Live Action Category

Animation, Live Action

Humans Are the Houseplants in Benjamin Roberds’ Twisted Horror Comedy ‘Your Houseplants Are Screaming’

Benjamin Roberds tells DN how keeping his crew small allowed him to maximise his creativity during the pre-production of his role reversal horror comedy.

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Live Action

A Karate Instructor Inspires His Shito Ryu Trainees to Excellence in Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah’s ‘The Knife Is Sharp’

Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah discusses her personal connection with Shito Ryu karate and the dojo at the heart of her latest exhilarating experimental spot.

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Live Action, Premiere

A Birthday Girl’s Wiener-Dog Gets Annihilated by Her Hapless Father’s Car in McKinley Carlin’s Comedy ‘Noodles Forever’

Writer/Director McKinley Carlin speaks to DN about using extreme close ups to heighten the hilarity of his uncomfortable comedy about a sausage dog's demise.

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Live Action, Premiere

Chloe Sarbib’s ‘Jensen’ Finds a Songwriter Struggling to Retain Her Sense of Self Before Taking Centre Stage

Chloe Sarbib explains why she deliberately engendered shifts in her directing style for her heartfelt music drama about identity and self-examination.

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Live Action, Premiere

Emma Jesse’s Dark Comedy ‘Soggy Biscuit’ Takes a Stomach Churning Look at Peer Pressure Fuelled Male Bravado

Emma Jesse talks through the false preconceptions she had to overcome when making her short exploring humiliating toxic masculinity within male groups.

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Live Action, Premiere

Will Kenning Offers a Fresh Perspective on the Horrors of County Lines Drug Gangs in Dance Drama ‘Tap Boy’

Will Kenning chats to DN about combining the world of tap with the grim reality of exploitation perpetrated by drug gangs for his compelling drama short.

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Kubrick by Candeilght

Live Action

David O’Reilly’s ‘Kubrick By Candlelight’ Pays a Playful Comic Homage to Stanley Kubrick’s ‘Barry Lyndon’

David O'Reilly reveals how he replicated precise camera movements, used VFX and hid lots of Easter Eggs in his ultimate short film homage to Barry Lyndon.

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Almost Spring

Live Action, Premiere

Nastia Korkia’s ‘Almost Spring’ Brutally Lays Bare the Normalisation of Corruption in Everyday Russian Life

Nastia Korkia shares how she used a cinematic language of slow, methodical takes in order to show how deeply embedded corruption is in everyday Russian life.

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Live Action, Premiere

A Suburban Father’s Blistering Anger Boils Over into Family Confrontation in Daniel Turvil’s ‘This Much So Far’

Daniel Turvil discusses highlighting the pressure of life in the suburbs in his short about a man unleashing his anger on doll-like versions of his family.

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Live Action, Premiere

Calvin Demba Takes an Algorithmic Look at the Damaging Cycle of Toxic Relationships in Sexbot Comedy ‘BabyDolls’

We speak to Calvin Demba about creating a timeless feeling for his dark AI relationship comedy about a misogynistic man falling victim to his own toxicity.

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Live Action

Ryan Schnackenberg Confronts Filmmaker Rejection Head on in His Excruciating Short ‘The Screener’

Ryan Schnackenberg opens up about needing to confront his own experiences of rejection when making his uncomfortable short about challenging gatekeepers.

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Live Action

A Young Woman Desperately Clings to Hope in a Brutal Reality in Zornitsa Dimitrova’s ‘A Dark Moment of Faith’

Zornitsa Dimitrova speaks to us about crafting a story which forces audiences to experience the shock of deceit in her hard hitting and unapologetic short.

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