Film Episodes

No Ordinary Heist had just finished rolling when Irish Stew cohosts Martin Nutty and John Lee took to the AFI Silver Theatre stage on the second night of the 2026 Solas Nua Capital Irish Film Festival in metro-Washington, DC. Before a near-capacity crowd of almost 400, the podcasters-in-residence led the post-screening Q&A on the gripping new Irish thriller inspired by the 2004 Northern Bank robbery in Belfast, still one of the largest bank robberies in British and Irish history, with £26.5 million in cash stolen. On stage with John and Martin are the film's Belfast-raised director and co-writer Colin McIvor and Dublin-based producer Ruth Carter of Picture Locked Productions. The conversation explores the riveting human stories of the film set against the backdrop of a city emerging from The Troubles, the meticulous casting of Eddie Marsan and Éanna Hardwicke in leading roles alongside memorable Irish supporting talent, and the editorial choices that kept audiences white-knuckled t…

Award-winning director, producer, and writer Ruán Magan joins Irish Stew for a timely conversation ahead of his double appearance at this weekend’s Solas Nua Capital Irish Film Festival, where he’ll present two very different visions of Ireland on screen. Ruán reflects on a creative life that has taken him from early collaborations with his brother, writer and broadcaster Manchán Magan, through decades of boundary-pushing work that has reached audiences around the world. He talks about growin...

Filmmaker Nuala O’Connor joins Irish Stew cohosts Martin Nutty and John Lee for a “Global Irish Nation Conversation” on her documentary In Time: Dónal Lunny, her filmic tone poem in black and white on the enigmatic innovator of Irish music. Co‑founder of the seminal groups Planxty, The Bothy Band, and Moving Hearts, Dónal introduced the flat-back bouzouki to Irish music and broke through with new time signatures, revolutionizing the sound and status of Irish trad music without breaking its funda...

In this conversation recorded at the 2025 Capital Irish Film Festival, host Martin Nutty sits down with two trailblazing Irish filmmakers who are pushing boundaries in their respective genres. Aislinn Clarke discusses her groundbreaking Irish-language horror film Fréwaka, exploring how her childhood love of horror (she saw The Exorcist at seven!) and her father's commitment to preserving the Irish language converged into a unique cinematic vision. Clarke reveals the gift of discovering the pe...

Recorded at the 2025 Capital Irish Film Festival in Washington DC, this episode features a conversation with two Irish women who have both made significant transitions into film from other careers. Kathleen Harris, a former Irish Times video journalist, discusses her environmental documentary Birdsong, which won the 2025 CIFF Audience Award for Favorite Irish Feature. Denise Deegan, a novelist, talks about her award-winning short, The Innkeeper. Birdsong follows ornithologist Seán Ronayne ...

In this episode, host Martin Nutty chats with Declan Curran, actor, writer, and producer of the acclaimed short film Dear Imelda. Declan traces his creative path from creating teenage comedy sketches on YouTube to crafting award-winning short films that have screened at festivals worldwide. His growing success is highlighted by a recent distribution deal brokered by Network Ireland Television (NITV) with the Japanese streaming platform SAMANSA, expanding his reach to international audiences. Re...

This episode of the Irish Stew Podcast features a discussion with documentary filmmaker Alan Gilsenan and journalist John Walsh about their film 'The Irish Question.' The film delves into the recent history of Ireland, the partition between North and South, and contemplates the concept of a United Ireland in the post-Brexit era. The conversation highlights the impact of Brexit, economic and cultural complexities, and the fragile peace established by the Good Friday Agreement. The episode a...

Former champion boxer John Duddy from Derry and one-time construction worker Newry’s own Ciaran Byrne share their unlikely paths to acting on stage and in film in part two of our first live podcast recording for Origin Theatre’s 1st Irish Festival. The two friends delve into how their life experiences inform their performances, personal traumas from The Troubles, and the critical role of theater in post-conflict healing and education. Sharing compelling narratives throughout, Ciaran and John ...

For the 2nd year in a row, Irish Stew hosts Maedhbh Mc Cullagh, the director of the Capital Irish Film Festival, who discusses the festival's offerings, the audience's response, and the challenges and rewards of organizing such an event in Washington, D.C. Eva Birthistle joins John Lee and Martin Nutty to discuss her directorial debut, Kathleen Is Here, a gripping psychological thriller. The conversation explores the ideas behind the film, along with Eva's move to the other side of the camera...

Launching Season Six, we go behind the scenes of the woman-strong Irish film Lies We Tell, a brooding tale of angels and demons, light and shadow, manners and mores, family secrets and family crimes, which The Guardian called “a tightly laced, elegantly cut gothic period drama.” A total rethinking of Irish writer Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1864 novel Uncle Silas, the film centers on Maud Ruthyn, brilliantly portrayed by the rising young star Agnes O’Casey, great-granddaughter of the playwright, Sean ...

With a computer programming background and an instinct for reporting, Malachy Browne is on the vanguard of a new form of data-driven news coverage that is revitalizing journalism. Co-founder and enterprise director of the New York Times Visual Investigations team, Malachy is pioneering the use of digital sleuthing, collecting and analyzing troves of video and audio, satellite images and other data, and creating 3-D reconstructions of crime scenes and geopolitical events to hold the powerful to ...

Join us on a stroll along North Circular Road from Phoenix Park to the Dublin Docklands with our guide Luke McManus, the documentary filmmaker of the award-winning North Circular which opens in New York City on July 28th. Rendered in graphic black & white over a soundtrack of local North Circular musicians, the film gives voice to narratives from the history of the city and nation, from colonialism to mental health, from women’s liberation to the battle to save the legendary folk revival venue ...

In times past, the Irish language (Gaelic) was thought by some to be a mark of backwardness. In this episode, husband and wife team, Colm Bairéad and Cleona Ní Chrualaoi reveal how Ireland's native tongue provided entrée to the world of movie-making leading ultimately to the creation of An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl), Ireland's nominee for the Best International Feature Film Oscar. While there are a number of hurdles to jump before the final five Oscar nominees are announced, there is little ...

Colin Broderick likes to tell stories, needs to tell them, be they dark, dank, and dangerous, be they bright, affirming, and knowing. It’s all there in his new film A Bend in the River, his highly personal tale of a writer returning to his native County Tyrone still in the shadows of “The Troubles,” confronting the life and loves he left behind and writing as if his life depended on it, with boxer-turned-actor John Duddy in the title role, and featuring Kathy Kiera Clarke of Derry Girls fame....

Sorcha’s story takes us back and forth across the Irish Sea and Atlantic Ocean as she sets her course towards storytelling and journalism on radio and TV for RTE, Newstalk, BBC and CBS. With a step into the unknown she landed at the New York Film Academy earning a diploma in filmmaking and acquiring the skills she’d deploy most notably in “Passing It On: Ballymun Kickhams” for RTE 1, her telling of the improbable tale of a hardscrabble urban gaelic football team, described in the Irish Times as ...