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

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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Live Action, Premiere

Matthew Rollins Blends Cosmic Seeking and Earthly Comedy in His Spiritual Sci-Fi Short ‘Stellan and the Stars’

Discover how Matthew Rollins harnessed a kinetic, handheld visual style to place us directly inside a jaded DJ's chemically-assisted, disoriented headspace.

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Awards

Exclusive First Look at the BIFA 2025 Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) Longlist

In partnership with BIFA, Directors Notes brings you a first look at the 2025 longlist for The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director).

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Film Festival, Live Action

10 Striking Shorts From the 69th Edition of the BFI London Film Festival

This year's most exciting LFF shorts trend is a cohesive push into experiential cinema. These 10 titles transport you to their bizarre & brilliant realities.

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Art & Fashion, Premiere

Movement Articulates Unspoken Vulnerability in Jessie Oldfield & Adam Murfet’s Collaborative Healing Short ‘As One’

Co-directors Jessie Oldfield & Adam Murfet detail their use of a wordless dance to express a shared journey from dark isolation to vulnerable connection.

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Live Action

A Bottle to the Head Fractures Reality in Theodore Collatos’s Surreal Slamdance Winning New York Short ‘Palookaville’

Theodore Collatos discusses reflecting the fractured reality suffered following sudden head trauma through the associational editing of his surreal short.

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Live Action

A Fleeting Encounter Unlocks a World of Whimsical Possibility in David Ma’s ‘The Dancing Girl and The Balloon Man’

David Ma reveals how long lenses and a documentary approach grounded his film about a blooming romance between a dim sum shop assistant and a street performer.

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Live Action, Premiere

Steph Barkley Wrestles With the Volatile, Physical Language of Sibling Rivalry in Murderous Short ‘Sisters’

Steph Barkley explores how a literal messy fight became a narratively rich metaphorical expression of the oft unspoken love and violence of sisterhood.

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Live Action, Premiere

A Floating Nation of Trash Becomes an Unlikely Sanctuary for Second Chances in Tobia Passigato’s Eco-Fable ‘Wasted’

Tobia Passigato reveals how building a real trash island at sea fuelled the punk filmmaking spirit of his powerful tale of human and environmental redemption.

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