Today Screen Ireland launched their slate of productions for 2019, with a total of 20 feature films, 6 animated shows and 17 documentaries coming to screens during the year.

One of the projects included is a documentary focusing on Irish rocker Phil Lynott, directed by Emer Reynolds whose previous documentary was the Emmy winning The Farthest in 2017.

Titled Songs for While I'm Away, the documentary traces the life of Thin Lizzy's lead singer, charting how a young black boy from working-class Dublin became one of Ireland's greatest rock stars.

The keyword of today's launch was change and this was reflected in the slate for the upcoming year.  Twenty years ago funding for a film like Songs For While I'm Away would simply not have been imaginable. It also highlights the commitment Screen Ireland have declared for increased female talent on projects, from writing and directing down to crew roles.

The female-driven science-fiction thriller Sea Fever is another exciting project coming in 2019. Set on an ocean trawler, the film follows marine biology student Siobhán who finds herself out of her depth when the ship ploughs into something uncharted in the water. Written and directed by Neasa Hardiman (Jessica Jones, Happy Valley), Sea Fever will mark the first time the BAFTA-winning director will be working in Ireland in ten years.

Also on the slate and set for release early this year is director and screenwriter Lee Cronin's debut A Hole in the Ground staring Séana Kerslake. It follows young mother Sarah O’Neill who is attempting to build a new life on the fringes of a backwood rural town with her young son Chris. Soon, however, she is thrown into a nightmare of paranoia and mistrust as she tries to uncover if the disturbing changes in her little boy are connected to an ominous sinkhole buried deep in the forest that borders their home...

Check out the trailer here:

Other highlights from this year's slate include Vivarium, a horror sprung from the current housing crisis, Rosie Plays Julie, a drama set against a backdrop of misyogny as a woman searches for her biological mother, and Here are the Young Men, a coming of age drama written and directed by Nightflyers' star Eoin Macken.