolk. She holds a 1st class honours BA in English and Philosophy from University College Cork and 1st Class honours M.Phil in Irish Theatre from Trinity College Dublin.

Oonagh’s interest in the politics of representation can be traced to her Irish Film Board short "The Christening" that tells the story of an Irish teenager traveling to London for an abortion. Oonagh takes a playful approach to the impact of family, and the tension between our private and public selves. In her dance and narrative films, women often experience emotional or ethical conflicts connected to rites of passage.

Selected as a director on the UK talent scheme Guiding Lights, Oonagh was mentored by British filmmaker Clio Barnard. In 2013 Oonagh received a John Brabourne Award for emerging professionals in the British film and television industry. In November 2014, she was selected for the Puglia Experience, a workshop for sixteen international screenwriters in Puglia, Italy.

Her short film "The Wake" premiered at the Dublin International Film Festival in February 2016. Since then it has screened at seventeen festivals and won five international awards.

FILMOGRAPHY

writer/director

OÍCHE NOLLAIG NA MBAN, 2016
THE WAKE, 2015
TRIALS OF THE PAST, 2013
THERE’S A TIN CUP ROLLING, 2013
WONDER HOUSE, 2012
THE CHRISTENING, 2010
HER MOTHER’S DAUGHTERS, 2010
LOVE AT THE END OF THE WORLD, 2009
OVER MY LEFT SHOULDER, 2008
THAT PLACE UNDERGROUND, 2008

casting director

MY BROTHERS, 2011
THE RUNWAY, 2011
ALL GOOD CHILDREN, 2010
NOTHING PERSONAL, 2009
THE ECLIPSE, 2008
THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY, 2006

EXAMPLES OF WORK

Please find a list of film works by Oonagh Kearney here: www.oonaghkearney.com

To view my password protected films on vimeo, https://vimeo.com/user5081199, please contact me via email:
oonagh@oonaghkearney.com