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.

Live Action, Premiere

The Toxicity of a Strained Father-Son Relationship Comes to a Shocking Head in Ben Tricklebank’s ‘Champ’

Ben Tricklebank breaks down how he built narrative tension that speaks volumes from what isn't said in his exploration of a toxic parental relationship.

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Live Action

Nathan Engelhardt’s ‘Senti L’Energia’ Explores the Blurring Relationship Lines Between Friendship and Love

Nathan Engelhardt reveals the rewarding process of retooling his feature script into an emotive short about love as an all-encompassing energy.

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Live Action, Premiere

Sachin Dheeraj’s ‘Men in Blue’ Viscerally Exposes the Modern Slave Labour Inflicted on Immigrant Workers

Sachin Dheeraj dissects the visual language he used to depict the deplorable story of men stripped of their dignity for profit by modern slavery.

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Live Action, Premiere

Werner Vivier’s ‘Walls Like Windows’ Captures Our Acute Need for Human Connection and Empathy When Navigating Trauma

Werner Vivier walks us through the narrative developing cinematography and surprising shifts of tone of his expectation subverting drama short.

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Animation

Natko Stipaničev’s ‘Arka’ Is an Unconventional Interpretation of Life Through the Strata of a Grand Cruise Ship

Natko Stipaničev talks to us about mimicking stop motion with 2D & 3D to create his bizarre animated world aboard a doomed transoceanic cruise ship.

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Documentary, Premiere

James Slater’s ‘Look for the Diamonds’ Encourages Us Grab Life by the Horns No Matter the Circumstances

James Slater talks about the unconventional approach to documenting illness he employed for his documentary celebrating a uniquely positive outlook on life.

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Documentary

Audrey Mascina’s ‘I AM THAT I AM’ Explores Sexuality as Expression and Empowerment Without Constraints

We speak to Audrey Mascina about her strong desire to challenge the limits of how sexuality in all its glory can be captured and presented by filmmakers.

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Live Action

Jimmy Olsson Explores the Delicately Shifting Father-Daughter Bond in ‘Last Weekend With Jenny and John’

Jimmy Olsson speaks to us about drawing on his own fatherhood anxieties when constructing his drama about a maturing daughter pulling away for her father.

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Live Action, Premiere

Seamus Murphy’s ‘Henry Needs a New Home’ Is a Farcical Tale of One Man’s Battle With a Metallic Antagonist

Filmmaker Seamus Murphy talks to DN about the painstaking production design which set the stage for his absurd comedy short starring Nicholas Hope.

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Awards, Live Action

Cyrus Neshvad Depicts a Young Iranian Woman’s Desperate Battle for Freedom in Oscar Short ‘The Red Suitcase’

Cyrus Neshvad talked to us about the lack of dialogue in his heartbreaking drama following a young woman's desperate fight for freedom.

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Awards, Live Action

A Woman’s Journey Home Takes a Series of Unexpected Turns in Eirik Tveiten’s Oscar Nominated ‘Night Ride’.

Eirik Tveiten discusses abruptly shifting gears from comical caper to an atmosphere of menacing threat in his short about standing up to bigoted prejudice.

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Awards, Documentary

Joshua Seftel’s Oscar Nominated Short ‘Stranger at the Gate’ Documents the Most Inspiring of Redemption Arcs

Joshua Seftel reveals the interview techniques that encouraged reactions which paint a thousand words in his inspirational love over hate documentary short.

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