Alan Friel grew up in the windswept countryside of West Ireland surrounded by picturesque landscapes and colourful characters, it was this upbringing that influenced Alan’s later work and inspired him to become an artist. He first studied Fine Art in Dublin at The Royal College before experimenting in the world of filmmaking, creating atmospheric and beautiful films.

Alan has a natural flair for capturing food and performance with recent projects for Morrison’s, ASDA, DLKW Lowe and VCCP. As a natural storyteller, Alan also pours his talents into making short films and developing feature scripts. In this way, he threads together his mastery of capturing natural performances of everyday people in real settings, with the classic warmth and lyrical quality that characterises all his work.

Often in the process of making short films and developing feature films, he has a strongly developed skill for comedy. His short film 'Cake' starring Maxine Peake (Black Mirror) and Letitia Wright (Black Panther) won the Best International Short Film under 15 mins at the Kinsale Shark Awards and the Best Comedy Short at the London Independent Film Awards along with numerous official selections from around the world.

Alan had this to say - “I'm loving the freedom that freelancing is providing me with. Everything is changing so fast and I now feel I can change with them. These are exciting times and I’m very proud to be joining The Visionaries because they represent some great talent.”