In partnership with RENDR Festival and supported by the National Talent Academy for VFX, we are delighted to present the first in a very special speaker series.

Recorded on location at RENDR 2026 in Banana Block, Belfast, we catch up with Irish TV and feature film photographer Helen Sloan, whose expansive list of credits includes How to Train Your Dragon, Wednesday, Derry Girls, and Foundation. In this in-depth conversation, she discusses the responsibilities and artistry of the role, and shares how she ascended in her career following her first big break on Game of Thrones.

https://www.filmireland.net/podcast-tv-feature-film-photographer-helen-sloan-wednesday-game-of-thrones

This series of talks was recorded in The Spinners Mill Studio, a podcast and DJ studio based in Banana Block offering tailored solutions for DJ sessions, small-scale events and podcasting from concept to final distribution.

Helen Sloan

Helen was born in rural Ireland. Given her first camera at age 11, she quickly came into her “fly on the wall” role, capturing snapshots of life around her. At age 18 while studying Art in Belfast, she landed among a group of circus performers - where her non intrusive style of photography and technical mind lent itself well to performance photography. She travelled the world with various troupes and performers, spending a large amount of time in Iceland. A series of melancholy portraits caught the eye of a movie producer - who invited her to work on a series of horror films. Sloan landed more and more jobs on film and television sets over the next decade - and the “Game of Thrones” came to her doorstep. Helen is responsible for the photography from the hit HBO drama having been there from the first day of the pilot, until the very last day of filming. The job covered many genres of photography; landscape, portraiture, studio posters and behind the scene documentary. She is a European Nikon Ambassador and the first Irish member of The Society of Motion Picture Still Photographers.

RENDR Festival

This is a unique event celebrating creative craft and artistry in a fully immersive two-day festival exploring the space between Creativity and Technology. Ignite your imagination with inspiring speakers from the worlds of Film, Gaming, Animation, Immersive, and more! Learn from the best, with 30+ creatives from the likes of Netflix, Pixar, Walt Disney Studios and Epic Games among others.

Witness creative uses of new technology, explore the gallery of digital art, chow down at the food village or play in the arcade. You will be transported to the future, and provide you with unforgettable and inspirational nights. Like nothing you have experienced before, our unique combination is guaranteed to provide two nights you can’t miss. Come for the talks, stay for the experience!

National Talent Academy for Visual Effects

As the newest of the Academies, the National Talent Academy for VFX provides support and opportunities for anyone interested in a career in VFX. Launched in 2024, the National Talent Academy for VFX is an initiative of Fis Eireann/Screen Ireland, managed by Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet. Their mission is to transform aspiring VFX artists into industry-ready professionals while providing ongoing upskilling opportunities for current talent.

Through comprehensive courses and programmess, we introduce participants to best practices both locally and globally, creating clear pathways and solidifying Ireland’s reputation as a premier destination for VFX. The National Talent Academy for VFX is dedicated to attracting individuals from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, fostering greater awareness of VFX as a viable and exciting career choice. Learn more about the work they do here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In partnership with RENDR Festival and supported by the National Talent Academy for VFX, we are delighted to present the first in a very special speaker series.

Recorded on location at RENDR 2026 in Banana Block Belfast, we caught up with Emmy and Visual Effects Society award-winning VFX Supervisor Jay Worth, whose impressive list of credits includes Westworld, Lost, Fringe, Alias, Person of Interest, The Magicians and Fallout. In this in-depth conversation, he discusses his transition from theatre to VFX, creatively collaborating with J.J. Abrams, and building the beautiful worlds that he’s most proud of.

Listen now on SoundCloud, Apple, Spotify, Acast and Amazon, or subscribe to Film Ireland wherever you get your podcasts.

This series of talks was recorded in The Spinners Mill Studio, a podcast and DJ studio based in Banana Block offering tailored solutions for DJ sessions, small-scale events and podcasting from concept to final distribution.

