Writer/Director Niall McKay’s critically acclaimed feature documentary “The Bass Player: A Song for Dad” was aired on RTE (Irish Television) in August and will play in the Mill Valley Film Festival in October. It was the critics choice in the Irish Times, The Irish Independent, the Sunday Business Post, and the Sun. It was described as “Masterfully Told” in The Irish Times” an “Outstanding film” in the Sunday World, “Heartwarming” in The Sun and an “absorbing, charming and deeply moving documentary” in the The Irish Sunday Independent. McKay won an EMMY for his documentary “Sikhs in America” about the challenges of being Sikh in the US, which aired on PBS stations across America as part of Asian Pacific Heritage Month in 2008. His work includes documentaries for PBS and dramas for cable television. He co-produced Irvine Welsh’s directorial debut, “Nuts.” Niall is the founder and director of the San Francisco Irish Film Festival and the co-founder of the Los Angles Irish Film Festival.A former print journalist, Niall’s work has appeared in The Economist, The New York Times and Wired Magazine. Currently, he is in production with Oakland: The Musical, a musical documentary about high school youth in Oakland, California.
Writer/Producer/Director
Cameraman
(510) 638 4871
email@niall.org
Niall McKay is a San Francisco-based writer and film maker. He is the co-founder of the Media Factory, a televsion production company that specialized in producing short-form content for the digital market place. His film, Uneasy Peace, about the Northern Ireland peace process has been selected to run on PBS Frontline World Rough Cut series. Currently, Niall is working on a series of short films for the Discovery Channel.
Last year, Niall worked as an associate producer and camera person for the PBS and Center for Investigative Reporting documentary Nuestra Familia. Niall is a regular contributor to the Economist and Wired News. His work has also appeared in the Irish Times, the New York Times, the Financial Times, Red Herring Magazine, Wired Magazine, Salon, and Forbes Magazine. His broadcast credits include contributing to BBC World Service, RTE and National Public Radio’s KQED FM in San Francisco. In 2002, Niall spent six months in Japan where he covered the World Cup for RTE (Ireland’s National Broadcaster). Before that, he spent two months in Indonesian Borneo working on a documentary on headhunters and cannibals. Niall is from Co. Wicklow in Ireland. He graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 1989 and moved to California in 1996. Niall is the co-founder and director of The San Francisco Irish Film Festival.
.
