SPEAKERS
MODERATORS
2026
Abi Morgan is an award-winning playwright and BAFTA and Emmy-winning screenwriter. Her plays include Skinned, Sleeping Around, Splendour (Paines
Plough); Tiny Dynamite (Traverse); Tender (Hampstead Theatre); Fugee (National Theatre), 27 (National Theatre of Scotland), Love Song (Frantic Assembly) and The Mistress Contract (Royal Court Theatre). Television work includes My Fragile Heart, Murder, Sex Traffic, Tsunami –The Aftermath, White Girl, Royal Wedding, Birdsong, The Hour, River, and The Split, The Split Barcelona and Eric.
Film writing credits include Brick Lane, Iron Lady, Shame, The Invisible Woman, Suffragette, Bridget Jones - Mad About The Boy.
Her first book, This Is Not A Pity Memoir, published by John Murray (UK) and Sugar 25 (US) is a Sunday Times Bestseller. Abi is currently developing a number of projects for Film4 and Netflix.
ABI MORGAN
AUDREY DIWAN
Audrey Diwan is a French filmmaker and screenwriter. Born in France in 1980, she began her career as a journalist and a writer explaining her deep relationship to literature. She gained international recognition with her second feature film, Happening (2021), an adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s novel. The film, which tells the story of a young woman seeking an illegal abortion in 1960s France, received critical acclaim for its raw and unflinching portrayal of a deeply personal and political subject. It won the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, establishing Diwan as a major voice in contemporary cinema. She is currently working on another adaptation, The marriage portrait, from Maggie O’Farrel.
In addition to directing, Audrey Diwan has worked as a screenwriter on several films with filmmakers as Valérie Donzelli and Gilles Lellouche as well as a new generation of French female directors, like Lola Quivoron or Ramata Toulaye Sy. Her work often explores themes of identity, bodily autonomy, and social constraints, with a strong emphasis on female perspectives. Through her films, Diwan continues to push boundaries and challenge audiences, solidifying her reputation as one of the most compelling filmmakers of her generation.
BRADY CORBET
Brady Corbet is an award-winning writer, director, and actor whose bold, uncompromising work has firmly established him as one of the most visionary auteurs of his generation.
He made his feature directorial debut with The Childhood of a Leader (2015), a haunting and ambitious historical drama starring Academy Award nominee Bérénice Bejo and Robert Pattinson. The film premiered to international acclaim, winning both the Orizzonti Award for Best Director and the Luigi De Laurentiis Lion of the Future Award for Best Debut Film at the Venice Film Festival.
Corbet followed with Vox Lux (2018), an audacious and operatic tale of pop stardom and trauma starring Academy Award winner Natalie Portman and Academy Award nominee Jude Law, with original music by Sia. Premiering in competition at Venice and later screening at TIFF and the BFI London Film Festival, the film further established Corbet’s reputation for daring, genre-defying cinema. It was released theatrically by NEON.
His most decorated feature, The Brutalist (2024), is a sweeping and deeply emotional portrait of art, displacement, and legacy. Starring Academy Award winner Adrien Brody, Academy Award nominee Felicity Jones, and Academy Award nominee Guy Pearce, the film premiered in competition at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, where Corbet was awarded the Silver Lion for Best Director. The Brutalist went on to become one of the most decorated films of the decade, winning three Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Adrien Brody, three Golden Globe Awards, including Best Director and Best Motion Picture – Drama, and four BAFTA Awards among many others.
Most recently, he co-wrote and produced, The Testament of Ann Lee with Mona Fastvold which premiered in official competition at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, where it was picked up for world-wide distribution by Searchlight Pictures. The film stars Oscar nominated actress Amanda Seyfried and Lewis Pullman with music by Oscar-winning composer Daniel Blumberg (The Brutalist). Seachlight will premiere the film on Christmas Day. Corbet’s directorial journey began with the Sundance-winning short film Protect You + Me (2009), shot by legendary cinematographer Darius Khondji, which earned the Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.
As an actor, Corbet has worked with some of the most revered filmmakers of the 21st century, including Michael Haneke, Olivier Assayas, Ruben Östlund, Noah Baumbach, Lars von Trier, Gregg Araki, Lisa Cholodenko, and Antonio Campos. His performances are known for their intelligence, depth, and fearlessness across a wide range of genres and styles.
Brady Corbet continues to expand the possibilities of cinematic storytelling — with a body of work defined by artistic rigor, emotional intensity, and radical vision.
BRENDAN CANTY
Brendan Canty has forged his way as one of the most exciting and prolific Irish directors. His early career enjoyed major success with his video for Hozier’s Take Me to Church (which has since surpassed a billion views on YouTube, alongside two MTV VMA nominations). Since then, Brendan has gone on to direct consistently elegant and visually striking music videos for top international artists (Dermot Kennedy, Talos), as well as commercials for brands including Adidas, Sky Sports and Fáilte Ireland.
