Bio

 

DONALD TAYLOR BLACK was educated at Trinity College Dublin, where he was Chairman of Dublin University Players. He won an Arts Council bursary to train as a theatre director at the Abbey Theatre, and directed plays for the Peacock, the Project Arts Centre, the Irish Theatre Company and Gemini Productions. Subsequently he worked as a Film Selector/Programmer for the Cork Film Festival, Organiser/Programmer for the Celtic Film Festival and as a freelance writer for radio.

 

His films, predominantly documentaries, have been commissioned or transmitted by RTÉ, TG4, Channel 4, BBC, the ITV Network, Ulster Television, La Sept/ARTE, YLE, SBS, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, PBS stations in the United States and many other international broadcasters. They have won a number of awards and have been screened at the Chicago, Melbourne, Sydney, London, Taormina, Hong Kong, Augsburg, Wellington, Geneva, Dublin, Cork, Foyle and Celtic Film Festivals; at INPUT, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Cinémathèque Française, and as part of retrospectives throughout the world.

 

He was a board member of the Irish Film Institute, a founding member of Film Makers Ireland (now Screen Producers Ireland) and is a former Chairman of DOCUMENTARY, the Copenhagen-based project, which supported creative documentaries in Europe during the EUs first MEDIA Programme. Donald was Head of the Department of Film & Media at IADT (2001-2016) and Creative Director of The National Film School (2006-2016).

Filmography

 

BACK TO THE JOY

2018 - Documentary

 

SKIN IN THE GAME

2012 – Feature Documentary

 

DAVID FARRELL – ELUSIVE MOMENTS

2008 – Feature Documentary

 

CLONGOWES – THE GREATER GLORY

2001 – Documentary

 

IMPRINT: PASTERNAK

2000 – Short Documentary

 

DEAR BOY – THE STORY OF MICHEAL MAC LIAMMOIR

1999 – Documentary

 

BALLYPONZA

1998 – Documentary

 

DOWN TO THE BEDROCK

1997 – Documentary

 

THE JOY

1997 – Documentary Series

 

DEAD MAN’S DOCTOR

1997 – Documentary

 

HEART AND SOULS

1995 – Documentary

 

IRISH CINEMA – OURSELVES ALONE?

1995 – Documentary

 

THE TRIUMPH OF BEAUTY AND DECEIT

1995 – TV Opera

 

FROM BALLYBEG TO BROADWAY

1993 – Documentary

 

IN FLAGS OR FLITTERS: PICTURE OF DUBLIN

1993 – Documentary

 

DOWN FOR THE MATCH

1992 – Documentary

 

RETURN TO PARADISE: THE BELFAST CELTIC STORY

1989 – Documentary

 

GREAT WERE THEIR DEEDS: THEIR PASSIONS AND THEIR SPORTS

1988 – Documentary

 

OLIVER ST. JOHN GOGARTY – SILENCE WOULD NEVER DO

1987 – Documentary

 

SAM THOMPSON – VOICE OF MANY MEN

1986 – Documentary

 

REMEMBERING JIMMY O’DEA

1985 – Documentary

 

AT THE CINEMA PALACE – LIAM O’LEARY

1983 – Documentary

Awards

 

Skin in the Game

 

2014, Best Documentary Irish Film Festival, Boston

 

2013, IFTA Nomination: George Morrison Award for Best Feature Documentary