DIRECTOR
DISCO PIGS
At 26 years old, Kirsten made her directorial debut with the independent feature Disco Pigs. Adapted from a stage play, the story is about two inseparable friends who inhabit their own insular world. But when their private universe is threatened, one of them starts to unravel.
Kirsten cast and directed a then-unknown Cillian Murphy, catapulting him onto the international stage.
The film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and was nominated for the Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award. It won the Castles Award at the Castellinaria Film Festival, the Grand Prize at the Ourense Film Festival, and the Young European Cinema Audience Award.
Kirsten was nominated for Best Director at the British Independent Film Awards, and the Irish Film and Television Awards. She won Best Director at the Giffoni Film Festival.
https://collider.com/cillian-murphy-disco-pigs-movie/
AUGUST RUSH
At 29 years old, Kirsten directed her first studio feature, the Warner Brothers modern fairytale August Rush, the cherished story of an orphaned musical prodigy who uses his gift to find his birth parents.
The film starred veteran actor and comedian Robin Williams, renowned actors Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Freddie Highmore, and the freshly Oscar nominated Terrence Howard. It launched the career of Alex O’Laughlin.
August Rush placed in the top ten at the American Box Office, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Original Soundtrack and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song.
DOLLHOUSE
Dollhouse was the original film from The Factory Filmmakers Collective. It is about a group of street teens who break into a rich house for a night of partying, but twisted games quickly lose control and turn to explosive and emotional revelations.
Working solely from an outline, Dollhouse was an experimental film, featuring a cast of complete unknowns, with the dialogue and action being discovered by the actors and improvised live during shooting. It was Jack Reynor and Seana Kerslake’s first film, both of whom immediately went on to gain multiple leading roles internationally.
Dollhouse premiered in Berlin and SXSW, won the Best Acting Award at the Odesa Film Festival, won the Innovation Award at the New York Irish Film Festival, and Best International Feature at the Lund Film Festival.
