Bob Gallagher is a multi award winning director, writer and cinematographer, described as a ‘good soldier of cinema’ by Werner Herzog, and as ‘one of the nation’s premiere creative forces in the visual arts’ by Totally Dublin.

He has directed drama and documentary, award-winning commercials and has created some of the most iconoclastic music videos to emerge from Ireland in recent years, working with artists such as Gilla Band, Villagers, and Lankum. 

In March 2017 Gallagher was handpicked to attend a ten day workshop with Werner Herzog at the EICTV Cuba, emerging with two short documentaries SALON and THE IMPOSSIBLE FLIGHT OF THE STONE. In 2020 Gallagher was selected for Screen Ireland’s ‘Director’s Concept Development’ award to write his debut feature drama, THE SONG COLLECTOR.

In 2023 Bob premiered his first feature length documentary at the Galway Film Fleadh. IT’S A FINE THING TO SING was made in collaboration with a community of traditional singers in north Donegal, and is now available on the Irish Film Institute’s streaming service. The same year he also released a short experimental documentary HOUR OF THE OX commissioned by the Donegal Regional Cultural Centre, made in collaboration with the musician Katie Kim (OXN).

Bob currently has a number of feature projects slated. In 2025 his second feature documentary LIFE OF TIPU won the XE PITCH AWARD  at the prestigious VISIONS DU REEL festival in Nyon, Switzerland. The film is currently in production, having already shot in the USA, Bangladesh, Germany and Ireland. The project is supported by Screen Ireland, Coimisiún Na Meán and Dutch broadcaster Avrotros. Bob’s debut feature drama THE SONG COLLECTOR’, is currently in late pre-production with Jeanie Igoe of Homebird Productions, and his second drama script FOOL THE DEVIL is currently in development. 

An avid learner, Bob was selected for the 2022 IGNITE DOCUMENTARY TALENT DEVELOPMENT CAMPUS. He was also selected for the 2022 Screen Directors Guild ARRI ALEXA TAKE, becoming one of few directors to trial the innovative new Alexa Super 35mm camera. He is a STOWE STORY LAB fellow, having participated in their 2024 Connemara Writer’s retreat to develop his second feature drama script FOOL THE DEVIL and in 2025 he was invited to take part in Screen Ireland’s SCÉÁL TO SET workshop, for directors working in the Irish language. 

Bob is a mentor on the FIRST CUT! YOUTH FILM FESTIVAL music video programme and has lectured for Film EU, The National Film Shool at IADT, Technical University Dublin, Dublin Business School, Dublin University Film Society, and The British and Irish Modern Music Institute. He has also appeared on numerous panels, most recently SOMEONE LIKE ME: A VIEW FROM LGBTQI+ FILMMAKING COMMUNITIES for FirstCut! Youth Film Festival and alongside Andrew Haigh and Dominic Savage at Café au Gaze for GAZE FILM FESTIVAL.

He has been an artist-in-residence at a number of prestigious institutions, including The Villa Lena Art Foundation in Tuscany, and the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris.