Irish director Myrid Carten joins BAFTA Breakthrough program
The filmmaker won three British Independent Film Awards for her debut documentary A Want in Her and now plans to write fiction.
By Adewale Fletcher ·
Myrid Carten has joined the 2026 U.K. BAFTA Breakthrough cohort, a program backed by Netflix. The announcement came on Wednesday, marking a shift in the Irish filmmaker’s career from documentary to fiction.
Carten wrote, directed, shot, and starred in her debut feature, A Want in Her. The documentary explores intergenerational trauma, mental health, and addiction. It follows Carten as she searches for her missing mother, Nuala, in Ireland. The search uncovers a family feud and a house dispute that threaten to unravel the family dynamics.
The film premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam in 2024. In October 2025, it won three British Independent Film Awards. Those awards included best feature documentary, best debut director for a feature documentary, and the Raindance Maverick Award.
Carten said her decision to make the film was driven by impulse. She studied fine art, where she was taught to follow an idea without overthinking the outcome. She felt the story of children of people with mental illness or addiction was rarely told. She noted that while the addict’s story is often dramatized, the impact on those around them is frequently overlooked.
When making the film, Carten focused on the structure rather than her own vulnerability. She said the vulnerability served the film because she was a character in it. She admitted she did not expect the film to succeed commercially. Her initial hope was simply for it to be shown in cinemas. She was pleased that audiences understood the experimental nature of the work.
As part of the BAFTA Breakthrough program, Carten will act as a mentee. She plans to request meetings with producers and directors who have made successful debut fiction films. She wants to discuss how they maintained artistic integrity while working in the industry. The program also provides access to the BAFTA View streaming service. Carten said this is helpful because she has a toddler and cannot attend the cinema as often.
Carten is currently developing two ideas for fiction films. She also has a documentary hybrid idea on the back burner. She is learning the process of writing screenplays. Her goal is to bring the rawness and reality of her documentary work into the more artificial form of fiction. She cited a comment from her story editor: you learn about making a film by making a film.
Carten said she hopes to have a career like that of Jonathan Glazer, where each film is different. She expressed interest in meeting director Lynne Ramsay through the program. She noted that sticking to her own path worked well for her previous project. She did not try to make a film that looked like anyone else’s.
The creative team used The Wizard of Oz as a major reference for A Want in Her. The working title for years was No Place Like Home. They shot the house as if it were in Technicolor. This visual choice reflected a fantasy of returning to a dreamlike state. Carten said the reference is buried deep in the film. She prefers when influences are subliminal rather than obvious to the audience.
