Derek Ugochukwu (born 7 June 1991) is a Nigerian

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. He studied at Dun Laoghaire Institute Of Art Design and Technology in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and was named one of

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

Rising Stars of Ireland.

Early life and education

Ugochukwu was born in Port-Harcourt,

Rivers State Rivers is a states of Nigeria, state in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria (Old Eastern Region). Formed on 27 May 1967, when it was split from the former Eastern Region, Nigeria, Eastern Region, Rivers State borders include Imo State, Im ...

. He is the third of six children raised in an

Igbo Igbo may refer to: * Igbo people, an ethnic group of Nigeria * Igbo language, their language * anything related to Igboland, a cultural region in Nigeria See also * Ibo (disambiguation) * Igbo mythology * Igbo music * Igbo art * * Igbo-Ukwu, a t ...

Catholic family. He graduated with a 1st class master's degree in Screenwriting for Film & Television at

Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology (), more commonly known as IADT Dún Laoghaire or simply IADT is an institute of technology with a focus on art and design located in Deansgrange near Dún Laoghaire, Ireland. It was esta ...

(IADT). He also holds a master's degree in international management and global business awarded by the

University of Limerick University of Limerick (UL) () is a Public university, public research university institution in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded in 1972, as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it became a university in Septemb ...

in 2014, making him a double master's holder.

Career

In May 2020,

Screen Ireland Not to be confused with Northern Ireland Screen. Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland, formerly known as Bord Scannán na hÉireann or the Irish Film Board, is Ireland's state development agency for the Irish film, television and animation industry. ...

announced Ugochukwu as one of the successful 15 writers selected from a pool of 195 applicants for its inaugural Spotlight development scheme aimed at fostering new and diverse writing talent. In January 2021, Ugochukwu was one of the successful 10 writers shortlisted from over 600 entries for the

Virgin Media Virgin Media Limited is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 ...

Discovers short film competition in partnership with Screen Ireland. ENGINE Shorts which aims to inspire and support up-and-coming writers, directors and producers in Limerick, Tipperary and Clare, announced Ugochukwu as one of the six winning directors selected to create inspiring, engaging world-class short films that resonate with a wide international audience. ''To All My Darlings'', a

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

written by Ugochukwu, and starring

Demi Isaac Oviawe Demi Isaac Oviawe ( ; born 2 November 2000), sometimes known as Demi Isaac, is a Nigerian-born Irish actress who grew up in Ireland. She is best known for her role as Linda Walsh in the RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an En ...

, was shortlisted for the 2021

BAFTA Student Film Awards The BAFTA Student Awards are an annual awards ceremony hosted by BAFTA as a showcase for rising industry talent. History The first award was created in 2004 with entrants limited to students of some of Southern California’s film schools. In ...

. It also won the Audience Award for Best Short at the 2021

Dublin International Film Festival The Dublin International Film Festival (DIFF; ) is an annual film festival that has been held in Dublin, Ireland, since 2003. History The Dublin International Film Festival was established in 2003. It was revived by Michael Dwyer (journalist), ...

. His directorial short film, ''You're Not Home'', was nominated for an

IFTA Ifta is a former municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Al ...

for Best Live-Action Short, screening at various prestigious international film festivals including

Sitges Film Festival SITGES - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia () is an annual film festival held in Sitges, Catalonia, Spain. It specializes in fantasy film, fantasy, Horror film, horror and Cult film, cult films. Established in 1968, the festiva ...

and

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

Filmography

Short film

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* Living people 21st-century Nigerian male actors Alumni of Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology Black Irish people Nigerian male film actors Nigerian male stage actors Irish people of Nigerian descent 1991 births Igbo actors {{Nigeria-actor-stub