Draft:Teresa Lavina

Teresa Lavina (born 21 February 1975 in Bilbao, Spain) is a filmmaker based in Galway, Ireland.

Biography
Teresa Lavina was born in Bilbao, Spain in 1975. She holds a First Class Honours degree in Film and Documentary from GMIT. She received an Academic Excellence Award for her Master of Arts, The Representation of Ethnic Minorities on Screen in Ireland, taken at Atlantic Technological University.

She is known for her documentaries Untold Secrets and Mincéir. She acts as a jury member at international film festivals, and a guest lecturer in colleges.

Teresa is the founder, artistic director and executive producer at Nova Productions Ltd., an Irish-based film production company.

She has participated in film festivals in different countries across the world including Ireland, Netherlands, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Filmography
Lavina centres her work on themes of human rights and social justice with a particular focus on under-represented groups. Her works have been screened both locally—where her film Untold Secrets closed the 2021 Galway Film Fleadh —and internationally where she has won awards and honors in Ireland, Canada, Spain, and the United States.

Her work has been funded by TG4, The Arts Office, and Creative Ireland as well as receiving development feature funding from Screen Ireland.

In 2019, she co-created, and between 2019 and 2022, directed the Shot by the Sea film festival in Galway.

Untold Secrets (2021)
Untold Secrets was the first ever made Irish Documentary about Mother and Baby Homes and Institutions in Ireland.

The film tells the story of survivors from Irish mother and baby homes, focusing on the life and upbringing of one of them, Anne Silke. Raised in a convent in Tuam, Silke was handed over at the age of nine to a prominent family in the town. The documentary recounts the often brutal and abusive treatment she suffered at the hands of her adoptive family. Although Silke has passed away, the documentary posthumously gives a voice to this woman; and possibly offers her family a chance to close the chapter on their history.

Mincéir (2022)
Mincéir is a short documentary about the traditions of Irish Travellers.