Three Films, Five Voices: Irish Stew Wraps the Capital Irish Film Festival
It’s a wrap for Irish Stew as the podcast-in-residence at the 2026 Solas Nua Capital Irish Film Festival in Metro DC with this episode of five conversations spanning three films: Saipan, Báite, and Conveyance. The Festival’s Opening Night feature Saipan unspools the drama that played out on that distant island between the manager of the 2002 World Cup-bound Irish football team Mick McCarthy, played by Steve Coogan and its star player Roy Keane acted by Éanna Hardwicke. Co-dir...
It’s a wrap for Irish Stew as the podcast-in-residence at the 2026 Solas Nua Capital Irish Film Festival in Metro DC with this episode of five conversations spanning three films: Saipan, Báite, and Conveyance.
The Festival’s Opening Night feature Saipan unspools the drama that played out on that distant island between the manager of the 2002 World Cup-bound Irish football team Mick McCarthy, played by Steve Coogan and its star player Roy Keane acted by Éanna Hardwicke.
Co-director Glenn Leyburn speaks to co-host John Lee about the challenge of dramatizing one of Irish football's most divisive moments: "You want to show both sides of that story and show both men as three-dimensional human beings. We realized how much they wanted the best for their country and the team but just had different ways of going about that. Drama is built from having those shifts and then having shifts within that."
Co-director Lisa Barros D'Sa explained the creative process of her filmmaking partnership with her husband Glenn, saying, "The most important thing is to agree on the voice of the film and what the tone is. Once we lock that in, we know the film that we want to make. And then on set, I work a bit more with the actors. Glenn works a bit more with camera."
Festival regular and Irish football fan Dan Mahoney provides some audience perspective: "I've probably been to this festival seven or eight times. I was in Dublin for the semi-final match in 1990, which was an unbelievable experience. I didn't remember the whole story, but I thought it was a fabulous film," he said.
The following day, John spoke with Eleanor O'Brien, lead actor of Báite, the Irish-language murder mystery and family drama that earned the festival’s fan favorite award.
"It was my first feature film where I was the lead — and challenging for that reason, and also because of the Irish in it. By no means am I a native speaker," she says, adding “It's really nice being there at the start and being able to create a character knowing that the character is with me in mind."
Eleanor shares the unlikely early steps in her young career and towards the end of the conversation with the rising star, you’ll learn the Irish word for handcuffs!
Co-host Martin Nutty closes out the festivities with Gemma Creagh, associate editor of Film Ireland and director of the short film Conveyance, a satirical and spooky look at Ireland’s housing crises, told through the eyes of a young couple trying desperately to find a home.
“They go to see some really dilapidated, horrible places, and then they find this most incredibly gorgeous apartment in Dun Laoghaire overlooking the sea, however, it is not without an undisclosed guest of some ghostly kind,” she says.
Gemma also offers a sweeping account of the Irish film industry's rise, pinpointing a pivotal moment, saying, "Game of Thrones came into Northern Ireland and it was the biggest production that had ever been in Ireland. The impact was huge."
Three films, five voices, and a fitting farewell to a festival that keeps delivering.
Irish Stew Links
00:00 - Introduction
02:10 - Lisa Barros D'Sa - Saipan Reaction
03:09 - Player Reaction
04:24 - Husband and Wife Team - How it Works
06:08 - Glenn Leyburn - The Saipan Challenge
07:14 - Location Considerations: Go to Saipan or Not
09:00 - Bringing Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy to Screen
10:59 - Saipan: A Transition in Sports
13:41 - The Audience View: Dan Mahoney
16:02 - Introducing Eleanor O'Brien - Star of Báite
16:37 - First Acting Moments
17:39 - Learning the Irish Language
18:38 - Báite - Audience Reaction
19:46 - Dealing with the Shooting Sequence
20:54 - Báite as a Breakout Moment
22:50 - A Belfast Handcuffs Story
26:25 - What's Next for Eleanor O'Brien
28:27 - Gemma Creagh - Introduction
29:08 - Film Ireland Background
31:03 - Conveyance - A Box Ticking Short
33:40 - Irish County Councils and Film Funding
35:55 - How the Irish Film Scene Exploded
41:55 - Gemma's CIFF 2026 Impressions
45:01 - John & Martin Recap
47:00 - Credits
Film Director / Producer / Writer
Lisa Barros D'Sa is a Belfast-born film director, writer, and producer who studied English at Oxford and holds an MA in Screenwriting from the London University of the Arts. In 2006, she co-founded Canderblinks Film & Music alongside her husband and creative partner Glenn Leyburn and composer David Holmes.
