The National Talent Academy for Animation is thrilled to announce the seven teams chosen for the First Credit Short Film Scheme and Short Film Fund 2025.

 

Following an intensive selection process, pre-production on all projects will begin in mid June, and over the next seven months, the selected teams will create their short films. The NTAA will provide participants with hands-on, industry-led training and mentoring sessions designed to nurture and develop a new wave of emerging and established writers, directors, and producers.

 

The First Credit Short Film Scheme projects are:

 

Abhaile

After fleeing their home country, Kitten and his mother must find their place in their new land.

Written & Directed by Olga Zhernovkova and produced by Joanne Hennessy.

 

Bótharín

With his beloved older sister in the throes of Dementia, a man pieces together an uncertain truth that throws their whole relationship into question.

Written & Directed by Niall MacGiolla Chomhgaill and produced by Moya McHugh.

 

Happy Hauntings

Spirits have to pay up with screams to keep their haunting privileges, and Ghost is in arrears.

Written & Directed by Ruth Harbison and produced by Sabine Jansone.

 

Lullaby

A young girl confronts grief as she is lured into darkness by a haunting lullaby in the night.

Written & Directed by Helena Melin and produced by Cal McLoughlin.

 

To A Flame

An elderly couple experiences their relationship breakdown when one of them becomes devoted to a paranormal fire that demands to be fed.

Written & Directed by Ro Martin and produced by Joshua Brown.


 

The Short Film Fund projects are:

 

Koji’s Courage

In a treacherous Arctic landscape, two Inuit teenagers orbit each other on small, floating icebergs, their love for each other just beyond reach.

Co-directed by Aisling Wallace and Anika O’Hagan-Ploug, Written by Denis McArdle and Produced by David Butler.

 

SAIRC

As the Atlantic’s fury engulfs Inishark, a once-vibrant island community fades into stark black-and-white desolation, leading to its inevitable evacuation in 1960.

Co-Directed & Co-Written by Niamh Asple and James Naughton, Produced by Adam Rael.

 

 

 

The NTAA would like to thank all of our external assessors and interviewers for their time and expertise during the selection process.

 

Applications for the 2026 Film Fund will open in December 2025. Further details will be published on the NTAA website in due course.