
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 alongside its spin-offs Rising Stars Scotland and Rising Stars Ireland. She started writing for the publication over two decades ago in Hong Kong/China but is based in the UK now.
As the title's chief critic, she supervises over 1,000 reviews a year between general release and festival titles. She has served on multiple festival juries from Chicago to San Sebastian and Jerusalem and has written two books on filmmaking – Filmcraft: Production Design and The Art Of Movie Storyboards.
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) alongside her work at Screen Internatoonal.
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
- Reviews
‘Hallow Road’ review: Babak Anvari drives dangerously with Rosamund Pike, Matthew Rhys
Close-quarters SXSW chiller is also a portrait of a marriage
- Reviews
’Beat The Lotto’: Gambling hijinks in entertaining Irish doc
Led by a mathemattician, a numbers syndicate attempts to game the Irish Lottery in 1992
- Features
Screen critics’ stand-out titles from Berlin 2025
Screen’s team of critics provided the most comprehensive coverage from the festival.
- Reviews
’Aontas’ review: Irish-language crime puzzle
Carrie Crowley and Brid Brennan anchor Damian McCann’s twisting noir thriller
- Reviews
‘Late Shift’ review: Leonie Benesch excels as a Swiss nurse under pressure
Petra Volpe’s tense hospital drama plays as a Berlin Special Gala
- Comment
Nine Bafta takeaways: no politics and little diversity, but fun, friendly and very British
Screen’s executive editor, reviews and new talent Fionnuala Halligan looks back at last night’s Bafta Film Awards.
- Reviews
‘All I Had Was Nothingness’ review: A powerful ‘Shoah’ through the eyes of its maker
40 years later, Guillame Ribot pairs unused footage with Claude Lanzmann’s words to show how the film was made
- Reviews
‘Islands’ review: Sam Riley, Stacy Martin scorch in Canary Islands suspense
Fuerteventura-set noir is the latest from Germany’s Jan-Ole Gerster
- Reviews
‘Christy’ review: A casualty of the care system struggles on a tough Irish estate
Brendan Canty’s debut is an extension of his short film and opens Berlin’s Generation 14plus
- Reviews
‘Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy’: Review
Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant make a welcome return in this warm-hearted, best of British romcom
- Reviews
‘Khartoum’: Sundance Review
Five displaced Sudanese citizens re-enact their experiences in this immersive documentary
- Reviews
‘Kiss Of The Spider-Woman’: Sundance Review
Bill Condon’s musical take on the exhausted Argentina-set drama
- Reviews
‘The Thing With Feathers’: Sundance Review
Benedict Cumberbatch plumbs the depths of grief in this adaptation of Max Porter’s novella
- Reviews
‘The Stringer’: Sundance Review
Documentary seeks the truth behind one the most famous photographs ever taken
- Reviews
‘The Librarians’: Sundance Review
Kim A. Snyder’s rousing documentary follows the librarians on the frontline of America’s culture wars
- Reviews
‘Omaha’: Sundance Review
A father and his kids take a sombre road trip in this impactful US debut
- Features
Films of the year 2024: Fionnuala Halligan
Fionnuala Halligan is Screen International’s executive editor, reviews and new talent.
- News
Screen reveals Arab Stars of Tomorrow 2024
Arab Stars of Tomorrow celebrates Arab talent from across the MENA region.