The board and staff of the Dublin International Film Festival would like to pay tribute to our great friend and longtime festival board member Sue Bruce-Smith who passed away this weekend. 

Sue spent two decades of her career at Film4. She first joined the organisation in 1997, after roles at the BFI’s production division, BBC Worldwide and Palace Pictures. In 2001 she relocated with her family to Dublin, and joined independent producer Little Bird. She returned to Film4 in 2004 and where she remained, most recently in the role of Deputy Director. 

She was a superb board member, serving from 2004 until 2015 - giving generously of her time to lend her experience to discussions relating to both organisational, marketing and programme matters, she was also highly knowledgeable about staffing and sponsorship matters. 

On a personal note - I will miss her dearly, our film chats were always an education, I always left with a full notebook or suggestions and films to see - as there was a very very long list of filmmakers who she had discovered and supported and celebrated. Sue was also one of the warmest, most loved people in the international film industry and always great fun..Many of us will recall her story about the excitement of seeing Law of Desire at the Berlinale in 1987 and staying up all night trying to get the rights to the film, a story that captures the infectious love of cinema which never left her. My condolences to Hugo, Tom and Ruby, her family and friends.

Grainne Humphreys