Athlone filmmaker wins €10,000 Westmeath arts bursary

Athlone filmmaker Leah Egan has been announced as the 2024 winner of the Westmeath Film Award.

The annual award is a bursary of €10,000 granted to a local filmmaker to be used towards the production of a short 10–15 minute film or documentary in the county.

The award will enable the Coosan woman to create her short film, I See A Voice.

Set on the banks of the River Shannon in Athlone, the film centres on the lived experience of a deaf woman in modern-day Ireland. Leah will be backed by the producer Aaron Eccles and the production team at Drawn in Pen Productions.

The Film Award aligns with the Westmeath Art Office’s plans to support and promote filmmaking activity in the county, and to promote Westmeath with diverse rural and urban landscapes ideal for filming.

Leah Egan said: “I’m so incredibly grateful for to the Arts Office for all the wonderful work they do for artists from Westmeath.

"I See A Voice is a script very dear to my heart and I’m excited to have their support in bringing this film to life. It’s such an honour to get to shoot a film in my home town, too! Excited to get the ball rolling and make Westmeath proud.”

A graduate of the Gaiety School of Acting in 2012, Leah is an award-winning actor/director. She has worked extensively in film and tv in Ireland, the UK and Canada. She is winner of two best actress awards for her portrayal of Ria Wade in Life Begins Now.

Her credits also include recurring leads on RTE’s Fair City, TG4’s Ros na Rún and TBS Canada’s The Detour.

As a writer-director, she is a published children’s author of two titles, recipient of Screen Ireland and Bow Street Ireland’s Actor as Creator Scheme, and recently received her first director credit on TG4's Ros na Rún.