Bio

 

Liz is a feature film and TV drama director and screenwriter best known for her film Goldfish Memory (2003), which was distributed internationally, including in the US and UK, and won sixteen film festival awards and 9 IFTA nominations, including best film, director and script. Her first feature was Gold in the Streets (1996), starring James Belushi, Ian Hart, Jared Harris and Aiden Gillen, produced by Noel Pearson (My Left Foot, Dancing at Lughnasa).

 

For TV, Liz has directed RTE’s Raw, TV3’s Deception, the 6-part comedy series Hardy Bucks and the second units of Camelot (Starz Encore) and The Santa Incident (Hallmark). She has also directed EastEnders for the BBC and RTE’s The Clinic, Hide and Seek and The Big Bow Wow, and served as Consultant Director on Love is the Drug,winner of the IFTA for best television drama.

 

As a documentary director, Liz directed A Story With Me In It, for which she was nominated for an IFTA award for best TV director (2012), as well as Consuming Passions (series 1 & 2), Written Off? (Series 1 & 2), Burma – The Generals’ Genocide (RTE) and Sport Matters (Setanta).

 

She has also worked extensively as a First Assistant Director in TV and feature films for directors such as Barry Levinson and Todd Haynes, among others, culminating in her writing “Running the Show – the Essential Guide to Being a First Assistant Director,” published by Focal Press (US). Most recently, Liz Firsted “Vikings,” the History Channel drama series.

 

Liz also served as Artistic Director of The Catalyst Project, commissioning the award-winning feature films Eamon, 100 Mornings and Rewind. She was one of four participants selected for the BBC’s Director’s Academy, and earlier in her career directed two short films, Kiss of Death and Silence, and wrote and directed an Off-Off-Broadway play, A Woman’s Place.

Liz is currently preparing the film “Lulu in Berlin,” an arthouse thriller based on the silent-movie actress Louise Brooks’ time in 1929 Germany, for producer Noel Pearson, and is in development on a TV series based on the Guinness empire.

Awards

 

Goldfish Memory

 

Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature, Outfest, Los Angeles, USA

 

Audience Award for Best Feature Film, Valladolid Film Festival, Spain

 

Audience Award for Best Feature Film, Buenos Aires Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Brazil

 

Audience Award for best Feature Film, Paris Lesbian Film Festival, France

 

Audience Award for Best Feature Film, Turin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Italy

 

Audience Award for Best Feature, Verzaubert Film Festival, Germany

 

Audience Award for Best Feature Film, Long Island Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, USA

 

Audience Award, Indianapolis Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, USA

 

Audience Favorite Award, 5th Annual Pikes Peak Lavender Film Festival

 

Audience Award, Copenhagen Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Denmark

 

Jury Prize for Best Feature, Copenhagen Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Denmark

 

Jury Prize for Best Film, Cherbourg-Octeville Film Festival, France

 

Jury Honourable Mention, Paris-Creteil Women’s Film Festival, France

 

Special Jury Prize for Best Film, Monte Carlo Film Festival

 

Best Director, Peniscola Comedy Film Festival, Spain

 

Nominated for 8 Irish Film and Television Academy Awards including Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Director