Directors Notes // The Home of Independent Filmmaking

10 Astonishing Animations from Annecy International Festival’s 50th Edition

DN takes a closer look at the 2026 short film programme at Annecy, selecting 10 wondrous titles for you to keep an eye out for.

Live Action

Grief Becomes an Addictive Vice in the Back Rooms of Julian Doan’s Surreal ‘Long’s Long Lost & Mini Mart’

Julian Doan turns a Little Saigon mini mart into a purgatory where the grieving buy one last conversation with the dead beside the booze and lotto.

Live Action

A Late-Night Senior Prank Curdles Into a Tense Class Standoff in Sam & David Cutler-Kreutz’s ‘Trapped’

Sam & David Cutler-Kreutz pit a high school janitor against privileged graduating students in their high-stakes drama that proves money can't buy class.

Live Action, Premiere

James Button Delivers a One-Man Ensemble DIY Duck Themed Apocalypse in Horror Comedy ‘The Quackening’

James Button delivers a duck-themed apocalypse nobody knew they needed: a no-budget, one-man Welsh comedy horror that gleefully makes filmmaking fun again.

Live Action, Premiere

Tim Nathan Skewers Late-Stage Capitalist Britain in Absurdist Comedy ‘Thoughts & Prayers’

Combining precise cinematography with dry humour, Tim Nathan reveals how he grounded absurdity in truth in his comic take on contemporary Britain.

Live Action, Premiere

Dangerous Obsession Hides Beneath the Intimacy of a Shave in Luigi Sibona’s Psychosexual Thriller ‘In Your Hands’

Shaving scenes choreographed to flirt with murder anchor Luigi Sibona's psychosexual thriller about desire projected onto an indifferent stranger.

Live Action, Premiere

Feathered Friends Are Few and Far Between in Ryan Mackfall’s Lovecraftian Horror ‘The Birdwatcher’

Ryan Mackfall takes a twitcher's calming pastime and twists it into an otherworldly Lovecraftian horror exploring the destruction of the soul.

Film Festival

Tender, Hopeful and Human: 10 Must-Watch Shorts from Tribeca 2026

As Tribeca wraps up its 25th edition of the well respected film festival, DN picks out 10 shorts—tender and affecting tales of belonging, identity and home.

Live Action, Premiere

The Blaine Brothers Revisit a Seismic Family Event to Inspire Single-Take Comedy Drama ‘Undeletable’

The Blaine Brothers revisit the exact spot of a supremely awkward family revelation to capture their single-take voicemail short starring Sophia Di Martino.