VIRGINIA GILBERT

Writer-director

A coolly directed short about a morally compromised man whose holiday is ruined by an unruly boy, Hesitation marks Virginia Gilbert's first foray into directing. That it was nominated for a BAFTA this year (as well as winning awards at Galway and Chicago film festivals last year) shows what a confident piece of film-making it is. Gilbert, who got her taste for film as a teenage runner on her father Brian Gilbert's productions, has seen her career take off in the past two years. Funding has been secured not only for Hesitation (from French and UK sources) and Mea Culpa (RTE and Galway Film Centre), which is now in postproduction, but also for Whores, a documentary series on Irish prostitution, which has screened on TG4 in Ireland to critical acclaim. Gilbert is now developing a number of films 'that move, entertain, amuse, provoke and illuminate'. She is working with Dublin-based Element Pictures on the feature Now, Love and is in the early stages of developing a feature project in France with the French producer of Hesitation, as well as a project with Fortuitous Films.