Glenn Leyburn

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.