Bio

 

Liam (born 1973) originally from Galway, lives in Dublin. He trained in theatre with The Gaiety School of Acting, Geasog Theatre Company and The Galway Youth Theatre. He wrote/produced and starred in the bilingual short film Fortune, it screened at the 1997 Dublin Film Festival and won best short at the 1998 Houston int. film festival. Liam made his feature debut as a writer/director with The Book That Wrote Itself. The film starring O Mochain and Antoinette Guiney featured George Clooney, Kenneth Branagh and Melanie Griffith in cameo roles. The film had its world premiere at the 1999 Galway Film Fleadh and international premiere at the 1999 Vancouver international film festival. The Book That Wrote Itself screened at a further 20 international film festivalsand won a critics prize at the 1999 Austin film festival. From 1997-2004 Liam directed/produced more than 20 documentaries and TV shows for RTE, TG4 and the Film Institute of Ireland.

WC, Liams second feature film as writer/director/actor won best foreign film at the Las Vegas Int. Film Festival. The film had its world premiere at the 2007 Dublin Int. film festival, int. premiere at the Montreal World Film Festival and screened at the Cairo int. Film Festival. WC was picked up by US sales rep Cinetic. In 2010 Liam completed the short film Slip Up, it was screened in competition at the 2010 Foyle Film Festival and at the 2010 Cannes Short Film Corner. Most recently he made the short film Grand Opening which he wrote, directed and co-starred with Donncha Crowley (The Runway) and Brendan Conroy (Kings) which will screen in competition at the 2011 Foyle Film Festival and The Court Astronomer in which he executive produced and co-starred with John Kavanagh (Alexandra), Gerry O Brien (Father Ted) and Robert Donnelly (Eamon). Liam is also currently writing and developing numerous film and tv projects including the Irish language film Felica for which he received an Arts Council of Ireland bursary and funding from Irish broadcaster TG4.

Liam has worked as a writer, producer and presenter for RTE Radio 1, BBC Radio Ulster, 2FM, TG4, RTE, RnaG, Anna Livia FM and WDAR 96FM. He has also worked with theatre companies such as Springboard Theatre, Co. Galway Youth Theatre and The John Bosco Arts Centre. As an actor he has performed in theatre, radio, TV and films. He made his debut in 1995 as Joe Heaney in the drama documentary, Joe Heaney: Sing the Dark Away for RTE. The film featured Maureen O Sullivan, Pete Seeger and Liam Clancy. Some of his other actor credits include the BBC series Family, the film Circle of Friends, TV series Cursai Ealaine for RTE, Jabas for S4C/RTE, Ros na Run and Ri Ra for TG4.

Liam has served on the jury, as well being a panelist, guest speaker and selector of films for int. film festivals. He is a founding member of Irish Film and Television Academy for whom he served on the international jury for the 2007 awards, he is also a member of the Irish Screen Writers Guild, Irish Actors Equity and the Directors Guild of Ireland. He has written on film and digital distribution for amongst others: Film Ireland, Indiewire, D-side, In-Dublin, FHM and IFTN. Liam set up the film and TV production company Siar A Rachas Muid Productions in 1996 and Hyper Films in 2005.

Awards

 

Fortune

 

1997 Winner best short film award, Central Florida Film and Video Festival

 

1998 Winner best short film award, WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival

 

The Book That Wrote Itself

 

1999 Winner Lodgers Award (Critics Prize), Austin film festival

 

2000 Audience Award – Runner Up, Seattle Irish film festival

 

Felica

 

2006 Bursary Award from the Arts Council of Ireland

 

WC

 

2007 Winner of Best Feature Film at the Waterford Film Festival

 

2009 Winner Silver Award best film at the Mexico Int. Film festival

 

2009 Winner of Best Foreign Film at the Las Vegas Film Festival

Filmography

 

GRAND OPENING

2011 – Short Film – 13min

 

SLIP UP

2010 – Short Film – 5min

 

LIFTING THE LID

2009 – Short Documentary – 19min

 

W.C.

2007 – Feature – 80min

 

THE BOOK THAT WROTE ITSELF

1999 – Feature – 71min

 

FORTUNE

1996 – Short Film – 26min