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

Love Blossoms From the Most Unexpected of Sources in Rosco 5’s Delightfully Facetious ‘Seeds of Love’

Behnam Taheri & Gideon Beresford talk to DN about filming intimate scenes of disembodied romance for their outrageously hands-on comedy 'Seeds of Love'.

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Live Action

Matt Mcclung Explores What Happens When Our Online Behaviours Become All Too Real in ‘One to One’

Matt McClung shares how he balanced the threatening tone of disturbing online behaviours personified IRL with lighter moments of comedy in 'One to One'.

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Documentary, Premiere

Dan Braga Ulvestad Documents the Death Hotels in the Consecrated City of Varanasi in ‘By the River’

Dan Braga Ulvestad discusses the challenges of filming in a sacred city and his perspectives on capturing the perfect subjects for doc short 'By the River'

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Animation

A Didactic Short Story Is Given an All Too Relatable Contemporary Spin in ‘Rope’ by Kyomu Yoshida

Kyomu Yoshida details why he chose to animate a caustic social commentary derived from a tale by the father of the Japanese short story in 'Rope'.

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Live Action

Jimmy Olsson Challenges Our Preconceived Notions of Disability and Sexual Desire in Forthright Drama ‘Alive’

Jimmy Olsson returns to discuss why he was drawn to confront the misguided preconceptions about disability and sexual intimacy in his new short 'Alive'.

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Music Video

Egor Tarasov & Vladimir Ivanov Bury the Pain of a Lingering War in Exquisite Music Video ‘Yamakasi’

Filmed in a stark, abandoned mountain town Egor Tarasov & Vladimir Ivanov walk us through the logistical & technical challenges of epic promo 'Yamakasi'.

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Live Action

Madeleine Sims-Fewer & Dusty Mancinelli Weave Audiences Towards a Shocking Family Revelation in ‘Chubby’

Madeleine Sims-Fewer & Dusty Mancinelli discuss the methods they used to draw out nuanced characterisation for the disturbing revelations of drama 'Chubby'.

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Article

Sarah Smith Top Ten Feature Films of 2020

"2020 has provided us with a berth of films which have certainly kept us going." Sarah shares the cinematic ballast which kept her afloat during 2020.

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Art & Fashion

Monica Menez Unveils the Sumptuous Frivolity of Willems Beauty Palace in Fashion Short ‘Business as Usual’

Monica Menez lays out her journey from fashion photographer to director and elaborates on what exact ingredients are required to produce her uncanny style.

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Live Action

How Henry Blake’s Proof of Concept Short Paved the Way for the Violent Reality of Feature Debut ‘County Lines’

Henry Blake on bringing audiences face to face with the horrific exploitation of vulnerable children by UK drug gangs in forthright feature 'County Lines'

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Music Video

A Pocket-Sized Pere Sala Runs the Gauntlet of Relationship Power Dynamics in Spxxn P Promo ‘Complicació’

Pere Sala discusses miniaturising himself while filling roles in front of and behind the camera for his musical alter ego's new music video 'Complicació'.

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Live Action, Premiere

Corentin Leroux’s ‘Grenadine’ Drops Us Into the Stark World of Young Brothers Forced to Fend for Themselves

Corentin Leroux bears witness to the frayed but steadfast bonds of three young brothers as they cope with a life of fending for themselves in 'Grenadine'.

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