He first gained recognition in narrative filmmaking with his short films For You (starring Barry Keoghan) and Christy, the latter of which he developed into his debut feature with BBC Film and Screen Ireland. The film premiered at the Berlinale 2025, where it won the Generation 14plus Grand Prix, and Best Irish Film at the Galway Film Fleadh. In 2026, Brendan won Best Director at the IFTA Awards, while Christy received Best Film. Brendan was also selected by The Guardian as one of the best directors of 2025.
His feature documentary, Gealtra, funded by TG4 and the Arts Council, premiered in 2025 and won Best Irish Feature at the Cork International Film Festival.
David Freyne made his feature debut with The Cured, which debuted at TIFF and won best horror at Fantastic Fest. His follow up was the semi-autobiographical comedy drama, Dating Amber. David’s latest film is the romantic comedy, ETERNITY, from A24.
DAVID FREYNE
EVA VICTOR
Eva Victor (they/she) is a writer-director and actor whose fearless character-forward comedic sensibility has cemented them as an undeniable triple threat to watch.
Victor has boldly established themself as a singular emerging cinematic voice with their feature directorial debut SORRY, BABY, which world premiered to massive acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival. The film, which Victor also wrote and stars in alongside Naomi Ackie and Lucas Hedges, was produced by Barry Jenkins’ PASTEL. Following its premiere, SORRY, BABY quickly became the breakout film of this year’s festival, winning the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, with the jury praising its “stunning honesty [and] moving sense of humor.” A24 acquired the rights to the film shortly after its premiere for a 2025 release, and it went on to win the National Board of Review's Best Directorial Debut and the 2026 Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay.
Critics have lauded Victor as “an idiosyncratic and exciting new American artist,” (The Daily Beast), “a breakaway talent” (Esquire) and “one of her generation’s most insightful new voices” (The Wrap), among other praise.
HARRY LIGHTON
Harry Lighton is a writer-director based in London. His debut feature film, PILLION, starring Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgard, premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Un Certain Regard award for Best Screenplay. It won Best British Independent Film at the BIFAS, and was nominated for three BAFTAs. His short film WREN BOYS was nominated for Best British Short Film at the 2018 BAFTAs.
JACK ROOKE
Jack is a BAFTA winning writer-performer and presenter from Watford.
Jack is the creator, writer and narrator of his debut comedy-drama Big Boys. Produced by Roughcut TV, Big Boys is an adaptation of Jack's acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe shows Good Grief and Happy Hour.
The show earned him a spot on the BAFTA Breakthrough programme and has received 14 nominations across the 3 series. The series has won a string of awards Best Comedy Writer at BAFTA Craft Awards, Comedy Award at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards 2023, RTS Comedy Writer Award 2024 and RTS Comedy Drama Show 2026. The third and final series of Big Boys aired to critical acclaim and earned its own “memorable moment” BAFTA nomination for the poignant scene between Jack and Jon Pointing. All series are available to stream on Channel 4 in the UK and on Hulu in the US.
Recent work includes writing on The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, adapted by David Nicholls for the BBC and produced by Big Talk alongside developing original ideas for TV and film.
For stage, Jack’s debut solo hour Good Grief, a comedy-theatre piece about his father's death co-written with his 85 year-old Nan Sicely, was met with high praise. The show has enjoyed numerous runs at Soho Theatre and went on to be adapted by BBC Comedy for Radio 4. He is reviving the show on a UK wide tour in summer/autumn 2026.
Jack's second show Happy Hour was commissioned by Soho Theatre for their Edinburgh Fringe 2017 programme. The show was the source for adaptation and inspiration for his debut book, Cheer The F**k Up, a part-comedic memoir, part-advice guide about mental health released in July 2020 with Penguin UK/Ebury Press.
As a broadcaster and performer, his credits include a BBC Arts doc Mamma M.I.A., a one-off special about the rapper M.I.A, Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled and being the resident on-air expert in bereavement and mental health for BBC Radio 1. He has also created work for multiple platforms as a long-term ambassador for the suicide prevention charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably).’
Nicôle Lecky is a writer, actor, and singer-songwriter. Her critically acclaimed stage monologue SUPERHOE, developed with Talawa and The Yard Theatre, played at The Royal Court Theatre in 2019. The six-part television adaptation of SUPERHOE, retitled MOOD and produced by Bonafide Films, debuted on BBC3 and AMC in 2022. Nicôle wrote, starred in and executive produced all six episodes of the show, and co-wrote and performed the music. She won two BAFTA Awards for Best Mini-Series and Original Soundtrack for MOOD, alongside two RTS awards, was selected as a BAFTA Breakthrough talent in 2022, and won the Netflix New Talent Award at the Women in Film & TV Awards the same year. Nicôle’s latest six-part original series WILD CHERRY premiered on BBC One in November last year which she wrote, executive produced and starred in. Some of her acting credits include SWEETPEA for Sky Atlantic and the Noah Baumbach feature JAY KELLY starring Adam Sandler and George Clooney. Nicôle is currently developing new work across Film, television and theatre.
