Ireland’s Galway Film Fleadh has received €20,000 from the inaugural Amazon Regional Creatives Fund Ireland for talent development programme Eitilt.
Eitilt – which is the Irish word for ‘flight’ – is a new film industry upskilling programme focused on creating a structured progression route for emerging and underrepresented filmmakers, that will launch as part of the Fleadh’s industry programme, the Galway Film Fair (July 9-12).
The Amazon Regional Creatives Fund initially began in the UK in 2025 to offering multiple grants of up to £30,000 for charities and community interest groups.
It has now expanded, with the Amazon Regional Creative Fund Ireland launching this year and providing grants of up to €20,000 to companies registered with the Charities Regulatory Authority of Ireland, of which the Galway Film Fleadh is one, to help creatives from underrepresented groups pursue their career ambitions.
Inaugural cohort
The Eitilt programme will enroll 3-5 creators annually whose work reflects the diversity and regional context the Fleadh would like to see represented in the marketplace.
The four filmmakers who form the inaugural cohort are Mary Tynan, a disabled director, actor and writer with a background in theatre, who helmed 2025 short Na Doirse; Kate Hayley, director of Dublin film festival premiere short Emergency Accommodation, who is currently developing her first feature, The Shadow of Me, with Tri Moon Films; Verena Barbosa, a Galway-based Brazilian filmmaker and founder of cultural platform Brazil On Screen, which showcases Brazilian cinema in Ireland; and Abraham Hijazeen an Irish-Jordanian screenwriter and alumnus of Dublin acting school Bow Street Academy.
Charities with annual incomes below €1m with the aim of improving their current upskilling programmes across fields such as publishing, music, gaming, film, TV, fashion, visual arts and podcasting are eligible to apply for the Amazon Regional Creatives Fund Ireland.
The fund combines monetary support and expertise from Amazon’s network of creative industry professionals who will deliver mentoring, work placement and digital training opportunities.
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