Board of Directors

Trish Long (Chairperson)

Trish Long is Vice President & General Manager of The Walt Disney Company, Ireland and has held a wide variety of roles within Disney. Her present role combines core responsibility for WDSMP in Ireland where she leads Distribution and Marketing across Disney; Pixar; Marvel Studios & Lucas Films plus 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures with overseeing and helping grow the Disney business and brands.

Prior to joining Disney, Trish was the first Marketing Director of the Irish Film Centre. She began her career in Radio and managed Arts venues, before training as a counsellor to run the Limerick Rape Crisis Centre. She has a long history of working in social issues especially as they relate to women, diversity and inclusion.

Long is a member of the Governing Authority of the University of Limerick where she also Chairs the Access, Equality and Student Affairs Committee; is a board member of the University Concert Hall. She has been a member of the board of Directors of both Troy and Ardmore Studios. She is Chair of Medicinema Ireland and a founding member of the Dublin Jazz Gals. Trish has been named on the Celluloid Junkie Top Women in Global Distribution 2022 list.

Elaine Gill (Deputy Chairperson)

Elaine has been acting as an advisor to Irish film industry for over 25 years, specialising currently in providing tax advice for all productions filming in Ireland from small indigenous documentary productions, co-production feature films and large scale returning US television series. As a qualified accountant and chartered tax advisor with ten years specialist film sector banking experience she brings a broad range of skills to productions on the ground in Ireland.

Lenny Abrahamson

Lenny Abrahamson is the director of the critically-acclaimed ROOM, starring Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Some of Lenny’s other work includes: GARAGE, ADAM AND PAUL, WHAT RICHARD DID, THE LITTLE STRANGER and FRANK.

Recently, Lenny directed Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends, a 12 x 30-minute series for BBC and Hulu starring Alison Oliver and Joe Alwyn. He also directed NORMAL PEOPLE, a 12-episodes series for BBC, Hulu and RTE, adapted by and based on Sally Rooney’s Man Booker long-listed novel of the same name was released in 2020 – for which Lenny was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series at the Emmy’s.

Ruth Hunter

Ruth Hunter is a partner and head of the Entertainment Law Group at Matheson. She focuses on the area of film and television production including the negotiation and drafting of financing agreements, distribution agreements, equity and tax-based financing arrangements (including Section 481 tax credit financing), talent agreements (including film rights agreements), writers agreements, actors, directors, designers and composers agreements. She also provides advice in relation to errors and omissions, insurance and music copyright clearance as well as theatre and public performance contracts, music contracts and general intellectual property issues including trademarks.

Ruth also works with banks in relation to financing arrangements for film and television. Ruth works with Screen Producers Ireland (the film producers’ representative organisation in Ireland) and is a member of the Audiovisual Federation and the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC).

Ronan Murphy

Ronan Murphy is currently COO of leading Irish ticket agency, Tickets.ie. Ronan oversees all elements of the company's agency business from strategy to ticket delivery. Ronan is recently returned from the USA, where he established and managed the US operations for Irish SME, Stimare. He previously served as Head of Ticketing in the GAA for six years and has worked in the finance industry for several years.

Paula Woods

An alumna of Trinity College, Dublin, Paula Woods’ career in film publicity spans two decades. Since 2008, she has run her boutique consultancy out of LA and is currently working on global campaigns for Widows on behalf of Steve McQueen, If Beale Street Could Talk for Barry Jenkins and Adam McKay’s Vice, starring Christian Bale. Paula has handled many award-winning campaigns including Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight, Adam McKay’s The Big Short, Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette, Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and Inglourious Basterds as well as all Tim Burton’s titles and Netflix series The OA on behalf of Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij.

Previously, Paula did a stint at Miramax and then The Weinstein Company where, as Senior Vice President, she headed the international publicity department for two years.

Neasa Hardiman

Neasa is a BAFTA-winning Director and Writer for film and television drama. Born in Dublin, she began her career at the National College of Art and Design Ireland. In 2017, Neasa was awarded a BAFTA for the gritty murder drama Happy Valley (BBC / Netflix), before directing the finale of noir superhero drama Jessica Jones (Marvel / Netflix). Her earlier works include the two-hour story finale for BAFTA-nominated homicide thriller Scott & Bailey and acclaimed BBC six-part drama In The Club. Her feature début Sea Fever screened to critical acclaim on the opening night of the Toronto International Film Festival 2019 and Virgin Media DIFF in 2020.

Laurence Mackin

Laurence Mackin is a content strategist and journalist. He is content lead at The Dock, Accenture’s global R&D and flagship innovation center, and also leads content for the global team at Accenture’s Innovation Network. Previous to this he was Arts Editor at The Irish Times and has more than 15 years’ experience in national media as an editor, writer, critic and columnist in Ireland and internationally. Along with Dublin International Film Festival, he is also a member of the board of First Music Contact, the national organisation for resourcing musicians and the independent music sector in Ireland.

Ola Majekodunmi

Ola Majekodunmi was born in Lagos, Nigeria and raised in Dublin, Ireland. She is a broadcaster, freelance journalist, Gaeilgeoir, creator, co-founder of Beyond Representation and Board of Directors member on Foras na Gaeilge, Dublin International Film Festival and a member of Galway Film Centre’s National Talent Academy Steering Committee.

Bashir Otukoya

Dr. Bashir Otukoya is a law academic and public educator specialising in the areas of equality, diversity, and inclusion.  Born in Nigeria and raised in Ireland, he provides expert advice in politico-socio-economic integration matters. He has participated and chaired workshops and published reports on migrant integration, as well as publishing literature in the field of nationality/citizenship, critical race theory, and Irish identity across academic disciplines and in the national media. Best known for his appearance on the Tommy Tiernan show, he has disseminated his research to the public through national television and radio appearances.

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Governance

The board of directors is committed to maintaining the highest standards of governance and has embarked on the journey of compliance with the Governance Code. The organisation complies with all regulatory requirements and operates in accordance with its governing document. Their dates of appointment can be viewed here.

We keep detailed books and records of accounts and maintain strict financial controls. The organisation is transparent in its audited financial statements and we are working with our auditor toward compliance with SORP (Statement of Recommended Practice) in our 2017 financial statements and beyond. 

View Our 2020 Accounts Here

Organisation Structure

DIFF Festival CLG is an incorporated not-for-profit (company registration no: 365622), operating with charitable status (CHY 15821). The Charity Regulator Number is 20055592. The legal and financial responsibility for DIFF Festival CLG is vested in the board of directors, and the management is delegated to the Festival Director and the Managing Director.

Child Protection

Our Child Protection Policy can be found here.