Helen is a writer and filmmaker from Northern Ireland, currently based between London and Belfast. Her most recent project is the miniseries Better Angels: The Gospel According to Tammy Faye. She developed the project and was co-writer and executive producer on it, too. The series was produced by Vice Studios, in association with Rocket Entertainment and The Magician’s Niece. It was executive produced by David Furnish and Elton John. The series premiered at Sundance in 2024.

Helen lectures and writes across topics related to film and psychoanalysis. She has been a co-host on two philosophy podcasts and has a book on film theory (Psychocinema) with Polity.

Her main work, though, is as an independent filmmaker, creating projects through The Magician’s Niece. Her recent film A Guide to Making Love — an experimental philosophy documentary feature — premiered at Rhode Island International Film Festival. Her shorts have played at scores of festivals. Some of them have won awards and have been picked up for broadcast. Music videos she has directed, mostly for Central American artists, have been viewed over a hundred million times online. Her work has been funded by bodies such as Northern Ireland Screen and Future Screens and she has been a Puttnam Scholar. Through The Magician’s Niece, she is developing a range of projects across narrative, documentary and video games.

Helen has a double first from Cambridge in modern languages and received a number of academic awards during her time there, including the Bishop Green Cup for top student across all years and subjects in her graduating class at Corpus Christi college. Before making films, she was a French teacher at Eton.