a b o u t
Photo by Mark Duggan
In the last few months Hugh completed scores to three very powerful and very different films- Vincent Gallagher’s An Mháthair (Keeper Pictures), an Irish language psychological thriller funded by TG4 and Screen Ireland; Douglas Reddan & Leah Moore’s Pull Hard (Grandads), a dreamy, coming of age film set in rural Ireland exploring how teenage boys learn to perform, protect, and police themselves and each other, funded by Glór and the Arts Council; and Grace by Anna Rodgers (Invisible Thread Films), a drama about a young woman with Down Syndrome and her quest for greater independence, funded by RTÉ. The first two recently premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh, while Grace broadcast on RTÉ 2, premiered internationally at the Cleveland International Film Festival, and won BEST SHORT FILM at the Royal Television Society Awards 2026.
In early 2025 Hugh and Cora Venus Lunny contributed their haunting instrumental version of Seán Ó Riada’s Mná na hÉireann to the soundtrack of Testimony, Aoife Kelleher’s award-winning feature documentary chronicling the fight for justice by survivors of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby Homes.
In 2024 Hugh collaborated with Ray Harman on the score to Mrs Robinson (Loosehorse Films/Breakout Pictures) a feature documentary on the life and times of Ireland’s first female president and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson. The film premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh 2024 and had a very successful nationwide cinema run, becoming the best performing Irish Documentary at the Irish box office in several years, and was nominated for The George Morrison Award at IFTA 2025 and a Justice Media Award in 2026. Hugh previously collaborated with Ray on the award-winning 2014 feature documentary on Glasnevin Cemetery, One Million Dubliners (Underground Films).
Hugh is also a performer and recording artist with the band A Dark Horse, whose debut release was praised as “a sound that is compelling, dense and dreamy” (Seattle Weekly), “cinematic, lush and ambitious” (State Magazine) and “one of the most accomplished and exciting debuts” (Hot Press). Last year he co-produced and performed on GALVO’s alt. folk album The Heartist, a “grandiose and spellbinding debut” (Goo Magazine).
In 2022 Hugh collaborated with fellow composer Michael Fleming on the score to the genre-bending ReelArts feature documentary, How To Tell A Secret (Invisible Thread Films), about living with HIV in Ireland. The film screened at dozens of international festivals, was nominated for the George Morrisson at IFTA, and is available to stream on Netflix. Hugh’s atmospheric score to artist Vittoria Colonna’s dreamy short drama Sandboy, (Underground Films) set in the Californian desert, won BEST SCORE at the Moondance Film Festival and was praised for its emotional power by the Executive Producer, Julian Lennon.
Selected Credits
An Mháthair (2026)
Pull Hard (2026)
Grace (2025)
Mrs Robinson (2024)
How To Tell A Secret (2022)
When Women Won (2020)
Strange Occurrences In A Small Irish Village (2016)
One Million Dubliners (2014)
