Carol Murphy is an artist, writer, filmmaker and performer from Belfast. She studied
Fine Art Painting at the University of Northumbria, Ateliers ’63 in Amsterdam and
exhibited in Europe. An MA in Film Theory; work in radio at BBC London and film
journalism for magazines such as Film Ireland, Flux Magazine and Filmwaves
brought her on the road to short film production. Murphy produced the short films
Automaton and Tell it to the Fishes starring Dylan Moran and Gerry McSorley.
After attending the 2006 Berlinale Talent Campus, Murphy wrote, directed, and
produced numerous shorts, many of which were internationally co-produced with
French producer, Jennifer Sabbah. They include Mustard, Nightclubbing, The
Dissenter and Painkiller which is part of Rankin’s Collabor8te 2013 and was long
listed for a BAFTA.
In 2008 Murphy attended the Rutger Hauer Filmfactory in Rotterdam and the Script
Development Programme at the Binger Filmlab in Amsterdam with a feature project,
now completed and called Golden Boy. In 2009 she attended Script & Pitch at the
Turino Film Lab with the same feature project, which was also part of EAVE.
In 2011 Murphy wrote and produced Finbar’s Private Netherland for the Pick N Mix
Theatre Festival at the Mac in Belfast. In 2018 she completed the First Draft &
Beyond screenwriter’s lab, run by Screen Training Ireland, with a feature period
drama script, now complete, called Sailortown. She also has a comedy feature
project called Unreadable. Murphy wrote two drafts of her horror Sci Fi Thriller
feature, The Silent Tide with Fantastic Films in Dublin, development funded by NI
Screen and Screen Ireland.
In 2020, after watching Hip Hop Evolution on Netflix during lockdown, Murphy
returned to The Body & Blood, an idea she had in 2008, and wrote it in verse. In
2021 she shot it in her bedroom on her iPhone. She launched it online in January
2022 after an online video campaign. The first live one woman performance was at
The Black Box in Belfast in May 2022. In Feb 2023 she performed The Body & Blood
at VAULT Festival in London before performing it at The Cathedral Quarter Arts
Festival; The Open House Festival at The Courthouse in Bangor; The Lyric Lounge
in Belfast and at Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin all in 2023.
Murphy performs music and verse in Belfast performance and Art Spaces as The
Vigilante Cannibal Nun with a growing body of songs. In September 2024 she
launched The Vigilante Cannibal Nun as Agony Aunt comedy horror podcast.
