Maeve Murphy
Directing
Biography
Maeve's first feature Silent Grace starring Orla Brady about the women on the iconic 1980 IRA Dirty Protest and Hunger Strike who were written out of history was selected to represent the UK at Cannes and The Irish Times 2020 Best 50 Irish Films Ever Made. Beyond the Fire, ICA, starring Cara Seymour had censorship issues but was given an instant broadcast by TV3, then BBC. Sushi, a short comedy, was winner Venice FF. Taking Stock starring Kelly Brook, a caper about revenging shop assistants, was "Popular on Netflix". Her short St Pancras Sunrise about a young woman arriving in Kings Cross, is exec produced by Jim Sheridan, inspired by 1982 ECP women's church occupation in protest against Met police brutality. Raindance, 8 awards internationally, Long Listed Best Director at the British Short Film Awards 2024, Nominated Best Director at the European Short Film Awards 2025. Siobhan, St Pancras Sunrise, The Wolf ( 2026) 3 shorts brought together as a single cumulative feminist work, directed by Maeve, about violence against women.
Known For
When a shy young man arrives on her doorstep, Alice Hartley grabs the chance to escape from her loveless marriage. She and Michael open a Growth Centre with a difference - offering sex, drugs and personalised water births.
Mrs Hartley and the Growth Centre
A young Irish musician arrives in London in 1982 full of optimism and the desire to realise her dreams as an artist. She will have to come up against a reality of violence and oppression, even from the police.
St Pancras Sunrise
In 1976 the British Government put an end to the special category status of prisoners from the Provisional Irish Republican Army, no longer treating them as prisoners of war, but as common criminals. Mairéad Farrell – on whose life much of the film seems to be loosely based – was the first woman Republican to be refused political status in 1976. By 1980, when the film is set, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister and doggedly resolute: “There can be no question of political status for someone who is serving a sentence for crime. Crime is crime is crime.” Silent Grace seeks to capture the struggle for the restoration of political status that was at the heart of prison protests in Northern Ireland – not just by the more celebrated male prisoners – but by a smaller number of women prisoners, led by Farrell, at the Armagh Women’s Prison.
Silent Grace
A young man (Aidan Gillan) arrives in the midst of London's Soho. He's from Belfast, he's anxious and he looks like he's running away from something. Then, by chance, he meets Grace, a prostitute who happens to come from Belfast too. A connection is made and, for a brief time, she seems to offer the chance of a new future.
Amazing Grace
A short film about love and loss. Do eternal bonds exist beyond the grave or has grief driven a man mad?
Siobhan
Leah has forgotten who she is. She thought the man known as The Wolf would be her knight in shining amour but then he subjects her to attacks and then he goes for her son - she knows now is the time to escape.
The Wolf
Kate is an out of work actress working in a shop, until that is, she is made redundant. In a week from hell Kate's boyfriend leaves her, the shop goes bust and rent and gas bills have not been paid. Inspired by the notorious outlaw Bonnie Parker, Kate gathers a gang from her shop assistant friends and comes up with a plot to rob the shop, but who is her Clyde?
Taking Stock
From tragedy comes a burning love, but can passion survive the torment of a sinister past