DIFF BOARD

Trish Long (Chairperson)

Trish Long is a 30-year veteran of the Walt Disney Company and for the last 17 years was Vice President & General Manager of Walt Disney Company, Ireland.

Since 1994 she held a wide variety of roles within The Walt Disney Company including as a member of the TWDC Senior Leadership team in EMEA and on the board of directors of The Disney Store. For 15 years the role also encompassed International Publicity tours and festivals in US, Asia, and Europe. Trish’s responsibilities combined core responsibility for Walt Disney Motion Pictures Studios in Ireland, where she oversaw all aspects of the distribution and marketing campaigns in the country for the theatrical slate including Walt Disney Animation Studios; Disney live action; Pixar; Marvel & Lucas Films plus Twentieth Century Films and Searchlight Pictures.  

The role also included direct contributions at European and International level on campaigns and release strategies; acquisitions and productions. Trish expanded her role from solely Disney Studios to various Disney lines of business and identified new business opportunities which  grew the Walt Disney  Company brand and business in Ireland. This included the opening of the Disney Store; Irish tours of theatrical and music concerts; and oversaw the highly successful launch of Disney’s streaming service Disney+.

She is trained in Strategic Foresight and became an Advanced Practitioner of the Disney Strategic Foresight International team.  Prior to joining Disney in 1994, Ms Long was the first Marketing Director of the Irish Film Centre. Before moving to Dublin in 1992 she held the position of Publicity and Marketing Director at the Belltable Arts Centre in Limerick and was both Deputy and Acting CEO at various times.

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Elaine Gill (Deputy Chair)

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.

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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.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Neal Davies

Neal is a 30-year veteran of the advertising and marketing industry with experience as a client, as an advertising agency lead and as an industry figure on both sides of the Atlantic. He began his career on the client side with Kodak in the UK — back when people used to put film in cameras—and he has since held leadership roles in London and New York at Simons Palmer, Chiat Day, McCann, TBWA Worldwide, Naked Communications (of which he was founding partner in the US), and as CEO of Effie Worldwide. Along the way he won the UK TV Commercial of the Year (for PlayStation – also in the Clios Hall of Fame), a Grand Effie (for Hilton Hotels) and an Emmy (for a pro-bono client in New York). In September 2017 — after 18 years in the USA — he and his family returned to Europe to make their home in Ireland, and he took on the role of CEO at BBDO Dublin. He joined as an IAPI board member in 2021.

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Sian Redmond

Sian has led the Marketing Partnerships team at Live Nation Ireland for the last 10 years, and is responsible for the sponsorship portfolios of Ireland’s largest live entertainment properties. Engaging over 3 million fans every year, Live Nation and MCD’s property portfolio extends across world-class venues such as 3Arena, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, 3Olympia & Gaiety Theatre as well as Ireland’s biggest outdoor events, including: Longitude, Kaleidoscope, Electric Picnic & and several large scale Summer Concert Series at venues like Malahide Castle, Marlay Park, Trinity, Fairview Park and St. Anne’s Park. In her role, Sian has overseen the rebrand of The O2 to 3Arena, renewed multi-year naming rights agreements for 3Arena and the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, agreed multi-asset deals incorporating Live Nation’s full spectrum of venue and outdoor properties and has secured a steady pipeline of new brand partners for the business. Sian prides herself on her relationship management skills and personable approach to partnership – Sian strives to find the optimum solutions to brand problems and alongside her team, works hard to overdeliver on value for her partners.

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Hylda Queally

Hylda Queally is a Motion Picture Talent Agent at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Queally works in the Los Angeles office and boasts a roster of the world’s leading actors and directors from around the world, including Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o, Penélope Cruz, Rose Byrne, Jessie Buckley, Jodie Foster, Chris O’Dowd, John C. Reilly, Ben Whishaw, Matthias Schoenaerts, Daisy Ridley, Sarah Paulson, Kristen Wiig, Elizabeth Debicki, Evan Rachel Wood, Brit Marling, Allison Janney, Robin Wright, Marion Cotillard, Johnny Flynn, Lily-Rose Depp, Andy Serkis, Renate Reinsve, Emma D’Arcy, Franz Rogowski, Freida Pinto, Isabelle Huppert, Hoyeon, Joanna Kulig, Nina Hoss and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, among others.

Prior to joining CAA in 2004, Queally served as Senior Vice President of the Motion Picture department at the William Morris Agency. She had launched a talent agency in Ireland before moving to the United States in 1989, when she joined Triad Artists. She joined the William Morris Agency in 1992 through a merger with Triad Artists.

In 2009, Queally was recognized for excellence in her field by the U.S.-Ireland Alliance at the 4th Annual Oscar Wilde: Honoring the Irish in Film event. In 2016, she was awarded Women in Film’s “Sue Mengers Award” for excellence in representation.

She is a founding member of Time’s Up, an initiative that addresses systemic inequality and injustice in the workplace. She serves on the Board of the U.S.-Ireland Alliance.

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Mark Byrne

Mark Byrne has been Group Head of Business Affairs at Element Pictures since 2012. Recent films include Yorgos Lanthimos’ KINDS OF KINDNESS, Rungano Nyoni’s ON BECOMING A GUINEA FOWL, Ariane Labed’s SEPTEMBER SAYS, all three of which premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2024 and the Academy Award winning Yorgos Lanthimos’ POOR THINGS (Searchlight Pictures/ Film4), starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe, which won the Golden Lion in Venice and Best Picture Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes and four Academy Awards including Best Actress. Previous projects include NORMAL PEOPLE, CONVERSATIONS WITH FRIENDS, THE FAVOURITE and two series of THE DRY for RTE and ITVX.

Prior to joining Element Pictures, Mark spent 6 years with Screen Ireland as Head of Legal Affairs. Mark is an alumni of Inside Pictures, Europe’s leading film business training and leadership skills development programme. He is also a member of BAFTA and the European Film Academy and is current chair of the Gaiety School of Acting.

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Stan Nangle

Stan Nangle is the Director of Climate Innovation Ltd. which specialises in providing guidance on emissions reduction and sustainability to the film and TV production sector.

Stan has acted as Sustainability Advisor on productions such as "The Tourist Season 2" for Metropolitan Films, "The Young Offenders Series 4" and "Dead and Buried" for Vico Films, "Oddity" for Keeper Pictures and "Video Nasty" for Deadpan Pictures.

Stan had previously worked for more than 12 years in Location Management on productions such as "The Last Duel", "The Rhythm Section" and "Patrick's Day". Stan is the current Chair of the Sustainability Guild has served as a Training Officer for the Locations Guild.

Prior to joining the film industry, Stan worked as materials controller for a number of multinational businesses and he founded an Internet Services business in 1996. He has a strong background in sustainability going back more than 20 years and studied renewable energy systems at LIT. Stan has been Chair of Waterford Chamber Energy Task Group, Chair of Tramore Development Trust, a member of Waterford City Development Board, and a member of the An Taisce Climate Change Committee.