FERGAL ROCK is the Writer and Director of Henry & Sunny

Fergal graduated from University of Limerick in 1999 with a BA in English Literature and Media & Communication Studies. In his final year Fergal directed and edited the short documentary Animal Attraction and wrote his thesis on the independent filmmaker Hal Hartley as auteur. He also hosted a weekly music show on college radio station, Wired Fm. Fergal spent a year in Italy on the Erasmus programme where he studied English Literature and International Cinema at the Università degli Studi di Firenze.

Fergal continued his education at D.I.T. and graduated with an honours MA in Film (Theory & Production) in 2002. There he wrote and directed the short film Homeless Blues and worked on a number of other projects in a variety of roles including cinematographer, editor, and production designer. Fergal was both sound recordist and sound designer on the award winning Full Circle. His thesis examined the relationship between structure and narrative in the films of Nicolas Roeg.

Since graduating from D.I.T. Fergal has studied 'The Fundamentals of Story Analysis for Film' and 'The Fundamentals of Scene Analysis for Film' through Screen Training Ireland (FETAC & UCLA) and the 'Robert Towne Screenwriting Masterclass' through Screen Training Ireland and the Galway Film Centre.

In 2004 Fergal wrote and directed the RTE/Filmbase short film, “Tom Waits Made Me Cry”. The film screened at the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, Kerry Film Festival, Mid-Ulster Film Festival, and was shown on RTE as part of the Shortscreen series.

Fergal was recently shortlisted for the Irish Film Board’s Virtual Cinema scheme. He is currently developing a number of screenplays for film and television.

His latest film, made in collaboration with Producer/DOP Orla Russell-Conway, is Henry & Sunny, the melancholic tale of an unemployed clown in love with a beautiful soap opera actress.

Fergal has also written a number of film reviews for The Mayo News.