TIME & LOCATION
About
Chair
SPONSOR
Panel
Executive Producer, Element Pictures
Kate Harwood is an award-winning Executive Producer at production company Element Pictures, currently working on the second season of the adrenaline-fuelled thriller Nightsleeper shooting in Northern Ireland. As a producer Kate has been nominated for multiple awards in her career, including two Primetime Emmy® nominations for her work on Cranford; and BAFTA awards for Charles II: The Power and the Passion and EastEnders. She was previously Managing Director of Euston Films; and Head of Drama Production at the BBC where she oversaw landmark series such as Luther, Silent Witness and Lark Rise to Candleford.
Company Director, Executive Producer and Artist Manager, Avalon.
Rob Aslett is a Company Director, owner and Executive Producer at Avalon. He currently EPs several Avalon shows including recently launched Tall Tales & Murder (BBC/RTE), the longest-running sitcom currently on British TV, Not Going Out (BBC1), and the BAFTA-winning Taskmaster (Channel 4). Previous EP work includes Breeders (FX/Sky) and Starstruck (BBC3/HBO). Rob has been with Avalon since 1991 and has held a variety of roles during that time including in live promotions, talent management and TV distribution.
Producer
Leon McGeown-Fee is an award-winning drama producer from Lurgan, Northern Ireland. Since starting her career in film and television in 1999, she has built extensive experience across production management, line producing and drama production. Over the past several years, Leon has produced more than 60 hours of scripted television for major UK broadcasters, including BBC One and Channel 5. Her credits include Hope Street (Series 1-3) and London Kills (Series 3 & 4) for Long Story TV, Dalgliesh (Series 3) for New Pictures, and most recently Crookhaven (Series 1 & 2) for BBC Studios Kids & Family. Passionate about championing production talent and storytelling from Northern Ireland, Leon has played a key role in bringing locally made drama to audiences in the UK and internationally.
Producer, Director, Cyprus Avenue
Brendan is an internationally recognised filmmaker who last narrative fiction film as Producer, SKINTOWN won the Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence at the 2026 Edinburgh International Film Festival after its World Premiere screening. His previous narrative fiction title THAT THEY FACE THE RISING SUN won the Best Film IFTA (Irish Film & Television Awards) in 2024. Brendan’s documentary work includes GAZA (Sundance 2019) and IN THE SHADOW OF BEIRUT (Doc Edge 2023), both films selected as Ireland’s official entry to the Academy awards in the Best International Feature and Best Documentary feature categories in 2020 and 2024 respectively. Brendan’s other narrative feature films as producer include JUMP (TIFF 2012) and MAZE (2017). His debut feature documentary as Director / Producer was the internationally acclaimed BOBBY SANDS: 66 DAYS (Hotdocs 2016/BBC Storyville) which went on to become the most successful Irish documentary at the box office that year. Brendan followed up with ONE MILLION AMERICAN DREAMS (Hulu) and MY NAME IS BULGER (Discovery +). Brendan is preparing to direct his first fiction film next year, AMONGST WOMEN, based on the novel of the same name by celebrated Irish author, John McGahern. The script has been written by Owen McCafferty (ORDINARY LOVE) and is being produced by Rebecca O’Brien (Sixteen Films) and Tina O’Reilly (Metropolitan Films) Brendan’s career to date has spanned almost 40 years unbroken and he still doesn’t have any grey hair - yet!