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

Molly Gillis Explores a Woman’s Yearning to Overcome Her Current Fragility in Graceful Short ‘Plaisir’

Molly Gillis takes DN inside the creation of her sun-soaked autobiographical tale of self-discovery and unrequited love in the South of France.

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Live Action, Premiere

Raphael Gonzalez Tests the Boundaries of a Fractured Friendship in Gallows Humour Short ‘The Living’

Raphael Gonzalez explains how he delivered a witty, thoughtful portrayal of the bonds of friendship in his dark, impossible request comedy 'The Living'.

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Documentary, Music Video, Premiere

Moe Najati Captures the Evolving World of Cuban Rumba’s Intersecting Beliefs and Gender Biases in ‘Uproar’

Moe Najati reveals how stumbling upon an astounding all female Rumba group during a research trip reshaped his Cuban music documentary 'Uproar'.

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Animation

A Forgotten Hawaiian Legend Rises Like a Phoenix in Vibrant Oscar Shortlisted Animation ‘Kapaemahu’

Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu explains the extreme care taken to authentically tell a treasured Hawaiian story of old about ancient power forgotten in 'Kapaemahu'.

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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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