Fionnuala Halligan
Fionnuala Halligan is Screen International’s executive editor for reviews and new talent, occasional comment writer and compiler of the annual UK & Ireland Stars of Tomorrow young talent initiative. She started writing for the publication over two decades ago in Hong Kong/China but has been based in the UK over recent years.
A journalism graduate, Fionnuala started work as a film critic for the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she was based for 12 years. She has retained a long-lasting association with Asia and was a consultant to and international programmer for the Macao International Film Festival for five years (2016-2021).
Now full-time with Screen International, she has served on multiple festival juries from San Sebastian to Jerusalem and has written two books on filmmaking – Filmcraft: Production Design and The Art Of Movie Storyboards.
She is a member of the London Film Critics’ Circle, Bafta and the European Film Academy, and a top-rated critic on Rotten Tomatoes.
Contact info
- Tel:
- +44(0)7881306369
- Email:
- finn.halligan@screendaily.com
- Features
“My films are cut through with the need to resist the violence of our times,” Alice Diop tells Visions du Reel audience
“My aim is to find the right format for the film I want to make,” said the French filmmaker of documentaries and ‘Saint Omer’.
- Reviews
‘The Flats’: CPH:DOX Review
The past casts a permanent shadow over a West Belfast housing estate in this CPH:DOX winner
- Reviews
‘The Beautiful Game’: Review
Micheal Ward and Bill Nighy make a dream team in Thea Sharrock’s homeless football league drama
- Reviews
‘Grand Theft Hamlet’: SXSW Review
Video game ’Grand Theft Auto’ plays host to a virtual staging of Shakespeare’s Hamlet
- Features
Screen editors make final Oscars predictions, reflect on 2024 race: “It’s going to go down as one of the great years”
“A great year for the studios, and backed up by fantastic box office, which creates that excitement around the awards show.”
- Features
Screen critics’ top films from Berlin 2024
What did the critics really love from this year’s Berlinale?
- Reviews
Eat/Sleep/Cheer/Repeat: Dublin Review
Ireland’s Cheer team defies the odds to make it to the Orlando ‘worlds’
- Reviews
‘Spaceman’: Berlin Review
Adam Sandler and Carey Mulligan are cast adrift in Netflix’s sluggish sci-fi
- Reviews
’Made In England: The Films Of Powell and Pressburger’: Berlin Review
Martin Scorsese guides this rich, personal journey through the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
- Comment
Comment: Bafta’s winning films are an optimistic vision of a global UK industry
Box-office success for ’The Zone Of Interest’, ’Anatomy Of A Fall’ and ’All Of Us Strangers’ suggests the arthouse audience is back too.
- Reviews
‘All Shall Be Well’: Berlin Review
A sudden death is a tipping point for a long-term lesbian couple in Ray Yeung’s Hong Kong-set social drama
- Reviews
‘Crossing’: Berlin Review
An ageing Georgian woman travels to Istanbul in search of her trans niece in Panorama’s elegaic opener
- Features
Screen critics’ top films from Sundance 2024
The best reviewed titles out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
- Features
10 documentaries to watch from Sundance 2024
The docuementary side of the Sundance film festival has produced some real critics favourites in 2024.
- Reviews
‘In The Summers’: Sundance Review
Two girls spend years of summer holidays with their troubled father in New Mexico in this Sundance-winning debut
- Reviews
‘Skywalkers: A Love Story’: Sundance Review
A Russian couple risk their lives to secure Insta-worthy photos on perilous rooftops
- Reviews
‘Sugarcane’: Sundance Review
Accomplished account of generations of abuse against Canada’s Indigenous tribes
- Reviews
‘Black Box Diaries’: Sundance Review
Japanese journalist Shiori Ito documents her five-year struggle to bring her high-profile rapist to justice
- Reviews
‘Porcelain War’: Sundance Review
Ukranian artists decide to continue creating their beauty while defending Kharkiv against Russian attack
- Reviews
‘10 Lives’: Sundance Review
Charming UK children’s animation sees a spoiled cat suddenly run out of lives