Author

About the Author /

James is DN’s resident horror fan and is inspired by all academic, formal and Ethan Hawke-related aspects of filmmaking. When he isn’t writing for DN you’ll most likely find him on Bluesky, reading a graphic novel or and being sat on by his cat Peanut.

Music Video, Premiere

A Grieving Woman Experiences a Close Encounter in Meredith Hama-Brown’s Music Video for Loscil’s ‘Sol’

Meredith Hama-Brown reveals how she and her team embraced light and lasers to create a visually distinctive UFO for her emotional healing music video.

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Live Action, Premiere

Colby Day Traverses the Archetypal Romantic Journey of a New Relationship in Dance Short ‘Lead/Follow’

Colby Day explains how he practically translated his intimate play, about a couple experiencing new love, into a free-flowing dance short.

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Live Action

A Filmmaker Asks His Roommate to Watch His Short in Frank Mosley & Hugo De Sousa’s Comedy ‘The Event’

Co-Directors Frank Mosley & Hugo De Sousa break down the comedic implications of the still camerawork in their uncomfortable conversation friendship short.

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Documentary

Las Vegas’ Original Elvis Impersonator Confronts His Fading Identity in Ivan Olita’s Short Doc ‘A King’

Ivan Olita shares how he authentically portrayed the Las Vegas visitors rarely see for his film about the conflicted identity of an Elvis impersonator.

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Art & Fashion

Nat Gee Traverses the Ebbs and Flows of an Intense Anxiety Attack in Experiential Short ‘Waves’

Nat Gee explains how she used movement and camerawork to convey the inner workings of an intense anxiety attack for her experimental dance short.

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Film Festival

Ten Captivating Short Films From Emerging Filmmakers at London Film School’s 2023 Graduate Showcase

A testament to imagination, DN recommends a plethora of impressive short films from the early-career filmmakers graduating from LFS in 2023.

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Live Action

A Mystery Devours a Group of Stranded Men in Andrey M Paounov & Alex Barrett’s Chilly Thriller ‘January’

Director Andrey Paounov & Screenwriter Alex Barrett expound on how they created the absurd, maddening atmosphere of their snowbound folk horror feature.

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Animation, Awards

Sara Gunnarsdóttir’s Oscar Nominated ‘My Year of Dicks’ Takes a Female Forward Look at Teenage Sexuality

Sara Gunnarsdóttir breaks down working with different animators to create a multi-layered retro portrait of author Pamela Ribon for her genre-mashing short.

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Animation, Premiere

A Delusional Man Meddles With Space and Time in Sascha Vernik’s Sci-Fi Thriller Animation ‘Losing It’

Sascha Vernik breaks down the process of creating the stylised, vivid and pulpy visual aesthetic of his trippy, time-hopping animated short.

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Music Video

Alex Cook’s Ghostly Sci-Fi Short for Son Lux’s ‘Undertow’ Sees a Man Haunted by an Ethereal Doppelgänger

Alex Cook delineates the process of creating the VFX for the flowing, ghost-like liquid featured in his short film/music video hybrid for Son Lux.

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Documentary

Jack Weisman & Gabriela Osio Vanden Shift the Perspective of Polar Bear Migration in Doc ‘Nuisance Bear’

Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden tell DN how they developed the self-aware approach of their shifted perspective polar bear documentary short.

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Article

James Maitre Top Ten Feature Films of 2022

James sifts through the feature-length cinematic offerings of 2022 and presents a list of the ten films that affected him the most this year.

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