Lyra: In conversation with Producer and Director Alison Millar and Executive Producer Siobhan Sinnerton

Alison Millar’s LYRA is an emotive, intimate film portrait of the life and death of celebrated Northern Irish journalist and LBGTQ+ advocate Lyra McKee, who was shot dead by Irish Dissident Republicans in April 2019 aged 29.

Producer and Director, Alison Millar, and Executive Producer for HiddenLight Productions, Siobhan Sinnerton, will be discussing the making of the film, offering insight to how they approached the project, working with archival footage and sharing some of the creative and editorial decisions they took in their roles to produce this powerful documentary.

Lyra is a 1 x 90” produced by Erica Starling Productions for Channel 4 in association with TG4, HiddenLight Productions and Northern Ireland Screen. The director is Alison Millar. Film Editor Chloe Lambourne, Co-produced by Jackie Doyle and music by David Holmes. The Executive Producers for Erica Starling are Edward Watts, Greg Darby and Andrew Eaton. For HiddenLight - Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Siobhan Sinnerton. The Executive Producer for TG4 is Proinsias Ní Ghrainne. It was commissioned for Channel 4 by Louisa Compton, Head of News and Current Affairs and Specialist Factual and Sport.  Louisa Compton is also Executive Producer.

The film won the Tim Hetherington Award at Sheffield DocFest, and the Audience Award at the Cork International Film Festival. The film premiered on 7 November 2021 at the Belfast and Cork film festivals.

Watch Lyra on Channel 4 catch up here.

Speakers

Alison Millar, Producer and Director, LYRA

Alison Millar is one of the U.K. and Ireland's most respected documentary filmmakers. She is a  BAFTA, IFTA and Prix Italia winner as well as winning both the UK and Northern Ireland Royal Television Society award in 2016 for Channel 4's Dispatches documentary Kids In Crisis. She is a critically acclaimed film-maker with a reputation for making emotionally compelling films. In 2010, Alison founded EricaStarling Productions Ltd, an independent documentary production company in Belfast.

Siobhan Sinnerton, Co-Creative Director, HiddenLight Productions, Executive Producer, LYRA

Siobhan Sinnerton is an Oscar-nominated, Cannes, BAFTA and Emmy-winning documentary commissioner and Executive Producer.

Sinnerton’s experience spans current affairs, popular factual formats and series and digital innovation.  Prior to joining HiddenLight, Siobhan was previously Commissioning Editor, News & Current Affairs at Channel 4, a role in which she won numerous high-profile awards for the channel.  Recent credits include In Her Hands, which premiered on Netflix in November 2022, How Saba Kept Singing, an 8-part series Gutsy for Apple TV, and recently released feature doc My Name is Happy. Her previous credits include BAFTA-nominated The Hunt for Jihadi John; Rory Peck award-winner The Battle for Hong Kong; BAFTA and RTS award-winning Myanmar’s Killing Fields; multi-award-winning Children on the Frontline; and the Emmy award-winning Escape from ISIS.

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