Penny McGovern
Penny McGovern is an experimental filmmaker and analogue photographer from Mayo, living in Belfast since 2022. Her work approaches filmmaking as a self-reflexive form of expression, where process is central to the finished piece, through using analogue forms and textiles and by foregrounding the use of these materials within the creation of moving images.
Penny’s practice in general, centres on the process of filmmaking. In her current project (working title ‘Bread film’), she plans to focus on a different alternative material - bread and bread dough - and record it in several states and forms to make a moving image piece. She is interested in the expressive characteristics of bread, specifically its expansive growth and its capacity to be shaped.
In previous work, Penny has experimented with alternative textile materials, transforming them into physical and moving image filmstrips (‘Fabric Film’, 2023), and used analogue materials to capture the journey between her two homes during the Winter solstice (‘Nine Counties’, 2025).
Penny’s work has screened at the Cork International Film Festival, Docs Ireland, the Millennium Film Workshop, the Film-Makers Cooperative, and the Belfast Film Festival, amongst others.
Residency Period: August – November ‘26