NICOLE LECKY
SUHAYLA EL BUSHRA
Suhayla El-Bushra is a screenwriter and playwright. Her first feature film, BRIDES (BFI/Neon Films) was on general release last year, and her stage adaptation of Roald Dahl’s THE ENORMOUS CROCODILE is currently touring the UK. For TV she was lead writer and executive producer on Ackley Bridge (C4/The Forge) and a core writer on Becoming Elizabeth and Hollyoaks. Previous theatre work includes THE LONG SONG (Chichester Festival Theatre), NW TRILOGY (Kiln Theatre) and THE SUICIDE (National Theatre).
Will Tracy is an Academy Award®, WGA®, and BAFTA®-nominated screenwriter, and an Emmy®-winning writer and producer known for his bold, unconventional storytelling.
Tracy wrote the screenplay for BUGONIA, the latest multi-Oscar-nominated film from director Yorgos Lanthimos, including a nomination for Best Picture, released by Focus Features and CJ Entertainment. Starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, the film premiered to great acclaim at the Venice Film Festival, and Tracy received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as a Critics Choice Award nomination for his work. Based on the 2003 South Korean cult film SAVE THE GREEN PLANET!, BUGONIA follows two conspiracy-obsessed men (Plemons) who kidnap the CEO of a powerful company (Stone), believing her to be an alien responsible for Earth’s environmental collapse.
Prior to this in film, Tracy co-wrote and executive produced THE MENU for Searchlight Pictures, produced HBO Films' MOUNTAINHEAD and executive produced A24's EDDINGTON.
In television, Tracy served as a writer and executive producer on the HBO series SUCCESSION, earning three Emmy Awards and a Writers Guild Award for the episode “Tern Haven.” He was a member of the inaugural writing staff for LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER, where he received three additional Emmy Awards. Tracy is also the creator of the HBO limited series, THE REGIME.
WILL TRACY
SINÉAD O'SHEA
Sinead O'Shea is a writer and filmmaker
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Her latest documentary is called All About The Money. It premiered in the World Documentary competition at Sundance 2026.
Her previous film Blue Road - The Edna O'Brien Story premiered at TIFF 2024 and won awards at Cork FF and Palm Springs FF. It is now the most successful Irish documentary ever launched at the UK/Irish box office following its 2025 release.
Before this she made Pray for Our Sinners, which premiered at TIFF 2022 and won at Hamptons FF 2022 and a short drama called Humblebrag which premiered at London FF. Her debut feature documentary, A Mother Brings Her Son To Be Shot, premiered at London FF also in 2018 and won acclaim all over the world.
Sinéad is currently developing her first feature drama with Screen Ireland.
Caroline O’Donoghue is a novelist, podcaster and screenwriter. Her novel The Rachel Incident is currently being adapted for television by Universal Studios and Channel 4, with Caroline as writer and executive producer. Caroline’s podcast Sentimental Garbage charts internationally and has acquired over 15 million downloads worldwide. She was born in Cork and currently lives in London.
KATE DOLAN
Kate Dolan is a writer and director working in the genre space. Her debut feature, YOU ARE NOT MY MOTHER, premiered at TIFF’s Midnight Madness 2021 and received international acclaim. She began working on episodic TV after that. Recently, she won Best Drama Director at the IFTAs in 2024 for her work on AMC/RTE’s KIN Season 2. Kate's SOULM8TE, an erotic thriller that acts as a spinoff to M3GAN, was released in early 2026.
Chelsea Morgan Hoffmann is an in-house producer at Element Pictures, where she works across both Film and TV. Recent projects include The Listeners for the BBC and the upcoming THE RACHEL INCIDENT for Channel4 with UPC, a division of Universal Studio group, and Pageboy. Previously, she has worked as a story producer on CONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS and script editor on THE WONDER, HERSELF, RED ROCK, and NORMAL PEOPLE. Originally from New York, Chelsea has a BFA in Theatre from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and an MFA in Irish Film, Theatre and Music from Trinity College, Dublin.
CHELSEA MORGAN HOFFMAN
EMMA NORTON
Emma Norton is a BAFTA-nominated producer working at Element Pictures.Her TV productions include Sally Rooney’s NORMAL PEOPLE and CONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS, Nancy Harris’ THE DRY Season 1,2& 3 and Shane Meadows’ THE GALLOW’S POLE. Films include Harry Lighton's BAFTA nominated PILLION, Joanna Hoggs’ THE ETERNAL DAUGHTER and THE SOUVENIR – PART TWO, and ROSIE written by Roddy Doyle and directed by Paddy Breathnach.