Aoife Kelleher

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With the baritones of Bono and U2 as the soundtrack, the globe-trotting world of Mary Robinson requires an epic film to depict her life, and thankfully, they found the director that can deliver just that in Irish filmmaker Aoife Kelleher.

Aoife gave us the brilliant film MRS ROBINSON (2024), still on its festival run. MRS ROBINSON tells the inspirational life story of change-maker Mary Robinson: Ireland’s first female President, a pioneering UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the successor of Nelson Mandela as Chair of The Elders.

And if all that wasn't enough, check out her film, TESTIMONY (2025), also on the festival circuit. Not sure when Aoife has time to sleep but she found time to talk with me for the podcast, and I'm delighted to share that conversation with you.

In this episode, Aoife and I discuss:

• her biographical statement that she seeks in her work to "tell hidden truths about Ireland and Irishness" -- what does that mean? what is an Irish film?;
• how did she get involved in filmmaking? "my parents were primary school principals and my dad was a politician so it was like, there were a lot of debates around these kind of themes at the dinner table";
• her switch from law to filmmaking -- "I'd had this work experience in a legal firm that had put me off the idea of pursuing law";
• what did she learn from her first documentary ONE MILLION DUBLINERS (2014) that she takes away for her current film?
• how did she get the opportunity to make MRS ROBINSON (2024), even with pitching against many other companies -- "you really can't stress [enough] how large Mary Robinson looms in Irish society";
• how she made it clear they weren't creating a puff piece documentary -- "from the earliest points in the pitching process, we made it clear that we would not be doing that, and that was what she wanted, too";
• how she was able to license U2 and other prominent musicians as part of this film (they were going to play "Fortunate Son" by CCR in a Vietnam scene...I think it worked out better with Bono!);
• the climate activism portion of the film and how it resonates now versus 30 years ago;
• how has documentary changed in the last ten years?;
• what's next for her? TESTIMONY (2025) is also on the festival circuit, which means she has TWO feature films on the circuit right now

Aoife's Indie Film Highlight: BLUE ROAD: THE EDNA O'BRIEN STORY (2024) dir. by Sinead O'Shea; A WANT IN HER (2024) dir. by Myrid Carten

Links:

MRS ROBINSON (2024) Website

Follow Screen Ireland on Instagram For More Info On Irish Filmmakers

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