Liam O Mochain

In 1996, Liam wrote and produced the short film 'Fortune', in which he also co- starred with Derdriu Ring ('Law and Order: Criminal Intent'), and Maire Stafford ('Felica's Journey'). The short had its world premiere at the Manchester Int. Short Film Festival and won best short film at the 1998 Worldfest Houston Int. Film Festival.

Liam made his feature debut in 1999 as a writer/director/producer with 'The Book That Wrote Itself'. The film starring Liam O Mochain and Antoinette Guiney featured George Clooney, Kenneth Branagh, Melanie Griffith and Chazz Palaminteri in cameo roles. The film world premiered at the 1999 Galway Film Fleadh and int. premiere at the 1999 Vancouver Int. Film Festival. It went on to screen at a further 20 int. film festivals worldwide and won a critics prize at the 1999 Austin Film Festival. Liam has directed/produced more than 20 documentaries and TV shows for RTE and TG4 (national broadcasters in Ireland).

'W.C.' (2007), Liam's second feature as writer/director/producer/actor won best foreign film award the 2009 Las Vegas int. film festival. The film had its world premiere at the 2007 Dublin Film Festival, international premiere at the 2007 Montreal World Film festival and in competition at the 2008 Cairo int. Film Festival. The film was picked up by US based sales rep Cinetic in 2008.

In 2010 as a director/producer Liam made the short film 'Slip Up', it screened in competition at the 2010 Foyle Film Festival, at the 2010 Cannes Short Film Corner and the 2011 Arizona Int. film festival. Most recently he made the short film 'Grand Opening' which he wrote, directed, produced and co-starred with Donncha Crowley (The Runway) and Brendan Conroy (Kings) it screened in competition at the 2011 Foyle Film Festival, 2012 Florida Film Festival, 2012 Cork Film Festival and 2012 Kerry Film Festival.

In 2012 Liam executive produced and co-starred with John Kavanagh (Alexandra), and Robert Donnelly (Eamon) in the short film 'The Court Astronomer' which world premiered at the 2012 Fastnet Cork Film Festival and screened at the Belfast film Festival. Liam also recently completed the short film 'Covet' in which he wrote, directed, produced and co-starred with Marion O'Dwyer (Agnes Browne). Liam is currently writing and developing numerous film and tv projects including the Irish language film Felica for which he received an Arts Council of Ireland bursary and funding from the Irish broadcaster TG4.

Liam began training as an actor with Geasog Theatre company in Ireland and toured with their production of Federico Garcia Lorca's 'The Butterfly's Evil Spell' which won eight theatre awards, including best actor for Liam at the 1991 Cabinteely Youth International Theatre Festival. He subsequently trained with the Dublin based Gaiety School of Acting and The Galway Youth Theatre, also in Ireland and performed in their productions of 'Not the School Around the Corner', 'Diarmuid and Gráinne', 'Philadelphia Here I Come', 'Measure for Measure' and 'Heroes' which was staged in association with the Galway Arts Festival. Liam performed on radio in the plays 'Beckett' and 'The School for Scandal' for Wrap Studio/Anna Livia 103.8FM. For RTE Raidio 96FM he wrote and performed in two popular satirical series 'Mystic Mickey' and 'Education Today'. He also performed in the radio play "Charlies Visit" for RTE Radio.

Liam made his TV debut in 1996 as Joe Heaney in the drama documentary, 'Joe Heaney: Sing the Dark Away' for RTE. The film screened at a number of film festivals including the 1996 Celtic Film and Television Festival and featured Maureen O Sullivan ('Hannah and Her Sisters'), the legendary Pete Seeger and the late great Ronnie Drew and Liam Clancy. His other film and TV credits as an actor include the BBC drama series 'Family' directed by Michael Winterbottom, the hit movie 'Circle of Friends' directed by Pat O'Connor, the long running IFTA award winning TV series 'Cursai Ealaine' for RTE, the Welsh teen soap 'Jabas' for S4C/RTE, two seasons of the comedy series 'Ri Ra' (2001-3) for TG4 and the Writers Guild of Ireland nominated TV series 'Ros Na Run' for TG4 in 2007.

Liam has also worked as a writer, producer, presenter and freelance reporter for numerous radio stations in Ireland, including RTE RnaG, Anna Livia FM, RTE Radio 1, RTE 2FM (1999, BBC Radio Ulster and WDAR 96FM. He has also worked as a director, producer and stage manager with theatre companies such as Geasog Theatre Company, Galway Youth Theatre, Dallog Theatre Company, Springboard Theatre Company, Ballyfermott Theatre Workshop and The John Bosco Arts Centre.

Liam has served on the jury, as well being a panelist and selector of films for many int. film festivals. He is a founding member of the Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) and served on the jury for the 2007 awards. He is also a member of the Irish Screen Writers Guild, Irish Actors Equity and the Directors Guild of Ireland. He has written extensively on film and digital distribution for amongst others: Film Ireland, Indiewire, D-Side, In-Dublin, IFTN, FHM, News of the World. Liam set up the film and TV company Siar A Rachas Muid Productions in 1996 and Hyper Films in 2005.