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.

Awards, Live Action

Personal Grief and Political Upheaval Intertwine in Akinola Davies Jr.’s BIFA Winning ‘My Father’s Shadow’

Akinola Davies Jr. discusses the making of his semi-autobiographical feature 'My Father's Shadow', a debut leading this year's BIFAs with 12 nominations.

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Awards, Live Action

Laura Carreira Crafts a Sensory Portrait of Gig Worker Loneliness in Her Multi BIFA Nominated Debut ‘On Falling’

Laura Carreira explains why removing antagonists sharpened her film's critique of the gig economy and its deleterious effect on he isolated Portuguese migrant.

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Live Action

A Grieving Man Confronts Unconscious Desires in Jacob Samuels’ Dark Suburban Comedy ‘I Want My Mommy’

Jacob Samuels guides us through the delicate tonal tightrope of his unconventional tale of grief, cringe-inducing confession and existential woe.

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Awards, Live Action

The Rapid Escalation of Mob Mentality Consumes a Welsh Village in Mac Nixon’s Enigmatic BIFA Nominated Horror ‘Flock’

Mac Nixon discusses building a timeless and stark world in his monochrome horror, where a lone farmer becomes the target of his neighbours' panicked fear.

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Live Action, Premiere

Housemate Tensions Morph Into a Surreal Nightmare in Hansel Rodrigues & Ieuan Coombs’ Comedy ‘An Indirect Message’

Rodrigues & Coombs delve into visualising sleepless anxiety and awkward Britishness with bold theatrical lighting, composed frames and chaotic handheld shots.

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Article

“Would This Exist Without the Brand?” Margo Mars Lays Out LIEF Entertainment’s Approach to Authentic Storytelling

Margo Mars introduces us to LIEF Entertainment Company, a studio launched with the express goal of auteur brands funding premium auteur driven entertainment.

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Film Festival, Live Action

Maternal Love Persists in Zain Duraie’s Claustrophobic Meditation on Motherhood and Mental Health ‘Sink’

Zain Duraie describes building unbearable tension by stretching a mother's denial to its breaking point in her drama about a son's fractured mental health.

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Live Action, Premiere

Jamie McCormack Weaves Grief and Genre Tension Into a Brooding Tale of Fractured Familial Bonds in ‘Mersea’

Jamie McCormack tells us how he transformed a dormant, personal script about loss into a structurally complete saga by adding a sinister, unseen genre element.

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Live Action, Premiere

Ellen Rodnianski’s Claustrophobic Short ‘Family Matters’ Probes the Moral Paralysis Behind Systemic Violence

Forcing audiences to confront complicity, Ellen Rodnianski explains how the moral inaction in her short mirrors societal apathy towards large scale violence.

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Live Action

Imran Perrettas ‘Ish’ Captures the Seismic Heartbreak of a Childhood Friendship Fracturing Under External Pressures

Imran Perretta details using black & white to recast Luton as a timeless landscape in his story of a friendship torn apart by a racially profiled police

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Art & Fashion

Alyosha Fuses 18th Century Hedonism With Modern Rave Culture in His Branded Short ‘Rave Or Freeze’ for Posié

With frenetic camera moves to give the pieces an unpredictable, dazzling life of their own, Alyosha breaks down crafting a film to make diamond jewellery pop.

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Live Action, Premiere

Tobias Frøystad & Tayo Cittadella Cultivate a Surreal Harvest of Human Exploitation in ‘Fuck the Crops’

Tobias Frøystad & Tayo Cittadella discuss using rack focus to guide viewers through their haunting allegorical fable which is both darkly absurd and direct.

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