Who we are

aemi are:

Alice Butler (Co-Director / Co-Founder)

Alice Butler is a Dublin-based film programmer, curator, lecturer and writer. Alice worked at the Irish Film Institute for six years where she curated several film seasons and had responsibility for artist moving image programming. Solo curatorial ventures have included ‘The L-Shape’ at The Dock, ‘As We May Think’ at IFI and ‘New Spaces’ with VAI Northern Ireland. Alice has written on the moving image for Sight and Sound, Vdrome, Paper Visual Art and Enclave Review and she has lectured or participated in panels on the moving image at Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, IMMA and PLASTIK Festival of Artists’ Moving Image.

Daniel Fitzpatrick (Co-Director / Co-Founder)

Daniel Fitzpatrick is a Dublin-based Cultural Programmer and arts professional who has worked in the area of film and film programming since 2010. He co-founded aemi in 2016 and has served as its Co-Director since that time. Daniel also co-founded and was Co-Director of PLASTIK – Festival of Artist Moving Image which ran from 2015-2017. He currently runs and founded Hollywood Babylon a midnight movie screening programme currently taking place monthly at Light House Cinema. Daniel has worked as a lecturer, programmer, and researcher with a special interest in the field of artists’ and experimental moving image for many years. He also served as Director of the silent film festival Killruddery Film Festival from 2009 to 2012 where he worked with the film historian Kevin Brownlow. Daniel was also Co-Director of Experimental Film Club.

Anne Hendrick (Projects and Engagement Manager)

Based in the south-east of Ireland, Anne is a curator, researcher, and producer. Anne was previously the Development & Engagement Manager for Poetry Ireland. From 2021 until April 2025, Anne worked as Creative Researcher & Producer for Festival in a Van, developing programmes for older people, marginalised communities, and refugee networks throughout Ireland. She is currently the Visual Arts Curator for the Bealtaine Festival. Anne is also a volunteer member of the Wexford Arts Centre’s Fundraising Committee. She graduated from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin with a BFA in Painting & Art History and completed her MPhil in Film Studies in TCD.

aemi is a CLG (company limited by guarantee).

aemi are very grateful to our Board of Directors: Rose Baker, Stephen Boyd, Maeve Connolly, Oisin McClenaghan, Niamh O’Donnell, Grace Weir and Frank Sweeney, who generously volunteer their time to support us and provide valuable counsel throughout the year.

Dr Rose Baker is the Programmer for Belfast Film Festival. In this role, she builds an annual programme of premiere international and Irish cinema, retrospective works, documentary, archive material and experimental film. Having previously worked as Short Film Programmer at Belfast Film Festival and Docs Ireland, she focused on filmmaker surveys, experimental short works and submissions, and established the current format of the Short Film Competition. Originally from County Down, she has lived in London, Berlin and Belfast. She has an MA in Film Programming and Curating from Birkbeck, University of London and will graduate this year with a Technē AHRC-funded PhD entitled Look Here: Ulster Television in the 1960s, at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her PhD research has led her to curate regular archive exhibitions and screenings within the festival, including the audio-visual installation, Vox Populi: the voice of the people, in the historic Bank of Ireland building in Belfast. Projects are often in collaboration with Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive and BBC Rewind at BBC Northern Ireland.

Dr Stephen Boyd (pictured above) lectures at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) in film and screen media, with a focus on Irish and Non-Western Cinemas. His research specialises in Irish surf filmmaking and the cultural, economic, and aesthetic dimensions of surf cinema, with a particular focus on the political economy of short-form production, subcultural practices, film festivals, and platform distribution. He is a course director of FilmMemory (FilmMemory), a Joint Master of Arts in European Film Heritage, History and Cultures, which emphasises the importance of archival resources in European cinema. Stephen also teaches on IADT’s BA in New Media Studies, and previously taught at the National College of Art and Design and Trinity College Dublin. He has published on numerous topics relating to Irish cinema and popular culture. Stephen has also directed films, taught and organised educational courses for the Irish Film Institute, and has been a film critic on Irish radio since the 2000s.

Maeve Connolly (she/her) is a writer and researcher based in Dublin, where she teaches on the BA in Art at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology. She is the author of TV Museum: Contemporary Art and the Age of Television (Intellect, 2014) and The Place of Artists’ Cinema: Space, Site and Screen (Intellect, 2009). Her current research focuses on changing cultures and economies
of art and media practice.

Oisin McClenaghan (Chair) is a partner at international law firm Ogier and is based in Dublin. He has extensive experience advising on the structuring, offer and sale of investment instruments and investment products, the provision of investment advice, mergers and acquisitions of investment fund groups and other financial services. Oisin is a member of various industry working groups and contributes to industry publications and consultations.

Niamh O’Donnell is Director of Irish Theatre Institute an all-island resource organisation for theatre artists and makers. Niamh has over 33 years’ experience in the arts and cultural sector, she has worked with many leading organisations including: Poetry Ireland and Mermaid County Wicklow Arts Centre as Director, Project Arts Centre as Executive Producer, The Gallery of Photography, Black Church Print Studio (an artists’ resource organisation for Fine Art Print), and Arthouse Multimedia Centre. A passionate advocate for the sector, Niamh has served on Boards of established and emerging companies including Dublin Fringe Festival, CoisCéim Dance Theatre; Theatre Forum Ireland; and The National Campaign for the Arts.

Grace Weir represented Ireland at the 49th International Venice Biennale and has exhibited widely nationally and internationally. She was an Artist-in-Residence in Trinity College Dublin (2012-2015) and had a major solo exhibition ‘3 different nights, recurring’ at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (2015-2016). In 2019 she was commissioned by The Institute of Physics (UK and Ireland) to create an installation ‘Time Tries All Things’ for the inaugural show in their gallery in London. Recent solo shows were ‘The history of light’ at Solstice Arts Centre in Ireland (2023) and a solo show ‘For every line, a point not on it’ at Galleria Alessandra Bonomo in Rome, Italy (2023-2024). Her work ranges from film and video art to photographic, painting, installation, web projects and lecture-performances. One area of Weir’s work is her unique approach to research, based on encounters with specifics such as certain objects, books, artworks; particular locations and sources or from conversations with philosophers, scientists and practitioners from other disciplines. She has made over 30 artist films and video works, underpinned by the particular entities, locations and theories under her scrutiny, whether cultural, scientific, or philosophical.

Frank Sweeney is an artist with a research based practice, using found material to approach questions of collective memory, experience and identity through film and sound.

Frank Sweeney’s recent exhibitions and screenings include ALCINE 53, Madrid (Second Diamond Award) (2024); Anthology Film Archives, New York (2024); Luan Gallery, Athlone (2024); FILMADRID, Madrid (Special Mention) (2024); International Film Festival Rotterdam (Winner Tiger Short Award) (2024); EVA International, Limerick (2023); Sirius Art Centre, Cobh (2023); Lausanne Underground Film & Music Festival (Best Short Documentary) (2022); CCA-Derry (with Tom O’Dea) (2022); Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2021); Transmediale, Berlin (2021); Green on Red Gallery (with Eva Richardson McCrea), Dublin (2019). Frank Sweeney holds a Three Year Membership Studio at TBG+S.