Mark O’ Connor is a graduate of Film Operations and Production from Ballyfermot College and directing from The New York Film Academy. He also holds a masters in screenwriting from IADT. Mark made over 60 short films, before writing and directing his debut feature film ‘Between the Canals’. Between the Canals was highly acclaimed with Film Ireland calling it “The best Irish film in a long long time”. It was the acting debut for Barry Keoghan and many of the cast went on to star in leading roles in the hit RTE television series ‘Love Hate’.
Mark’s second feature film ‘King of the travellers’ was selected for festivals around the world and received a UK and Irish cinema and DVD release and was released in 150 territories worldwide on VOD. ‘Stalker’, Mark’s third feature film won the Underground Film Festival and Runner up Prize at the Galway Film festival. Mark’s fourth feature film ‘Cardboard Gangsters’ was the highest grossing Irish film of the year and received 5 stars reviews. It won 6 awards at the Manchester Film Festival including Best Film, Best Actor, Outstanding Cinematography, Outstanding Screenplay, Outstanding Director, and Film of the Festival. It also won Best Film at The Newport Beach Film Festival in Los Angeles. Worldwide rights to the film were bought by Netflix.
Mark then wrote and directed a six-part crime drama for Virgin Media UK/Ireland called ‘Darklands’. It received critical acclaim and an average of 450,000 viewers per episode and was recently sold to Australian television network SBS. Mark is currently in development on a number of projects including a comedy drama ‘Oui Cannes’ set in Ireland and France and is a major television series being produced by Samson Films
