My name is Niamh Hanley, and I am a final-year Film and Broadcasting student. I have just finished directing one of this year's graduate films—Once Home. My film Once Home is heavily inspired by European cinema. I wanted to help showcase Ireland's beautiful landscapes and amazing film talent. The directors that have inspired me are Mia Hansen-Love and Joachim Trier. However, over the past four years, I have done a multitude of roles from Art Director to Editor. I feel like these roles have helped to prepare me for my directing debut. I hope to work in advertising when I graduate, as I love the creativity involved within short-form pieces.
In semester one I was lucky enough to work on Knick Knack a beautiful female lead film. I worked as the art director and loved dressing the set each day, creating vision boards, and hunting down props. I also did the SPFX makeup for this film and it was great to be able to share some of my skills.
In semester two as mentioned I was able to direct my debut film Once Home. This was such a wonderful opportunity for me as I was able to shoot the film in my hometown and make amazing memories with the crew. I learnt a lot during this experience and hope to be able to direct more in the future.