The couple's directorial journey began with Cherrybomb (2009), their debut feature starring Rupert Grint and Robert Sheehan, followed by Good Vibrations (2012), a widely praised portrait of Terri Hooley and the Belfast punk scene. Their third feature, Ordinary Love (2019), starring Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville, earned similar critical acclaim — and led the Irish Times to describe Barros D'Sa and Leyburn as "the most important contemporary filmmakers working from Northern Ireland."
Their latest collaboration, Saipan, world-premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and went on to screen at the BFI London Film Festival, with Steve Coogan and Éanna Hardwicke starring as Mick McCarthy and Roy Keane respectively.
FilmMaker / Director
Glenn Leyburn is a Belfast-based filmmaker and co-director who came to cinema from a background in graphic design. Before stepping behind the camera, he built a career designing iconic album covers for major labels including EMI, Sony, and Mercury Records, with his work earning a place in the "50 Years of Helvetica" exhibition at the Design Museum in London.
Together with his wife and creative partner Lisa Barros D'Sa, and composer David Holmes, he co-founded the production company Canderblinks Film & Music. The trio have built one of the most distinctive bodies of work in contemporary Northern Irish cinema. Their debut feature Cherrybomb (2009), starring Rupert Grint and Robert Sheehan, was followed by Good Vibrations (2012), a widely acclaimed portrait of Belfast record store owner Terri Hooley and the city's punk scene. Their third feature, Ordinary Love (2019), starring Liam Neeson and Lesley Manville, earned similar critical acclaim, with the Irish Times naming Leyburn and Barros D'Sa the most important contemporary filmmakers working from Northern Ireland.
Their latest film, Saipan, starring Steve Coogan as Mick McCarthy and Éanna Hardwicke as Roy Keane, world-premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival before screening at the BFI London Film Festival. On set, Leyburn's visual background informs his role in the partnership — as Lisa has noted, he takes the lead working with the camera while she focuses on performance.
Actor
Eleanor O’Brien is a theatre and film actress from Limerick, Ireland, who trained at the Bow Street Academy in Dublin. She has become a familiar presence in Limerick's arts scene through her work at the Lime Tree Theatre and Belltable, with credits including The Last Right, Fair City, and Blasts from the Past.
In Báite, O'Brien plays Peggy Casey, a 23-year-old running her family's pub in a rural Gaeltacht village in 1975, whose livelihood is thrown into jeopardy when a body is discovered in a nearby lake. She brings an impressive depth to the role, conveying both the emotions and the strong sense of duty of the film's protagonist.
The performance has marked a significant breakthrough in her career. She was nominated for the Bingham Ray New Talent Award at the 2025 Galway Film Fleadh, where Báite won Best Irish Language Feature Film. She also received an IFTA nomination for Best Actress in a Lead Role in Film for the role.
With over ten years of experience across theatre and film, O'Brien has described herself as a bilingual actress whose work has reached international audiences through film festivals in Galway and the United States.
Writer / Fim Director / Journalist
Gemma Creagh is a Cork-born writer-director and journalist whose work blends dark humour with emotional weight. She graduated with a First from NUI Galway's Writing MA in 2014 and has since built a versatile career across theatre, television, and film. Her plays have been staged and supported by Axis Theatre, AboutFACE, Barnstorm, and the Arts Council, and she wrote and co-produced the five-part comedy Rental Boys for RTÉ's Storyland.
She is Associate Editor of Film Ireland and a regular film contributor to RTÉ Radio One's Arena.
Her debut funded short film Conveyance premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh 2024 and has since screened at festivals worldwide. Funded by dlr's First Frames Scheme and supported by Creative Ireland, the horror-comedy won Best Cinematography at the Monzo Film Festival and screened to a sold-out audience at the FrightFest Short Film Showcase at the Glasgow Film Festival, where it was the only non-UK title selected.
Creagh is also developing a feature-length adaptation of Conveyance — a darker version in which the couple have broken up but, thanks to the housing crisis, are still stuck living together.
