Kate Dolan
“Despite all my mother’s attempts to steer me towards a reputable career, I just kept being drawn to filmmaking,” writer and director Kate Dolan tells GO. As a child, Dolan had a deep love of cinema. Her mother and grandmother were both cinephiles who instilled an appreciation for the medium of film, even if her mother hoped she’d choose a more suitable career path. Dolan earned her degree in Television & Film Production from Dublin’s Institute of Art, Design, and Technology (IADT), and, after a stint as a broadcast producer in Dublin, went on to make films of her own, like the horror/revenge film Catcalls, and Little Doll, which premiered at Berlinale in 2016. Filmmaking can be a difficult path, rife with rejections and struggles along the way, but Dolan always pushed forward with her pursuit. “The people you love are always going to be the ones who pull you through those setbacks,” she says. “I think if I hadn’t been surrounded by such beautiful people in my life, I don’t know where I would be.” Dolan’s recent coming-of- age film, You Are Not My Mother, which blends horror with Irish folk- lore, reflects both her Irish and queer identities. “The idea of creating something that could resonate with so many people emotionally was always so exciting to me,” she says. Earlier this year, Dolan took home the Discovery Award at the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival for the debut feature. –LC
