Nicky Larkin(I)
- Director
- Editor
- Writer
Writer/director and documentary filmmaker.
Born in Birr, County Offaly. Studied Fine Art in Galway and at Chelsea College of Art, London.
Worked as a gallery-based video installation artist before moving into filmmaking.
His video art, sound pieces and installations have featured in the Chicago Art Fair, Videology Brooklyn, Optica Madrid, TULCA, the European Media Art Festival (twice), and EVA International (twice). He has held solo exhibitions in Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Frankfurt and Enschede.
In 2010 he was the youngest artist featured in Robert O'Byrne's Dictionary of Living Irish Artists.
In 2015 he wrote and directed his first short drama, Pissing In Bottles, starring Gary Lydon, Denise McCormack and Peter Campion. The film screened at Kinofilm Manchester Film Festival, New York State Film Festival, Belfast Film Festival and OFFline Film Festival, and was nominated for two awards at Portsmouth International Film Festival.
His 2018 Northern Ireland Screen-funded short documentary Becoming Cherrie was nominated for Best British Short at the Iris Prize in Cardiff, won Best Documentary at Oxford Short Film Festival 2020 and Best LGBT Short at Bolton International Film Festival 2019. It also screened at Dublin International Film Festival, Dinard Film Festival, Melbourne Documentary Film Festival, IndieCork, Docs Ireland, GAZE Film Festival, MixBrasil, Seoul International Pride Film Festival, Chicago Irish Film Festival, Irish Film Festival London and the Contemporary Irish Arts Center Los Angeles.
Becoming Cherrie was acquired by RTE and broadcast in August 2023 and is available on the RTE Player.
In 2019 he directed Cherrie, Me & HIV, a BBC NI True North documentary first broadcast in November 2019 and available on BBC iPlayer. In the same year he directed and produced the short My Near Death Experience, featuring Belfast stand-up comedian Terry McHugh, funded by Northern Ireland Screen.
In 2020 he completed the documentary Abomination, funded by Northern Ireland Screen, following The Belfast Ensemble as they created and staged their radical opera using verbatim homophobic hate speech from the DUP. The 43-minute documentary was scheduled to premiere at Queen's Film Theatre, Belfast, in April 2020, but instead premiered online because of the lockdown and was profiled in The Sunday Times Culture Magazine.
During the 2020 lockdown he wrote and directed the comedy short Gone Viral, starring Steve Blount, Abigail McGibbon and Peter Campion. Funded by Northern Ireland Screen and produced by Raymond Lau and Green Dragon Media, Gone Viral won Best UK Short at the North London Comedy Festival and Best Comedy at the Oxford Film Festival.
His feature thriller screenplay The Screamers was selected for development as part of the Northern Ireland Screen New Writer Focus 2021-2022 programme and was subsequently optioned by Poli Productions.
He was selected for BBC Writersroom Belfast Voices 2021-2022.
His short film Letter To Lia, funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, screened in competition at Docs Ireland 2022, won Best Director at the Vesuvius International Film Festival in Naples, and screened at IndieCork, Louth International Film Festival, Waterford International Film Festival, Still Voices Film Festival, Varese International Film Festival, Lucca Film Festival e Europa Cinema and Rouen Film Festival.
In 2023 he directed the four-part television series Second Chances, featuring Rebecca Tallon de Havilland, funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and Virgin Media Television with Mind The Gap Films. The series was broadcast in January and February 2024.
In August 2023 he was awarded BAFTA Connect membership. In 2024 he was one of eight Irish and Northern Irish filmmakers selected for The Puttnam Scholarship.
In October 2024 he travelled to Japan to make John Gunning: Big In Japan, the story of an Irishman who emigrated to Tokyo and became a sumo wrestler.
In 2025 he directed the Screen Ireland Focus Short Punt, which he also wrote. Produced by Alanna Riddell Bond at Poli Productions and starring Abigail McGibbon, Michael Smiley, Gary Lydon and Steve Blount, Punt premiered at Galway Film Fleadh before screening at Cork International Film Festival, Belfast Film Festival and Dublin International Film Festival.
Punt was nominated for an IFTA in 2026.
His feature documentary To This I Belong was completed in 2026 and is scheduled to premiere in competition at Docs Ireland.
