Team

Frank Shouldice Writer / Director

Frank Shouldice is an award-winning Irish writer/director working across documentary, journalism, radio, and drama. His recent feature documentary Once We Were Punks (Screen Ireland/Igloo Films) premiered at Galway Film Fleadh in 2025 and won the Audience Award at the IFI Documentary Festival. His debut feature The Man Who Wanted to Fly was the highest-grossing Irish documentary of 2019, going on to win a Celtic Media Award and 23 international prizes across Europe, as well as the IFI Audience Award.

Frank is also an experienced producer/director with RTÉ Investigates, where his work has received major recognition, including the RTS Sports Documentary Award (2025) for Girls in Green, and the Circom TV Award and RTS National Media Awards (2023) for Milking It: Dairy’s Dirty Secret. He also won a Celtic Media Award for Greyhounds: Running for Their Lives.

In radio, his documentary The Case That Never Was (RTÉ Doc on One) won the Prix Europa for Best Investigative Documentary, as well as awards from the Association of International Broadcasters and the Justice Media Awards. He has since delivered masterclasses for the BBC Radio Documentary Unit.

Frank’s work extends into drama and literature. He is the screenwriter of The Joy (Metropolitan Films) and co-writer of the TV series Kilferry. He has written and directed nine stage plays, including Marie Clare and Journeyman. His memoir Grandpa the Sniper inspired the theatrical production Six Days, which toured nationally.

His debut novel Beneath the Cedar Tree (Liffey Press) was published to strong acclaim, with appearances at festivals including Hinterland and Booktown.

Across all his work, Frank brings a strong storytelling voice grounded in real-world experience and a commitment to compelling, character-driven narratives.

Sons of Southern Ulster

The Sons of Southern Ulster are Justin Kelly (vocalist) and guitarist David Meagher. Originally from Bailieboro, Co Cavan the Sons started out in the late 1980's as punk band The Panic Merchants alongside drummer Noel Larkin and bassist Paddy Glackin.

As The Sons, they recount stories from small town Ireland that speak to anywhere in the world in what has been described as "punky spacefolk." Their debut album Foundry Folk Songs produced by Daragh Dukes was received positively all round with opening track The Pop Inn named Song of the Week in the Irish Times. They followed up with a second album Sinners and Lost Souls. The background to their 2025 release, Through the Bridewell Gate features strongly in the documentary Once We Were Punks.