Read more about this episode here:

https://www.filmireland.net/podcast-in-conversation-with-vfx-supervisor-jay-worth-westworld-fallout/

Jay Worth

Jay Worth is an Emmy and Visual Effects Society award winner who began his career in 1997 at Digital Domain. He fell in love working on episodic television in 2005 on Alias. He has had the privilege of collaborating with Jonah Nolan and Kilter films as well as J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot throughout his career. He has worked on over 500 episodes of television such as Westworld, Lost, Fringe, Alias, Person of Interest, The Magicians and Fallout. He has won an Emmy for his work on Westworld as well as collecting 9 other nominations spanning 7 different shows - along with winning a Visual Effects Society award for Fringe and collecting 11 additional nominations.

RENDR FESTIVAL

This is a unique event celebrating creative craft and artistry in a fully immersive two-day festival exploring the space between Creativity and Technology. Ignite your imagination with inspiring speakers from the worlds of Film, Gaming, Animation, Immersive, and more! Learn from the best, with 30+ creatives from the likes of Netflix, Pixar, Walt Disney Studios and Epic Games among others. Witness creative uses of new technology, explore the gallery of digital art, chow down at the food village or play in the arcade. You will be transported to the future, and provide you with unforgettable and inspirational nights. Like nothing you have experienced before, our unique combination is guaranteed to provide two nights you can’t miss. Come for the talks, stay for the experience!

National Talent Academy for Visual Effects

As the newest of the Academies, the National Talent Academy for VFX provides support and opportunities for anyone interested in a career in VFX. Launched in 2024, the National Talent Academy for VFX is an initiative of Fis Eireann/Screen Ireland, managed by Cultural & Creative Industries Skillnet. Their mission is to transform aspiring VFX artists into industry-ready professionals while providing ongoing upskilling opportunities for current talent. Through comprehensive courses and programmess, we introduce participants to best practices both locally and globally, creating clear pathways and solidifying Ireland’s reputation as a premier destination for VFX. The National Talent Academy for VFX is dedicated to attracting individuals from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, fostering greater awareness of VFX as a viable and exciting career choice. Learn more about the work they do here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In our latest podcast, Naemi Victoria chats with director Kathryn Ferguson about her short film Nostalgie, which is nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award, as well as being nominated in the Best Short Film category at the 2026 Irish Film & Television Awards.

Nostalgie stars Aidan Gillen and features original songs and a score by Dan Smith, the Grammy-nominated, Brit Award-winning frontman of Bastille.

Drew Lord Haig (Gillen), a faded English 1980s pop star, is unexpectedly invited to perform in Northern Ireland, pulling him out of musical retirement and into a moral dilemma tied to the unintended legacy of his work. What begins as an exercise in nostalgia turns into a reckoning when Drew discovers his music has been repurposed in ways that contradict its original intent.

The film also stars Jessica Reynolds (Kneecap) and Michael Smiley (Bad Sisters), alongside a predominantly Northern Irish cast. Written by Stacey Gregg and based on a short story by Wendy Erskine, Nostalgie explores the intersection of personal vanity, collective memory, and the political afterlife of pop culture.

Read more here:

www.filmireland.net/podcast-kathryn-ferguson-on-bafta-ifta-nominated-short-nostalgie

Kathryn Ferguson

Belfast-born Kathryn is an Emmy-nominated, BIFA and IFTA winning director whose innovative and boundary-pushing documentary work has screened globally. Kathryn studied at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art, and in 2022 was awarded the inaugural BFI & Chanel Award for Creative Audacity.

In 2018, Kathryn's short documentary Taking the Waters premiered at Sheffield Doc Fest, and was long-listed for a BAFTA. Then, in 2021, Kathryn worked with Passion Pictures on the short Space to Be for The Guardian's acclaimed documentary series.

After a decade of short-form work centred on identity, gender politics, and community, Kathryn recently completed her debut feature documentary Nothing Compares - which takes as its subject Sinéad O'Connor's artistry and activism. The film premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2022 then toured the international festival circuit, where it picked up multiple awards, before hitting cinemas in October 2022. It has received over thirty award nominations internationally, including Emmy, Critics Choice, IDA, and PGA Awards, and was awarded winner of Best Feature Documentary at BIFA 2022 and IFTA 2023. Nothing Compares is now available to watch on Showtime and Sky.

Kathryn's second feature documentary, a collaboration with Universal, is due to be released in 2024.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.