Born in Birr, County Offaly. Studied Fine Art in Galway and at Chelsea College of Art, London.
Worked as a gallery-based video installation artist before moving into filmmaking.
His video art, sound pieces and installations have featured in the Chicago Art Fair, Videology Brooklyn, Optica Madrid, TULCA, the European Media Art Festival (twice), and EVA International (twice). He has held solo exhibitions in Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Frankfurt and Enschede.
In 2010 he was the youngest artist featured in Robert O'Byrne's Dictionary of Living Irish Artists.
In 2015 he wrote and directed his first short drama, Pissing In Bottles, starring Gary Lydon, Denise McCormack and Peter Campion. The film screened at Kinofilm Manchester Film Festival, New York State Film Festival, Belfast Film Festival and OFFline Film Festival, and was nominated for two awards at Portsmouth International Film Festival.
His 2018 Northern Ireland Screen-funded short documentary Becoming Cherrie was nominated for Best British Short at the Iris Prize in Cardiff, won Best Documentary at Oxford Short Film Festival 2020 and Best LGBT Short at Bolton International Film Festival 2019. It also screened at Dublin International Film Festival, Dinard Film Festival, Melbourne Documentary Film Festival, IndieCork, Docs Ireland, GAZE Film Festival, MixBrasil, Seoul International Pride Film Festival, Chicago Irish Film Festival, Irish Film Festival London and the Contemporary Irish Arts Center Los Angeles.
Becoming Cherrie was acquired by RTE and broadcast in August 2023 and is available on the RTE Player.
In 2019 he directed Cherrie, Me & HIV, a BBC NI True North documentary first broadcast in November 2019 and available on BBC iPlayer. In the same year he directed and produced the short My Near Death Experience, featuring Belfast stand-up comedian Terry McHugh, funded by Northern Ireland Screen.
In 2020 he completed the documentary Abomination, funded by Northern Ireland Screen, following The Belfast Ensemble as they created and staged their radical opera using verbatim homophobic hate speech from the DUP. The 43-minute documentary was scheduled to premiere at Queen's Film Theatre, Belfast, in April 2020, but instead premiered online because of the lockdown and was profiled in The Sunday Times Culture Magazine.
During the 2020 lockdown he wrote and directed the comedy short Gone Viral, starring Steve Blount, Abigail McGibbon and Peter Campion. Funded by Northern Ireland Screen and produced by Raymond Lau and Green Dragon Media, Gone Viral won Best UK Short at the North London Comedy Festival and Best Comedy at the Oxford Film Festival.
His feature thriller screenplay The Screamers was selected for development as part of the Northern Ireland Screen New Writer Focus 2021-2022 programme and was subsequently optioned by Poli Productions.
He was selected for BBC Writersroom Belfast Voices 2021-2022.
His short film Letter To Lia, funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, screened in competition at Docs Ireland 2022, won Best Director at the Vesuvius International Film Festival in Naples, and screened at IndieCork, Louth International Film Festival, Waterford International Film Festival, Still Voices Film Festival, Varese International Film Festival, Lucca Film Festival e Europa Cinema and Rouen Film Festival.
In 2023 he directed the four-part television series Second Chances, featuring Rebecca Tallon de Havilland, funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and Virgin Media Television with Mind The Gap Films. The series was broadcast in January and February 2024.
In August 2023 he was awarded BAFTA Connect membership. In 2024 he was one of eight Irish and Northern Irish filmmakers selected for The Puttnam Scholarship.
In October 2024 he travelled to Japan to make John Gunning: Big In Japan, the story of an Irishman who emigrated to Tokyo and became a sumo wrestler.
In 2025 he directed the Screen Ireland Focus Short Punt, which he also wrote. Produced by Alanna Riddell Bond at Poli Productions and starring Abigail McGibbon, Michael Smiley, Gary Lydon and Steve Blount, Punt premiered at Galway Film Fleadh before screening at Cork International Film Festival, Belfast Film Festival and Dublin International Film Festival.
Punt was nominated for an IFTA in 2026.
His feature documentary To This I Belong was completed in 2026 and is scheduled to premiere in competition at Docs Ireland.
