Saturday March 8th, 3.30pm, Regal Screen 1

First Cut is delighted to welcome director Brendan Canty as special festival guest 2025.

Brendan Canty has forged his way as one of the most exciting and prolific Irish directors with an exceptional career in short films and music videos. His Cork-based debut feature film Christy premiered at the 2025 Berlin Film Festival, one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world. He will share his insights and experiences of making Christy in an inspiring presentation for First Cut audiences that no aspiring filmmaker – or anyone who loves film – can afford to miss!

Canty’s early career enjoyed huge success with his video for Hozier’s Take Me to Church (which has since surpassed a billion views on Youtube and received two MTV VMA nominations). Since then Brendan has gone on to direct consistently elegant and visually stunning music videos for top international artists (Dermot Kennedy, Talos) as well as commercials for brands such as Adidas, Sky Sports, Budweiser and Failte Ireland.

In 2017 Brendan directed For You (starring Barry Keoghan) which went on to win a Kinsale Shark and was nominated for an IFTA. In 2019, Brendan directed a second short film – Christy, which he has since made into his debut feature with BBC Film and Screen Ireland. He recently won a multitude of awards for his latest short film Atali’i O Le Crezent (Sons of the Crezent), including the Audience Award and Best Director at Show Me Shorts.