These 5 remarkable directors are why you need to watch Irish films right now

Ireland has culture sewn up. Joyce and Yeats, Synge and Heaney, or even Keane and Paul McGrath are well known. While the country is a popular filming location with stellar acting exports like Colin Farrell or Aiden Gillen, the names of the rising directorial talents are less recognisable.

These five contemporary Irish directors are the ones to watch.

Lenny Abrahamson

His name is not yet a household reference point. His work is comparable to Richard Linklater as an unmissable reference point in the cinematic calendar. Frank (2014) is a poignant story of a band’s implosion inspired by Frank Sidebottom. It performed well at Sundance and received critical acclaim.

His debut, Adam & Paul (2004), is a black comedy about Dublin junkies. This was followed by Garage (2007), a tale of a lonely rural petrol attendant. What Richard Did (2012) earned him Irish Film of the Year at the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTAs). He is currently adapting Emma Donoghue’s novel, Room, which is loosely based on the Josef Fritzl case.

Rebecca Daly

Daly’s debut feature, The Other Side of Sleep (2011), is a menacing story of a sleepwalker who awakes in the woods beside a body. Critics at Cannes compared it to the Danish crime thriller The Killing. It was the first feature by an Irishwoman to appear in the Cannes Director’s Fortnight selection.

Daly is now in post-production on Mammal, starring Rachel Griffiths. The film is a love story about a woman who takes in a homeless child after her own son goes missing. It promises a moving experience and strong cinematography.

Ian Fitzgibbon

Fitzgibbon played Father Jessop in Father Ted but is now a rising director. His TV work includes Moone Boy and Paths to Freedom (2000). He has made four features.

Death of a Superhero (2011) is based on Anthony McCarten’s novel. It follows a dying teenager who draws comics to process his mortality. The drama stars Andy Serkis as a therapist and won several festival prizes in 2011.

Juanita Wilson

Wilson’s As If I Am Not There (2010) is based on Slavenka Drakuli?’s 1999 novel. It won Best Film, Script and Director at the 2011 IFTAs. This was her debut feature following the award-winning short film The Door.

The film is set in the Balkans and shot in Serbo-Croatian. It deals with war-rape and brutality against civilians during the Bosnian conflict. It is an unflinching political drama.

Tommy Collins

Collins makes both documentaries and fiction. His subjects range from The Undertones to the British Education Act of 1947. The latter featured Seamus Heaney and John Hume.

His best-known feature is Kings (2007). It follows Irish expats reuniting for a funeral. It received fourteen IFTA nominations and won five. It was Ireland’s official entry for the 2008 Academy Awards for Best Foreign-Language film because it was filmed in English and Irish.