Awards Category

Animation, Awards

Baz Sells Crafts an Eden of Queer Black Love in Tender BIFA & BAFTA Nominated Stop Motion Short ‘Two

Baz Sells, Dean Atta & Ben Jackson trace the five-year journey of bringing their animated short to life, a stop-motion tale of self-acceptance and queer love.

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Awards, Live Action

Cal McMau Directs Balletic Violence and Claustrophobic Tension in His BIFA Winning Prison Thriller ‘Wasteman’

Cal McMau reveals how he embraced tight confines when choreographing the violence in his BIFA-nominated debut feature portrait of a merciless prison ecosystem.

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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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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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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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Awards, Film Festival

The WeAreDN Awards 2025 Winners

Join us in reflecting on the WeAreDN Awards 2025 winning shorts and learn how all the films went from ideation to completion in the our making of interviews.

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Awards, Film Festival

Directors Notes Presents: The WeAreDN Awards 2025

After the resounding success of last year’s launch, Directors Notes is thrilled to present our 2025 edition of the WeAreDN Awards.

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Animation, Awards

How Legendary Animator Daisuke Nishio Joined Toei Animation & Directed the Studio’s First Oscar Nominated Short

From 'Dragon Ball' to 'Magic Candies', Daisuke Nishio reflects on his storied career and the creative journey behind his Oscar-nominated animated short.

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Awards, Documentary

Bill Morrison Unveils the Power of Contemporary Archive in ‘Incident’ a Harrowing Exploration of Police Collusion

Bill Morrison discusses the defined parameters he adhered to when constructing his haunting Oscar nominated documentary short about a 2018 police shooting.

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Awards, Live Action

Cindy Lee & Darwin Shaw Explore the Human Cost of Conservation in Their Oscar Nominated Short ‘The Last Ranger’

Cindy Lee & Darwin Shaw share how they orchestrated powerful performances while tracking wild rhinos in a game reserve with less than 5 days to capture it all.

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Animation, Awards

The Art of Minimalism: Shirin Sohani & Hossein Molayemi on Oscar Winning Animation ‘In the Shadow of the Cypress’

We learn how Shirin Sohani & Hossein Molayemi battled against the headwinds of filmmaking in Iran all the way to the Academy Awards with their animated short.

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