Kealan O’Rourke
Kealan graduated from The National Film School, Ireland. He went on to write and direct a series of award-winning live-action and animation short films including Before Sunrise, the IFTA-nominated The Christmas Letter (Universal / Sky) starring Kate Winslet and The Boy in The Bubble, narrated by Alan Rickman, which went on to win the IFTA for Best Animation along with over twenty international awards.
Kealan directed a number of successful children’s TV animation series which include BB Agus Bella (TG4), Havanimal (RTEjr.) and Peek Zoo (KIKA, SRF, RTEjr) which will be returning soon for Season 2.
Feature length writing credits for major studios include Bolivar (Warner Bros.), The Houdini Box (20th Century Fox), Emily The Strange (Universal) and Danger Mouse (eOne).
The live- action / animation hybrid feature Happy Krampus Day! (The Jim Henson Company / Walden Media) is currently in development with Kate McKinnon attached to star.
The festive stop motion feature Alien Xmas, which Kealan wrote with Jon Favreau producing, was released in 2020 for Thanksgiving on Netflix and broke into the top 5 most watched in the US.
Most recently, Kealan wrote (story) and directed Dream Logic / Lupus Films animated special The Ghastly Ghoul (Sky), which was released for Halloween 2022 and was award Best Animation at The Royal Television Society Awards 2023.