Live Action Category

Article, Live Action

How the BBC Enabled New Voices to Take Creative Risks with Their Long Story Short Initiative

Jess Loveland, Head of New Writing at BBC Writers, and filmmakers Theo James Krekis & Annabel Vine join us to discuss the Long Story Short Initiative.

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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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Live Action, Premiere

A Real Life Marketplace Encounter Leads to the Wildly Entertaining Fever Dream That Is Olivia Accardo’s ‘Baby Tooth’

Olivia Accardo reveals how her encounter with a local seller led to her absurdist comedy short offering a potential boat buyer way more than he anticipated.

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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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Live Action, Premiere

Emotional Repression Becomes Public Health Crisis in Emma Doxiadi’s Allegorical ‘Something Like The End of The World’

Personal heartbreak unfolds into urgent social commentary as Emma Doxiadi's genre-straddling short transforms emotional asymmetry into literal collapse.

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Awards, Live Action

Edem Kelman Navigates the Dynamics of Faith and Family for London’s African Diaspora in BAFTA Short ‘Terence’

Edem Kelman on authentically capturing London's African diaspora as he sees them in his BAFTA-nominated story of a security guard with a special gift to heal.

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Live Action, Premiere

Matt R. Smith Takes Us on a Gripping Ride Through a Stylish Tense Nightmare in WTF Horror ‘The Parish’

Matt R. Smith leads DN through building the disturbing atmosphere of his Lynchian-inspired short where a struggling man confesses his darkest recurring dream.

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Live Action, Premiere

Radical Vulnerability Powers a Deliriously Earnest Exploration of Selfhood in Collaborative Drama ‘The Unexpressed’

Dancing between sincerity & surrealism 'The Unexpressed's' creative collaborators discuss rejecting conflict in favour of shared unravelling in their sismance.

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Live Action, Premiere

A Mother and Daughter Circle the Unspeakable in Amelia Sears’ Quietly Devastating Transposed Mythical Drama ‘Ceres’

Amelia Sears reimagines an ancient myth to explore the invisible weight of coercive control, harnessing the narrative power of stillness and near-touches.

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Live Action, Premiere

A Struggling Couple’s Sexual Revival Takes a Titillating Turn in Kyle Jon Shephard’s Shifting Comedy ‘Role Play’

Discover how Kyle Jon Shephard used subtle performance slips & purposeful camera language to track changing power dynamics, hiding intentions in plain sight.

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Live Action, Premiere

Mylissa Fitzsimmons Navigates the Messy Territory of Performing Adulthood in Two-Hander Motel Drama ‘I’m Not Sure’

Mylissa Fitzsimmons unpacks crafting a predatory game, blocking actor movement in a cramped motel to amplify the tension of every glance and approach.

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