About us Festival team Festival team It’s the experience, commitment and passion of our staff team that enables the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival to thrive in challenging times, bringing you the best of Irish and international cinema, together with an outstanding programme of talks and events, year after year. Gráinne Humphreys – Festival Director Gráinne has worked in film programming for over 20 years; she started her career working with young audiences with the Junior Dublin Film Festival in 1994. In 1995 she joined the IFI as Education Officer and expanded her role to include programming seasons on Andy Warhol, Agnès Varda and Harold Pinter. She became Assistant Director in 2001 and programmed both the Stranger Than Fiction Documentary Festival and the Dublin French Film Festival from 2002 to 2007. Among other projects, she co-edited Ireland into Film, a series of publications on a number of key Irish films. She has served as a jury member on several international film festivals and has coordinated numerous Irish film seasons at international events. She is a Board Member of the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris and has been Festival Director of the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival since 2007. Yvan Cebenka – Managing Director Cebenka’s career has included roles in international sport, media & communications as well as the drinks industries. He has held lead roles in the development of a number of globally renowned sports competitions including as Tournaments Director of Six Nations Rugby, developing the prestigious Women’s 6 Nations; Operations Director for international Sports Rights Holders ERC (now European Professional Club Rugby), as well as being a former Board Member of Rugby League Ireland. Yvan joined the Festival team in 2022. Karen English – Festival Administrator Karen joined Sony Pictures in 1998 and since then has held several roles covering finance, operations, administration and publicity. Following a number of years of freelance work within the distribution industry she joined the Festival team in November 2020. Carole Lakes – Accounts Officer Carole is a Chartered Accountant working for many years in the Retail Sector including Switzers and Brown Thomas. I started working in the Arts Sector joining the Dublin Fringe Festival in May 2019 and the Dublin International Film Festival in December 2019. Festival 2022 Team Marketing Director – Vik Kumar Development & Marketing Manager – Ailbhe White Digital Marketing Executive – Christina Collins Programme Co-Ordinator - Tania Notaro Print Transport – Paloma Dema Digital Festival Manager - Simeon Costello* Digital Festival Manager – Dave Taylor Matthews* Production Manager - Caoimhe Martin Production Assistant - Kate Fitzgerald Box Office Manager - Conor Hogan Marketing Executive – Alexandra Ayvazova Volunteer Co-Ordinator - Richard Davis Assistant Volunteers Co-Ordinator - Dylan Delaney Hospitality Manager – Aideen Darcy Hospitality Assistant - Nicola Staunton Hospitality Assistant - Bobi Murray Festival Publicist - Kate Bowe PR Assistant - Sean Dalton Box Office Team Mary Yeo Lauren Colhoun Gráinne Blumenthal Belinda MacCullagh Mathew Tallon Front Of House Manager - Niamh Cummins Duty Manager - Rebecca English Duty Manager - Sammy Truong Duty Manager - Brianna Clark Shorts Programmers –Ruairí McCann & Erifili Missiou Screeners – Aisha Bolaji; Colum Culleton; Daniel Sareen; Jack Joyce; Niamh Muldowney; Sandrine Ndahiro