Three years in, and the WeAreDN Awards keeps growing. Thirty-six films. Nine categories. One night of celebration. From our 2025 submissions, the finest in Drama, Comedy, Buckle Up, New Talent, Animation, Documentary, Music Video, Dance & British shorts have made the cut—and this year, female filmmakers lead the charge, a stat we’re very proud off, along with introducing our all female jury of industry powerhouses: Shooting People co-founder Cath Le Couteur, festival director Zoe Rothwell and triple DN alum award winner Miranda Stern.
As the adage goes, bigger is better so we are also thrilled to simultaneously be celebrating our 20th Anniversary as a key part of the film industry. For fans of cringe-inducing beginnings, here’s how we (almost) began. It is the extraordinary talent of filmmakers like those nominated here and all who trust us with their work, their stories and their vision that has allowed Directors Notes to grow, to thrive, and to arrive at something we never take for granted: twenty years in a world where very little lasts. Two decades of championing the What, How & Why of independent filmmaking, and with many more to come.
We’re taking over London’s Lanzarote Works on Thursday, 7th May, from 7 pm. Nominated filmmakers, cast, crew, industry friends, and anyone who loves short film and has been part of our community—this one’s for you.
Our Jury
Cath Le Couteur is a filmmaker and cultural producer, best known as a co-founder of Shooting People, the UK’s long-running independent filmmakers’ network. For over 27 years, she built a community-led platform that helped thousands of filmmakers connect, collaborate, and get independent work made.
Alongside this, her film work has been supported through artist residencies and development programmes, including the Sundance Institute, Cannes Cinéfondation, MacDowell, and the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center. Her most recent work, Adrift, created with sound artist Nick Ryan, is a large-scale multimedia project exploring the hidden world of space junk that exhibited at festivals, museums and galleries, including the Science Museum and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.
She is drawn to stories where the ordinary becomes strange, particularly in extreme or contained environments, and to the small, inventive ways people adapt to keep things working.
Zoe Rothwell developed a strong interest in visual storytelling while studying for an MA in Multimedia Journalism, which she utilised during a decade of worldwide travel across more than thirty countries. After returning to work in education, she co-founded the Bolton International Film Festival to address cultural imbalance in the working-class North, creating an international platform for independent short films that has since achieved BAFTA qualifying status. Zoe now works as a producer and programmer for the festival, curating several genre-focused strands whilst also advocating for a greater representation of marginalised communities within the film industry.
Miranda Stern is a BAFTA-nominated and BAFTA Scotland–nominated director who explores the thresholds between various genres. Her debut short film milk was recognised by a triple win at the Directors Notes Awards 2025 (best film, best documentary, best new talent). She’s also received three Royal Television Society awards, a National Film Academy Award, the Best Scottish Short award at GSFF, Grierson and IDA nominations. Screen Daily recently described her as one of 15 emerging UK writers and directors with global appeal. Her films have screened at IDFA, Clermont-Ferrand, Encounters, Palm Springs, EIFF, Aesthetica, Visions du Réel, Tirana, and other international festivals, with special mentions at British Shorts Berlin 2026, and Mirada Corta Short Film Festival 2025.
Our Categories
Drama
Love Is Real – Albert Bullock
Mate – George-Alex Nagle
Dawn Every Day – Amir Youssef
A Sisyphean Task – Gus Flind-Henry & George Malcher
Purebred – Caleb J. Roberts
Watering Hole – Eva Blackwell-Rogelj
Comedy
Spare Part – Ada Player & Bron Waugh
Everyone Does It – Craig Ainsley
Easy Sell – Ken Abalos & Ash Meshkati
Egg Timer – Rosie May Bird Smith
An Indirect Message – Hansel Rodrigues & Ieuan Coombs
Make Me a Pizza – Talia Shea Levin
Buckle Up
A Fermenting Woman – Priscilla Galvez
Ponytailhead – Brent Michal
Fuck The Crops – Tobias Frøystad & Tayo Cittadella
Wesley Loses His Penis – Brennan McGee
Shithead – Riley Donigan
New Talent
Easy Sell – Ken Abalos & Ash Meshkati
A Sisyphean Task – Gus Flind-Henry & George Malcher
Watering Hole – Eva Blackwell-Rogelj
A Fermenting Woman – Priscilla Galvez
The Butterfly – Satya Gautam & Gili Twena
Animation
Tortured Artist – Thomas Laurance
Confetti – Amanda Bonaiuto
And The Cranes Kept Dancing – Natasza Cetner
Yin & Yang – Iria López & Daniela Negrín Ochoa
Spring – Pernille Kjaer
Documentary
At Sea – Martin Marko
Ecstasie – Lily Baldwin
Eighteen – Lucy Knox
COME – Bronwen Parker-Rhodes
Crown – Ima Iduozee
Music Video
Memories – Jules Harbulot
Goodbye – Dasha Gushchina
Lace – Jason Bock
To Call Home Always The Same Place – Giada Bossi
Dance
Shaping Change – Anna Fabricius
Déjà Nu – Rolf Hellat
As One – Jessie Oldfield & Adam Murfet
Moncalvo – Tanu Muiño & Nikita Kuzmenko
The Butterfly – Satya Gautam & Gili Twena
British
COME – Bronwen Parker-Rhodes
Spare Part – Ada Player & Bron Waugh
Everyone Does It – Craig Ainsley
Easy Sell – Ken Abalos & Ash Meshkati
Egg Timer – Rosie May Bird Smith
An Indirect Message – Hansel Rodrigues & Ieuan Coombs
Love Is Real – Albert Bullock
A Sisyphean Task – Gus Flind-Henry & George Malcher
Purebred – Caleb J. Roberts
Watering Hole – Eva Blackwell-Rogelj
Tortured Artist – Thomas Laurance
And The Cranes Kept Dancing – Natasza Cetner
Yin & Yang – Iria López & Daniela Negrín Ochoa
