Concerns have been raised about an underrepresentation of the black community in the film and television sector in Ireland.
The issue was highlighted at an event in Dublin today, taking place to coincide with Black History Month, which runs until the end of October.
The contribution of black people to the film industry was celebrated, with the screening of short films from filmmakers in Ireland and the UK at Fuel on Camden Street.
The organisers of Ajoyo, which means celebration, say there is a problem with underrepresentation in the film and television sector.
Mamobo Ogoro from Gorm Media said: "What we're doing is we're really highlighting the voices of black stories through film and storytelling.
"Black people make up roughly 1.5% of Ireland's population and we're grossly underrepresented when it comes to Irish media, Irish film and Irish television.
"This month, we wanted to show the on the ground work that black storytellers are making through the art of film."
Another of the organisers, Ashley Chadamoyo Makombe from the GALPAL Collective, works in film production.
She said when going on set "there's only ever one other black person or so many comments say to me, oh, we've never had a black person on set before."
"I'm 22 years old now and you would think that would have changed by now," she said.
Ms Chadamoyo Makombe said there's "definitely a long way to go" and she said the whole point of the event coinciding with Black History Month is "to show the talent is there."
"I think it's important for us to show people that there's so much more to being black than just all the hardships that we have," Ms Makombe said.
"We can laugh and there's joy and there's humour and there's all of this other stuff that everybody else gets to experience too. So, I think it's important to show us as being multifaceted."
Fair City actress Rachel Wren said it is important all communities are represented on screen because she said she "didn’t see any of that growing up".
The 22-year-old said "we have so much of our own stories to share and being uniquely black and Irish is such a beautiful thing."
She said "being able to see that on TV and have that representation, I think I'm truly, truly honoured to be part of it."
"The more you see it, the more you'll understand the way we are," Ms Wren said.
"We're all Irish and Irishness is so different for everyone."
However, young actors say getting into the industry can be challenging.
Daniel Nwambu told RTÉ News: "Over the years it's improved a lot, definitely in terms of accessibility for black actors and POC [people of colour] actors but I definitely think there's a lot more work to do in terms of creating black stories and POC stories and telling those stories and in mainstream media.
"There's just a lot more work to be done."
The 19-year-old added: "There's so much more that a lot of young, black and underrepresented actors and actresses and filmmakers have to offer to the table and it's so important to give each and every one of us a chance."
Mr Nwambu said: "I wish I did have more underrepresented and POC influences to look up to in film and media to show that I could do this as well."
Filmmaker Pius Ogo, who was behind the film Omozé, said he is "someone that likes to focus on the positives of life".
"So for me, even in the film that I was able to create, it's about celebration, as well as being an Irish person, I'm able to celebrate my African side as well," he said.
"It's becoming more normal in Ireland to see a lot of black, African filmmakers.
"So yeah 100%, this is only going to become more of a norm and I'm glad to be a part of it."
All hoping to see more members of the black community, both in front of and behind the camera.
