Margo Harkin

Margo Harkin (born October 1951 in Derry) is an Irish filmmaker. Best known for the drama Hush-a-Bye Baby and the documentary Bloody Sunday: A Derry Diary, Harkin produced the surfing documentary Waveriders in 2008.

Biography Margo Harkin was born in Derry in 1951, one of a family of sixteen children. She was educated at Loreto Convent, Coleraine and at the Ulster College of Art & Design, Belfast, graduating in 1974 with a degree in Fine Arts. After 3 years as an art teacher at a Christian Brothers comprehensive school in Creggan, she worked as an Art Tutor and Deputy Director of the Derry Youth & Community Workshop for unemployed young people. In 1980 she joined Field Day Theatre Company founded by Brian Friel and Stephen Rea and went on to train as a Stage Designer with Percy Harris and Hayden Griffin at Motley Theatre Design Course in London. A groundbreaking drama focusing on teen pregnancy in Northern Ireland, its score was written by singer Sinéad O'Connor, who also made a cameo appearance in the film. In 1992 Harkin founded Besom Productions Ltd., Though an initial cut of the film was screened on ZDF, Arte and RTÉ in 2007, Harkin considered it a 'work in progress' and returned to complete the film when the Report of the Saville Inquiry was released on 15 June 2010. The final cut aired on the RTÉ on 24 June 2010. In a change of direction Harkin produced the feature documentary 'Waveriders' (2008) directed by Joel Conroy in co-production with Inis Films, about surfing in Ireland. At its premiere at the Dublin Film Festival in 2008 it won the Audience Award and later the IFTA George Morrison Award for Best Irish Feature Documentary. Shot entirely on 16mm film it had a successful theatrical release in Ireland/UK in 2009 and is currently being distributed worldwide.

Filmography

Director Hush-a-Bye Baby (1989) The Bloody Sunday Murders (1991) NYPD Nude (1995) Songs & Sounds by Leaps & Bounds (Also Producer; 1996) Down to Earth (1997) 12 Days in July (Also Producer; 1997) Clear the Stage (1998) A Plague on Both Your Houses (Also Producer; 1999) Looking for Lundy (Also Producer; 2000) Young@Heart (Also Producer; 2001) You Looking at Me? (Also Producer; 2003) Ocras (Also Co-Producer; 2006) The Hunger Strike (Also Co-Producer; 2006) Bloody Sunday: A Derry Diary (Also Producer; 1986 - Revised Cut, 2007 - Second Cut, 2010 - Final Cut)

Producer Mother Ireland (1988) Fatal Extraction (1998) At the Cutting Edge (2001) Coola Boola (2001) The Last Storyteller? (2002) Seeking Filipino Bride (2003) Unfaithful (2004) A Dog's Life (2004) Rua (2007) Waveriders (2008) Paradiso (2009) For Queen and Country (2010) Grey FM (2010) Sisters of the Lodge (2011)