Kinetek 

Hugh McGrory is Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kinetek, an immersive media company based in Massachusetts, US, and Belfast, Northern Ireland. Hugh is a filmmaker and technology innovator pioneering new forms of immersive cinema.

His debut feature film Underscore, starring Ian McElhinney (Derry Girls, Game Of Thrones) and Jessica Reynolds (Kneecap, House Of Guinness) screened at both Belfast Film Festival and Foyle Film Festival in November 2025. His work has evolved from film and photography through data and sonification, to virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

Hugh was a Teaching Fellow in Film Studies at Queen’s University Belfast, taught Film Acting at The Gaiety School Dublin, and worked as a Production Executive for Northern Ireland Screen. In 2017, he completed the Playlabs Accelerator at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for AR/VR/AI startups. He has led software development teams on projects funded by Google, including Sonify, a tool that turns spreadsheet data into music.

Hugh, who is from Derry, is focused on using AI to empower rather than replace human artists and creatives.