Paddy Breathnach

Paddy Breathnach started his directing career making natural history documentaries. His first feature, Ailsa, won the Award for Best First / Second Film at the San Sebastian Film Festival. His second feature I Went Down (BBC Films) starring Brendan Gleeson, won the New Directors prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival 1997. I Went Down screened at Sundance in 1998 and won the Best Director award at both Thessaloniki and Bogota Film Festivals. He produced Southpaw, a feature documentary that was selected for Sundance in 1999 and got a US and UK theatrical release.

Breathnach went on to direct Blow Dry, Man About Dog, Shrooms and Red Mist. In 2012 he completed the documentary An Oíche a Gineadh m'Athair. In 2016 his Spanish language film VIVA was short listed for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. His latest film, Rosie, saw Breathnach win his first IFTA Award for Best Director in 2020.

Breathnach was IFTA nominated in 2023 for directing TV drama The Dry starring Roisin Gallagher and Ciaran Hinds, and he directed an episode of Netflix's global hit Bodkin in 2024.

Breathnach is a board member of The Screen Director’s Guild of Ireland.