The Kerry Short Film Bursary is in place to encourage talent and activity in filmmaking in the county. It is funded by Kerry County Council Arts Service & the Arts Council of Ireland and is administrated by the Kerry County Council Arts Office. The Bursary is for a short drama or documentary film of 10 to 12 minutes duration to be shot in the county.
In recent years, a core member of each creative team applying for the bursary, ie Writer/ Director/ Producer, must be from or living in Kerry.
The Bursary opens for applications in March each year.
Competitive Applications
This Bursary is highly competitive and each year we ask for the widest range of stories possible. We are interested in screenplays that reflect aspects of Irish experience across different generations/gender/ethnicities & class that tell a broad story of Irish experience. It is important that Kerry features on screen and so it is worth high-lighting locations you are thinking of using. (A selection of locations is available on www.screenkerry.ie/locations)
The successful team are encouraged to hire local crew to work on the shoot. A crew list is available from the Screen Kerry office. You can view the most recent guidelines & application form here:
Online information sessions
Two online information sessions were held on Tuesday 19th March and Wednesday 20th March which provided details on how to submit a competitive application and on the basics of screenwriting.
Previous Winners
IN 2023, Dónal Dineen & James Kelly of Feenish Productions were awarded the Bursary for their short documentary film "Save the Last Dance". This is a deeply personal story of Dónal's relationship with his father told through the prism of music. "Save the Last Dance" is currently in production.
In 2022, Writer/Director Katie McNeice and Maggie Ryan, of Escape Pod Media, were awarded the Bursary for their Irish language film "Focail Baile Croí", currently in post-production. The previous year, Mo O'Connell of 3 Hot Whiskeys Productions won the Bursary with her film about the relationship between a local sheep farmer and a young girl in Direct Provision. "Haven" is currently on the Festival circuit.
In 2020, Jean Pasley, Writer/Director, and Producer Greg Burrowes, won the Bursary with Jean’s script “A Ship of Souls”. This story follows the reactions of an Irish family when their son's widow arrives from Japan to grieve his sudden & tragic passing. "A Ship of Souls" was selected on the 2023 Academy Awards Long List.
The previous year, writer/director Tristan Heanue and producer Ronan Cassidy, were awarded the Bursary for their film “Harvest”, which chronicles an older man’s struggle with his declining health. The inaugural winners in 2018 were Megan K Fox, Writer/Director, and Hazel Cullen, Producer, with the award-winning film, “CailÍn Álainn”, a story about a young person growing into their identity while at Irish College in Kerry.