TIME & LOCATION
About
Chair
SPONSOR
Panel
Presenter & Producer
Tessa Fleming is a bi-lingual presenter and producer with a passion for good stories. She studied journalism and Irish at D.I.T and worked as a journalist and news editor in local radio with Northern Sound FM, before heading to the bright lights of Belfast to join the BBC. She has worked in both TV and radio, presenting on TV programmes such as Kayak Ó Thuaidh, Peataí and BBC Sport NI, as well as working on award-winning programmes such as Litreacha and Bóthar Seoighe. She spent time freelancing in the industry, before coming onboard as podcast producer with Mediahuis in Dublin at the helm of their new Irish language podcast Seachtain.
Writer, Director, Kneecap
Rich Peppiatt is an writer and director, best known for films Kneecap and One Rogue Reporter. Originally a journalist, he came to fame after his resignation letter to the Daily Star went viral. He turned the experience into a hugely successful stand up comedy show, which was later made into a documentary starring Hugh Grant, Steve Coogan and John Bishop. Kneecap is his first narrative feature.
Commissioning Editor TG4 - Factual, Music, Arts and Culture.
Proinsias Ní Ghráinne commissions primetime documentary content and manages the channels landmark music, arts and culture output. She is executive producer on Gradam Ceoil TG4 agus TG4’s Fleadh Cheoil output. She initiated two schemes to fund feature length Arts Films in Irish – ilDÁNA (Arts Council / TG4) and AMHARC ( BBC, ILBF, TG4) and also initiated TG4’s first schemes to fund narrative shorts – OSCAILT(An Bord Scannán / TG4) and LASAIR (Filmbase / TG4). She represents TG4 on the EBU Factual committee and many other international markets and fora.
Managing Director, Wildcard
Patrick is Founder and Managing Director of Wildcard, an independent film distributor working across Theatrical, Video on Demand, and TV in the UK and Ireland for the last 12 years. Wildcard projects include Kneecap, Wolfwalkers, The Hole In The Ground, The Young Offenders, and Black 47. Wildcard also regularly manage Irish distribution campaigns on behalf of UK Distributors and Platforms, with clients including Amazon, Altitude, Apple, Netflix, and Vertigo. In recent years, Wildcard has moved into film production, with Patrick acting as Producer on feature films Kneecap, Fréwaka, Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan, and Learning To Breathe Under Water. Patrick’s Executive Producer film credits include The Hole in the Ground, Black 47, Extra Ordinary, Redemption of a Rogue, Lakelands, KATIE, and the upcoming Roy Keane film Saipan. Patrick sits on the Board of the Irish Film Institute, is a member of the WRAP Fund Investment Committee, and the Arts Council Peer Panel. Patrick has 25 years experience in the film industry across a variety of roles, including seven years as an Executive at Screen Ireland, and positions in International sales and film production. Qualifications include an MA in Audio-Visual Management, MSC in Cyberpsychology, and a BA in Business Studies.
Head of the Irish Language Broadcast Fund
Áine Walsh is Head of the Irish Language Broadcast Fund at Northern Ireland Screen. With a current annual budget of just over £4 million, the ILBF supports Northern Ireland based production companies to produce around 50 hours of television content which is mainly broadcast on TG4, BBC NI and RTÉ. Some key projects supported during her tenure include CMF award winning Rocky Ros Muc, the first Irish language feature documentary to be considered for an Oscar; Doineann, the first Irish language feature drama shot entirely in NI and winner of an RTS NI award; short feature animation Sol which won the Sandford St. Martin and RTS NI children’s category awards and Kneecap, the first Irish language film to screen at Sundance where it picked up the much-coveted audience award, before going on to scoop three awards at the Galway Film Fleadh. The film is also Ireland’s entry for the Best International Feature at the 2025 Oscars. Áine has been an executive board member of the Celtic Media Festival since 2009 and took over as Chair of the CMF in September 2024.