Hi.
I'm Orla, a filmmaker and curator based in London
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Primarily, I direct, write, edit, and produce films. I struggle to articulate what kinds of films I'm interested in making. Sometimes they exist in the nonfiction realm, but I'd also love to make more fiction films (you just tend to need more money to do that). I've started a production company called Talented Friends with my creative collaborator Kimia Ipakchi so that we have a banner under which to make our projects official. One of our main projects, besides the filmmaking, is The Creative Nonfiction Film Weekend, our film festival that celebrates everything documentary can and should be.
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I used to be a 'film journalist' but I'd describe myself more as an occasional curator now. I don't write as much about film anymore (although I'm always open to being approached for commissions), and when I do want to write my thoughts out I usually just fling them onto this sporadic newsletter.
Before, I was the Executive Editor of film journal Seventh Row for five years, and I occasionally wrote for other outlets like Cinema Year Zero, Curzon Journal, The Film Stage, Little White Lies, Roger Ebert, and Girls on Tops. I've co-edited several books about film, including studies on the work of Kelly Reichardt and Mike Leigh; and collections on creative nonfiction and 'feminist horror'.​
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At my day job, I'm part of the production team at Compost Creative, where we create animation, VFX, and motion graphics for movies, TV shows, games, etc.