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, Sponsored

10 Audacious, Bold and Unstoppable Short Films Screening at NFFTY 2026

From animated shorts to documentaries, experimental pieces to music videos, NFFTY 2026 arrives with a packed programme of striking range and ambition.

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Live Action, Premiere

Rhubarb’s Vivid Pink Bleeds Into the Murky Darkness of Dementia in Steven Boyle’s Stirring Surreal Short ‘Tusky’

Steven Boyle takes us inside crafting a candlelit portrait of dementia that is both unflinching and strangely beautiful as a farmer loses his grip on reality.

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Awards, Documentary

Hilla Medalia on Silent Protest, Sorrow and Her Oscar-Nominated Documentary ‘Children No More: Were and are Gone’

Hilla Medalia discusses filming a female-led Tel Aviv vigil where silence becomes the most radical, devastating protest against the killing of innocents.

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Awards, Documentary

Alison McAlpine Finds the Universe in the Unhurried Gaze of Donkeys in Oscar-Nominated Doc ‘perfectly a strangeness’

In the vastness of the desert, Alison McAlpine follows three donkeys into an abandoned observatory and discovers a new language for what a story can be.

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Awards, Live Action

Natalie Musteata & Alexandre Singh Weaponise Absurdism Against Authoritarianism in ‘Two People Exchanging Saliva’

Oscar-winning writer/directors Natalie Musteata & Alexandre Singh on building a Swiss-watch satire where a slap is currency and a kiss is a capital offence.

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Awards, Documentary

Joshua Seftel Finds the Weight of Absence in the Specific and Small in Oscar-Winning Doc ‘All the Empty Rooms’

Stripping back commentary and even dialogue, Joshua Seftel builds a documentary film about gun violence from silence and the objects children left behind.

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Awards, Live Action

Meyer Levinson-Blount’s Oscar-Nominated Short ‘Butcher’s Stain’ Asks Who Gets Blamed When Tragedy Strikes

With close-quarters craft, student director Meyer Levinson-Blount transforms collective trauma into an intimate portrait of one man's quiet fight for dignity.

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Awards, Live Action

Sam Davis Crafts an Ode to Vulnerability Via Men Who’d Never Dream of Showing It in Oscar-Winner ‘The Singers’

Through wholly unconventional casting, Sam Davis spotlights the unsung talents at the heart of his genre-bending short about men finally being heard, together.

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Awards, Documentary

Craig Renaud Mines 20 Years of War Journalism in Tribute to His Brother in ‘Armed Only With a Camera’

Craig Renaud discusses facing the impossible task of turning a tragedy into a cinematic tribute while wrestling with the ethical boundaries of showing death.

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Animation, Awards

J.P. Vine Unleashes Boundless Imagination for Kids and a Quiet Gut-Punch for Parents in BAFTA-Nominated ‘Cardboard’

With a considerate dual-audience approach J.P. Vine captivates with a story where kids see a space adventure & adults feel the weight of an overwhelmed father.

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Awards, Documentary

Georgie Wileman & Matt Houghton Transform Personal Pain with Radical Intimacy into BAFTA Doc ‘This Is Endometriosis’

Informed by her lived experience, Georgie Wileman joined forces with Matt Houghton to forge a new documentary language elucidating an invisible illness.

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Awards, Live Action

Julia Aks & Steve Pinder Turned Bloody Shame Into Period Parody in Oscar-Nominated ‘Jane Austen’s Period Drama’

Corset comedy, cramps and Academy glory; co-directors Aks & Pinder unpack the pun-inspired joyfully bloody road of their hilarious Oscar-nominated short.

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