Premiere Category

Live Action, Premiere

A French Exchange Student Stumbles Into a Family Tragedy in Joe Weiland’s Upbeat Comedy Drama ‘Gorka’

Joe Weiland explains how the wide, vibrant frames of his seaside comedy drama are emblematic of the film's themes of connection and catharsis.

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Live Action, Premiere

A Young Man Struggles to Maintain His Sanity When His Sister Goes Missing in Nathan Ginter’s ‘Last Seen’

Nathan Ginter details how the use of heavy close ups in his intense short drama reflect his lead character's spiralling mental state.

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Animation, Premiere

An Uninvited Guest Disrupts a Quiet Family Reunion in Joseph Brett’s Unnerving Stop Motion Folk Horror ‘Stones’

Joseph Brett expounds on his desire to challenge gaps of representation in British folk aesthetics with his eerie stop motion film about home and belonging.

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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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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, Premiere

The Toxicity of a Strained Father-Son Relationship Comes to a Shocking Head in Ben Tricklebank’s ‘Champ’

Ben Tricklebank breaks down how he built narrative tension that speaks volumes from what isn't said in his exploration of a toxic parental relationship.

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Live Action, Premiere

Sachin Dheeraj’s ‘Men in Blue’ Viscerally Exposes the Modern Slave Labour Inflicted on Immigrant Workers

Sachin Dheeraj dissects the visual language he used to depict the deplorable story of men stripped of their dignity for profit by modern slavery.

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