If you’ve followed Directors Notes for any stretch of these last twenty years, you’ll know we’re not really in the business of gatekeeping; we have grown and developed by curating an incredibly wide array of films to put in front of our audience and then urge them to dig further. Thursday’s awards ceremony, the third edition of the WeAreDN Awards, was that impulse made manifest.
The winning films this year don’t share any byline or common thematic explorations, which reflects our diverse and ever-growing tastes; these are films that are unlikely to exist together elsewhere. Congratulations to all nine directors who took home a category win, and to every nominated filmmaker—the shortlist is becoming a very complicated endeavour.
A heartfelt thanks goes out to our generous Supporting Partners who made the night possible. To Leuchtturm1917 for providing our beautiful bespoke awards, Hiike Independent, the official supporters of our Best Comedy Short award, and to our festival friends Bolton Film Festival, Aesthetica Short Film Festival & Exit 6 Film Festival for providing the prizes for Sarah’s unconventional game of film Bingo.
In case you missed it in person, but want to catch up, below are our nine winning films, all linking through to our interviews with the ridiculously talented people who made them. Watch, read, and then do a very DN thing: share them.
Best British
Love is Real by Albert Bullock
That clash between behaviour and expression became one of my favourite aspects of her character.
Best New Talent
Easy Sell by Ken Abalos and Ash Meshkati
We let moments breathe and wanted our actors to deliver their lines in a way that felt more natural than it ever would on a set for an advert.
Best Music Video
Memories by Jules Harbulot
The slightest shift in their eyes or the most minute facial expression could convey complex and contrasting emotions. It was about creating an internal world that would manifest externally through their gaze.
Best Documentary
Ecstasie by Lily Baldwin
Creating a seamlessness between what Liz was talking about and what we were witnessing them experience was a guiding tenet.
Best Comedy
An Indirect Message by Hansel Rodrigues and Ieuan Coombs
There’s often a trap with shorts set in one room that they look and feel flat because of the limitations inherent in the budget.
Best Drama
Purebred by Caleb J. Roberts
We wanted it to feel like you are watching something so intimate, it feels like you maybe should look away.
Best Animation
Tortured Artist by Thomas Laurance
On the one hand the film is all about archetypes and personified ideas—the complete opposite of naturalism. But on the other hand, it’s almost like a documentary about the most embarrassing part of myself.
Best Buckle Up
A Fermenting Woman by Priscilla Galvez
Horror, in particular, is one of the few genres where the unacceptable is actually embraced. So, if A Fermenting Woman got banned for pushing those boundaries, I honestly see that as a badge of honor.
Best Dance
Moncalvo by Tanu Muiño and Nikita Kuzmenko
It took us a long time to learn our footage and to explore a lot how we wanted to build the structure of the film.
