Author

About the Author /

Sarah is a true multi-hyphenate within the film industry. Alongside her role as Associate Editor & Head of Outreach for Directors Notes, her extensive festival experience ranges from MC and juror duties to previously serving as Deputy Director of Brighton Rocks, where she helped steer its growth into a BIFA-qualifying event. Sarah also produces for Brighton film collective The Imaginary Project and contributes as a freelance writer for publications including 1.4 and Shots Magazine.

Film Festival, Live Action

Eivind Landsvik’s Cannes Palme d’Or Short ‘TITS’ Shares an Achingly Honest Portrayal of Teenage Insecurities

Eivind Landsvik details the key scenes from his tender Cannes selected coming of age drama short which could only be captured on 16mm film.

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Live Action

A Father With Parkinson’s and His Son Attempt to Score Drugs in Grant Taylor’s Heartwarming Comedy Drama ‘Ecstasy’

Grant Taylor details the stages he went through to balance the comedy and drama in his short following a father and son’s search for drugs.

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Live Action

Reed Purvis Offers Us a Snapshot of the Culture Shock Experienced by Rural to Urban Migrants in ‘Barrio Frontera’

Reed Purvis explains how he captured the authentic sounds, scenarios and conversations of a Buenos Aires barrio as seen through the eyes of a recent arrival.

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Live Action, Premiere

A Birthday Girl’s Wiener-Dog Gets Annihilated by Her Hapless Father’s Car in McKinley Carlin’s Comedy ‘Noodles Forever’

Writer/Director McKinley Carlin speaks to DN about using extreme close ups to heighten the hilarity of his uncomfortable comedy about a sausage dog's demise.

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Live Action, Premiere

Emma Jesse’s Dark Comedy ‘Soggy Biscuit’ Takes a Stomach Churning Look at Peer Pressure Fuelled Male Bravado

Emma Jesse talks through the false preconceptions she had to overcome when making her short exploring humiliating toxic masculinity within male groups.

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Live Action, Premiere

Will Kenning Offers a Fresh Perspective on the Horrors of County Lines Drug Gangs in Dance Drama ‘Tap Boy’

Will Kenning chats to DN about combining the world of tap with the grim reality of exploitation perpetrated by drug gangs for his compelling drama short.

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Art & Fashion

VERSUS Exalt Western Sydney’s Multidisciplinary Pool of Creative Talent in Ambitious Shorts Series ‘Latitudes’

VERSUS discuss the unexpected cohesive aesthetic of their film trilogy showcasing Western Sydney's typically underrepresented and under-resourced artists.

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Documentary

Will & Carly Capture the Worrying Reality of Male Perceptions of Breasts in ‘TITS: A Voyage Into Objectification’

Will & Carly speak about exploring the disparity between the fantasy of the male gaze and the reality of women’s breasts in their social experiment short.

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Live Action, Premiere

A Suburban Father’s Blistering Anger Boils Over into Family Confrontation in Daniel Turvil’s ‘This Much So Far’

Daniel Turvil discusses highlighting the pressure of life in the suburbs in his short about a man unleashing his anger on doll-like versions of his family.

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Live Action, Premiere

Calvin Demba Takes an Algorithmic Look at the Damaging Cycle of Toxic Relationships in Sexbot Comedy ‘BabyDolls’

We speak to Calvin Demba about creating a timeless feeling for his dark AI relationship comedy about a misogynistic man falling victim to his own toxicity.

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Live Action

Ryan Schnackenberg Confronts Filmmaker Rejection Head on in His Excruciating Short ‘The Screener’

Ryan Schnackenberg opens up about needing to confront his own experiences of rejection when making his uncomfortable short about challenging gatekeepers.

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Live Action

A Young Woman Desperately Clings to Hope in a Brutal Reality in Zornitsa Dimitrova’s ‘A Dark Moment of Faith’

Zornitsa Dimitrova speaks to us about crafting a story which forces audiences to experience the shock of deceit in her hard hitting and unapologetic short.

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