Kate Haley is an award-winning writer & director from Co. Donegal, Ireland. She holds an Honours Degree in English Literature and an M.Phil in Screenwriting from Trinity College Dublin. As a Fulbright Scholar, she earned her MFA in Film & TV at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), specialising in directing.

A Death in the Family (2020) won Best Irish Short at the Disappear Here Film Festival. Splash! (2023) earned two NATAS Southeast Student Emmy nominations. Her MFA thesis film, A Fairytale Romance (2024), won Best Student Short at the Kerry International Film Festival. Her most recent directing work, Emergency Accommodation (2026), was funded by Virgin Media / Screen Ireland as part of Virgin Media Discovers and received a Special Mention from Dublin International Film Festival. Her debut feature The Shadow of Me is currently in development with Screen Ireland & Tri Moon Films.

Kate has been recognised with the Northern Exposure Award, Donegal County Council Artist's Bursaries, and was one of eight European directors selected for the 2025 CineSud Directors Village. She was shortlisted for a Young Directors Award at the 2026 Cannes Lions, celebrating emerging directing talent from around the world.

A director with a distinct visual sensibility, she is drawn to the darker edge of humanity with a particular interest in themes of identity and belonging.