“My upbringing was marked by a sensibility towards oppression, civil rights and equity.  I am raised on a partly independent, still colonized European island where regular violence claimed thousands of innocent lives and it’s hangover continues to shape our worldview. Living for decades in different places suffering many of the same effects of colonization but compounded by race, gender and religion, I have developed a unique, anti-colonial worldview.  As a father and a filmmaker, I use the camera to challenge the status quo, to make us care more for each other and to counter imperialistic structures of power, so that we decolonize our societies to be more sustainable, equitable and peaceful, for the sake of all of our children and the world we will leave them.”

- Stephen Gerard Kelly

Cinematographer and director Stephen Gerard Kelly is an Ireland-raised artist with a sensitivity around post-colonial power structures and a background in development and conflict research. Stephen’s debut feature documentary IN THE SHADOW OF BEIRUT is Ireland’s official selection for Best International Feature at the 96th Academy Awards. The film is also in contention for Oscar nomination in the Feature Documentary category after being awarded the Best Feature Documentary at the prestigious Academy Award Qualifying festival Doc Edge where it premiered June 1st 2023.

Stephen spent five years living in Beirut, listening, understanding, and filming issues facing communities displaced by sectarianism, conflict, and a lack of economic opportunities, particularly in Sabra and Shatila. After directing and filming his debut feature-length documentary film IN THE SHADOW OF BEIRUT, he is continuing to develop impactful, compelling, cinematic documentaries while working with experienced teams on clever independent fictional films exploring social themes.

A fluent Gaelic speaker in his youth, Stephen speaks English, Arabic, Spanish and French. In addition to 5 years living in Lebanon, he has lived in the Congo, Sudan, Haiti, Laos, the Dominican Republic, Australia and New York City. Stephen’s reputable clients span across the filmmaking, corporate and non-profit worlds. Stephen has worked with Apple Inc., Airbnb, Ford Motor Company, Lexus, Honda, Speck, Patron Tequila, the Guardian, the National Tourist Board of Ireland (Tourism Ireland), the Jordan Tourist Board, the Times, the ICRC, UNICEF, UNODC, UNHCR, Plan International, MSF, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the New York Daily News, the Daily Telegraph, the Australian, the Daily Mail, the Weekly Standard, Vogue, Forbes, MSN. Dagbladet (Norway), TVC (Russia), the Courier Mail, the Advertiser, the Irish Evening Herald, the Irish Independent, L'Orient du Jour and Lebanon's Daily Star, among others.  

An education in photography coupled with an MSc in Development Management and Emergency Response, while also having worked for years in the world's most difficult conflict zones, has developed excellent narrative storytelling skills.  Previous field based research into Sudan’s lengthy Civil War has positively influenced government foreign policy and humanitarian aid delivery at the highest levels internationally, including the UK and US governments.  Stephen's documentary projects range from working with minority groups including Irish Travelling People (or Travellers/Travelers) to filming human migration and its related challenges, to urban child labor in the Middle East, to documenting the effects of conflict both locally and internationally. Some of his best known work focuses on post-nomadic communities in urban environments, people displaced by conflict and people experiencing statelessness.

Stephen has had work screened at the largest and most prestigious festivals globally including Les Rencontres d'Arles, Visa Pour l'Image, FORMAT Photo Festival, the Hamburg Triennial of Photography, Santander Photo Festival and the Brighton Photo Fringe Festival as well as his film work being officially selected at the American Film Institute Festival 2023, Red Sea International Film Festival 2023, the 35th Galway Film Fleadh, Sedona International Film Festival 2024, Doc Edge 2023, the 24th Woodstock Film Festival, Heartland International Film Festival 2023, Docs Ireland 2023, Festival de Cine Global de Santo Domingo 2024 and the Irish Film Institute Festival 2023.  He was nominated for the prestigious Coup de Coeur Prize at Visa Pour l'Image, Perpignan.

Stephen lives with his Bronx-raised, Latina partner and their two young children.