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
- Comment
Comment: Sex and politics reign at newsworthy Cannes 2024
Critical consensus – if you can ever find it – indicates it was a good year, even if reviews were rarely rapturous.
- Reviews
‘All We Imagine As Light’: Cannes Review
Payal Kapadia’s eloquent fiction debut follows three women attempting to find their place in modern Mumbai
- Reviews
‘Motel Destino’: Cannes Review
A young hitman hides out in a Brazilian sex hotel in this steamy Competition title from Karim Ainouz
- Reviews
‘The Shrouds’: Cannes Review
A grieving man invents a way to stay close to his dead wife in David Cronenberg’s lumbering Competition entry
- Reviews
‘Caught By The Tides’: Cannes Review
China’s relentless march for progress inspires Jia Zhang-ke’s contemplative Competition entry
- Reviews
‘Desert Of Namibia’: Cannes Review
A young Japanese woman struggles with her claustrophobic Tokyo life in this Directors’ Fortnight title
- Reviews
‘Queens Of Drama’: Cannes Review
A pop star and a lesbian punk fall in and out of love in this hyper-stylised French debut
- Reviews
‘Universal Language’: Cannes Review
Iranian culture is transposed onto Winnipeg in this conceptual Canadian comedy
- Reviews
‘Kinds Of Kindness’: Cannes Review
Yorgos Lanthimos returns to his Greek Weird Wave roots for this triptych of dark tales playing in Cannes competition
- Reviews
‘The Girl With The Needle’: Cannes Review
Horrific true events inspire Magnus von Horn’s murderous black-and-white drama
- Reviews
‘When The Light Breaks’: Cannes Review
National and personal tragedy collide over the course of a single Icelandic summer day in Runar Rúnarsson’s Un Certain Regard opener
- 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