I don't know if I've met a more accomplished yet depreciatively humble filmmaker than my guest, Conor McCormick. Here are the facts, though: he was admitted as one of the few to the Square Peg Social, a program set up by Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen "break down the walls and barriers that too often exist within the film industry." (There's a bunch of Reddit threads that speak to how hard this was). His films, most recently BUNKER BABY (2024) and FOR THE CURE (2025), speak to the current state of masculinity in a way that is sorely needed in today's film world.

Another way of saying all this, much more succinctly, is that I have an Irish filmmaker on the podcast. And not just any -- one of the country's brightest new stars.

In this episode, Conor and I discuss:

• what drew him to the topic of male existential crises in his filmmaking;
• the "write what you know" argument;
• how he got started in filmmaking;
• what it's like going to film school in Ireland;
• getting his career started after film school;
• his selection into Square Peg Social, a new initiative by Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen;
• the collaborative nature of Square Peg;
• shout out to filmmaker Shelly Yo, another participant in Square Peg and an all-time favorite guest of the pod, who connected us (if you haven't watched SMOKING TIGERS...now is the time!);
• what it means to be an Irish filmmaker;
• where audiences can watch Irish films;
• what he noticed about the filmmakers selected for Square Peg;
• if film festivals can foster more of a collaborative environment like Square Peg;
• his special affinity for Austin, Texas;
• what's next for him;
• the amazing market for short films on airlines, including Aer Lingus, and the future for the medium (I didn't know Vimeo Staff Picks were not available in Europe).

Conor's Indie Film Highlight: JUNIPER (2021) dir. by Matthew J. Saville; HUNTER GATHERER (2016) dir. by Joshua Locy; SMOKING TIGERS (2023) dir. by So Young Shelly Yo

Memorable Quotes:

"it was just trying to tap into people in their late thirties who are...trying to figure that out. And I feel like...it's quite a universal experience right now is that we're all moving further on in life than our maybe our parents' generation before us and not as well set up and the sort of anxiety that comes around that."

"When you go international like that, I think you just realize the bar in terms of how good some of these films are."

"I think another thing that really helped is we all got to watch a sample of each other's work before we all met."

About the films selected at Square Peg: "It was...a varied mix of people. And if anything, it felt like it was more story first."

"You certainly have gone to some festivals where you go, you show up, screening ends, everyone disperses, and then you're like, all right...we're in a new city somewhere, we've traveled and now we're just gonna go to the pub by ourselves or something."

Links:

Follow Conor On Instagram

Conor McCormick's Website

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