Athlone's Allie receives 2025 Westmeath Film Award for project 'The Removal'

Athlone native writer and director Allie O'Rourke has been selected as the recipient of the 2025 Westmeath Film Award for her project 'The Removal'.

The annual award is a bursary of €10,000 granted to a local filmmaker to be used towards the production of a short 10–15 minute film or documentary in the county.

Allie is an award winning filmmaker, comedian, and theatre-maker from Athlone, Ireland. She had gigged across Ireland, the UK and the USA.

She has performed at festivals such as the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival, Paddy Power Comedy Festival, Electric Picnic and the Dublin, Cork and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals.

She co-wrote and starred in Punchline which premiered at the Dublin International Film Festival and on Virgin Media TV. Punchline has since won a further 12 awards and garnered over 40 laurels.

Alongside Matthew Tallon she is currently developing the tv show "Scouting for Boys" for MGM and Killer Films. Allie has previously been selected for Screen Ireland’s Spotlight scheme, the X-Pollinator Elevator scheme and is a previous winner of the Virgin Media Discovers Award.