FESTIVAL GUESTS

FESTIVAL GUESTS

The East Asia Film Festival Ireland brings key film talents from East Asia to Irish audiences whether this is through our cinema screenings, commissioned online interviews or hosting in-person visits.

We are delighted to welcome Chinese writer-director, Jianjie Lin who will take part in a series of talks and screenings in collaboration with Irish universities, and share an In-Conversation event on Saturday 22 March at 12 noon at IFI Dublin, hosted by Irish born actor, writer and director Kelly Campbell, to open up about his journey in making his striking directorial debut feature, Brief History of a Family.

Jianjie Lin will also participate in three Q&A sessions following the screenings of Brief History of a Family:

– Thursday 20 March, 18.15, IFI Dublin: screening + Q&A moderated by film journalist and writer, Tara Brady (The Irish Times) following the Irish premiere screening of Brief History of a Family, our festival opening film.

– Sunday 23 March, 19.00, Triskel Cork: screening + Q&A moderated by film writer and director Rebecca Daly.

– Monday 24 March, 19.00, EYE Cinema Galway: screening + Q&A moderated by film director and lecturer Seán Breathnach

JIANJIE LIN

After graduating with a BA in bioinformatics, Jianjie Lin turned to filmmaking and studied at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. His short films A Visit (2015) and Gu (2017) screened successfully at international film festivals. Brief History of a Family (2024), his debut feature had its world premiere in Panorama Section at the Berlin International Film Festival 2024 and was presented in Official Competition at Sundance 2024.

Kelly Campbell

Irish born actor, writer and director Kelly Campbell was educated at the University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland, receiving first-class degree honours in Theatre, History and English. She later attended The Central School of Speech and Drama in London. She also completed the Directors Series Course at the National Film and Television School, London. Kelly has had a successful career as an actress for the last twenty-five years, moving between film, television and theatre. She was the Bewley’s Café Theatre’s founding director, one of Ireland’s most successful venues for new writing, where she directed many productions. As a director, she wrote and co-directed the short film Quarantine, and made her solo short film directorial debut, An Encounter, an adaptation of the second story in James Joyce’s Dubliners, and a multi-award winning short film funded under Screen Ireland’s Focus Shorts scheme; it qualified for the 2023 Academy Awards and played over fifty film festivals worldwide. Kelly is currently in development with her first feature,and producing Emissary, a film by her brother and Turner Prize winner, Duncan Campbell.

Rebecca Daly

Rebecca Daly is a screenwriter and director. Her first short JOYRIDERS won the IFTA and Best Irish Short at Galway Film Fleadh as well as many international awards. Her first feature, THE OTHER SIDE OF SLEEP premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival where it was nominated for the Camera D’Or. Her second feature MAMMAL, starring Rachel Griffiths and Barry Keoghan, premiered in World Cinema at Sundance Film Festival. GOOD FAVOUR, her third feature, was selected by Toronto International Film Festival and was awarded Best Director at Dublin International Film Festival. She is currently developing a Victorian heist movie, HAUL.

Seán Breathnach

Seán Breathnach is a filmmaker and lecturer from the west of Ireland. His feature film Foscadh  was chosen as Ireland's entry for Best International Film at the 94th Academy Awards; it also won Best First Feature at the 2021 Galway Film Fleadh, Best Director at the 2021 Newport Beach Film Festival, and Best Film at the Kimolos International Film Festival. His Screen Ireland funded short film Maidhm has screened in Europe, North America, and Asia. He has filmed a number of documentaries for TG4 and RTÉ. Seán lectures in Film at the University of Galway, where he teaches on modules in film production, screenwriting, and aesthetics. 

Qiuyan Chen

Qiuyan Chen is the founder and director of Queer China UK. She will take part in a Q&A session following the screening of the documentary Love Bound on Saturday 22 March at 15.50 at IFI Dublin hosted by Pradeep Mahadeshwar (he/they–multidisciplinary Irish artist and founder of Queen Asian Pride Ireland and Queen Spectrum Film Festival).

Pradeep Mahadeshwar (he/they)

A multidisciplinary Irish artist of Indian origin working on performance-based experimental films, writing and illustrations, they are founder of Queer Asian Pride Ireland, QAPI and Queer Spectrum Film Film Festival, QSFF a not-for-profit film festival showing the stories of QPoC around the world. 

Ms. Khuất Thị Thu Trang

Ms. Khuất Thị Thu Trang, Ngoc Khanh Cinema House, Vietnam Film Institute will be with us to introduce each screenings of the VIETNAM CINEMA FOCUS presenting three rarely screened classic Vietnamese films in 2K restoration.

Ms Trang will also take part in a talk on Friday 21 March at 17.00 at IFI Dublin, about the Preservation & Digitisation at the Vietnam Film Institute, the value of archived films, and the international cooperation of VFI.

The talk will be shared with Manus McManus, Film Collections and Acquisitions Manager at Irish Film Archive, and Niall Anderson, Archive Policy and Project Manager at the Irish Film Archive.