The metaphor of the whale dying and creating life in the process is intended to show romantic relationships as an awe-inspiring mythical creature we have historically chased, but have yet to understand fully.

Even when we experience love we are never quite sure if we have truly grasped it. Regardless, the more deeply we fall into it, the greater the joy, the wonder, and the brutal fear of losing that grip entirely.

Log line: A glimpse beneath the surface of a relationship bonded by books, whales and love.

Director Biography - Katie McNeice

McNeice is a multi-award winning and self-taught Writer Director of thoughtful identity films with a particular focus on sexuality and gender. She is greatly influenced by music, magical realism and films with a focus on time and language, such as 'The Tree of Life' and 'Arrival'.

As a non-binary, LGBT filmmaker from rural Ireland, hers is a unique world view.

COMPLETED WORK

Her debut short 'IN ORBIT' has garnered over fifty awards, including a Special Jury Mention at the Oscar-qualifying Galway Film Fleadh and a ZeBBie Nomination for Best Short Script from the Writers Guild of Ireland.

Log line: There was once an invisible optician, living in a strange and lonely world. Her story starts with a broken lens and the woman who taught her to see things differently.

'WHALE FALL' is a meditation in verse on the intensity of love and connection between women. Using the metaphor of a dying whale, it pushes and pulls between the beauty of swimming in each other's thoughts to the fear of falling too deeply––into each other and into the things which create wonder in our lives.

Log line: A glimpse beneath the surface of a relationship bonded by books, whales and love.

'WHO SHE LOVES', co-written with Graham Cantwell, is her debut feature script and is currently on the festival circuit as a completed film. This is one of Ireland's first ever LGBT dramas with a female lead and is, "...a funny and moving story of coming of age and coming out." –– Galway Film Fleadh.

UPCOMING SHORTS

Upcoming shorts include intersex drama 'LAMBING' funded by the 2020 IMDb Script to Screen Award and the 2021 Kildare Short Grass Film Commission.

Log line: A young dad in rural Ireland must face his anxiety around gender and bullying when his baby is born intersex.

Another is Irish language LGBT short 'FOCAIL BAILE CROI' (Words Home Heart), funded by the 2020 Comórtas Fisín Pitching Competition, which is a reimagining grief as a privilege of having loved.

Log line: A father imagines moments he will share with his unborn son, teaching him words for his experiences in a home full of language and heart.

UPCOMING FEATURE

She is also developing an adaptation of LGBT children's novel 'THE DEEPEST BREATH' by Meg Grehan as her feature directorial debut, and has just completed a Diploma in Advanced Production from TUD with this project as a Development Case Study.

The novel is published in Ireland, France, French-speaking Canada and North America.

Log line: Eleven-year-old Stevie tries to explain the fizzy feeling in her chest when she looks at her friend Chloe, with the help of scary sea-creatures, a beautiful imagination, and a mom who is learning to be alone.

OTHER WORK

In tandem with her filmmaking work, McNeice is a full-time Senior Producer of live action and animated content for the US education system, in Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Dublin-based studio.

McNeice is also one of the first participants of the Screen Skills Mentorship Programme in Ireland and is mentored by Director/Producer Ruth Treacy of Tailored Films (The Lodgers, Let the Wrong One In).

Director Statement

'WHALE FALL' was originally written and produced by a micro-group of professional filmmakers in just 48 hours as part of the National Little Cinema 48 Hr Challenge in Galway, Ireland.

This is sponsored by the Galway Film Centre, Galway City of Film and national Irish broadcaster TG4. The project won the competition with the award for Best Film, Best Editing and Best Actress and has since been polished fully for the festival circuit.

As noted in my biography, 'WHALE FALL' is a meditation in verse on the intensity of love and connection between women. Using the metaphor of a dying whale, it pushes and pulls between the beauty of swimming in each other's thoughts to the fear of falling too deeply––into each other and into the things which create wonder in our lives.

You can find everything you need to know about WHALE FALL in my project section. Thanks so much for watching it and enjoy!

Best

Katie McNeice, Writer Director