BIFA Archives - Directors Notes

How Joseph Wallace Created a Modern Folktale with a Timeless Message in new Short ‘Salvation Has No Name’

Joseph Wallace returns to DN with his most ambitious work yet, a 17-minute stop-motion folktale exploring the refugee crisis and xenophobia.

Live Action

A Teenager Is Coerced by Her Boyfriend in Seemab Gul’s Tense Contemporary Social Commentary Short ‘Sandstorm’

Seemab Gul reveals how reality mirrored fiction during the audition process of her drama short challenging contemporary societal restrictions in Pakistan.

Live Action

Roxy Rezvany Explores the Skewed Power Dynamics of a Domestic Abuse Police Interview in ‘Honesty’

Roxy Rezvany details the subtle aesthetic decisions that inform and propel the quietly intensifying narrative of her BIFA-nominated dramatic short.

Animation

A Crippling Drug Addiction Causes a Warped Sense of Reality in Joseph Pierce’s Rotoscoped Short ‘Scale’

Joseph Pierce reveals how he translated the amorphous perspective in Will Self's novella through rotoscoped animation for his BIFA-nominated short film.

Live Action

A Chance Encounter Reveals Unexpected Truths in Keeran Anwar Blessie’s Queer Short ‘A Fox in the Night’

Keeran Anwar Blessie breaks down the process of scripting the pivotal tonal shift in his subversive BIFA-nominated LGBTQ romantic drama.

Live Action

Sean Lìonadh’s ‘Too Rough’ Acutely Captures Queer Lives on the Edge of Domestic Collapse

Sean Lìonadh reveals how he used intimate camerawork, layered colour schemes and sensitive performances to create his BAFTA/BIFA-winning drama.

Animation

A Night’s Sleep Is Anxiously Interrupted in Ida Melum’s BAFTA Nominated Stop Motion ‘Night of the Living Dread’

Ida Melum guides us through the unique joys of the stop motion animation process of her film about a sleepless encounter with unwanted guests.

Live Action

Aneil Karia & Riz Ahmed’s Oscar Winning ‘The Long Goodbye’ Brutally Depicts Britain Sliding into Fascist Violence

We speak to Aneil Karia about the improvisational approaches he took when shooting his scathing short film insight into Britain's worst impulses.

Film Festival, Live Action

Mitch Kalisa’s SXSW Winning Drama ‘Play It Safe’ Challenges the Unconscious Racism in Self-Defined Liberal Spaces

Mitch Kalisa explains the unconscious racism that informed 'Play It Safe' his drama school-set film about a student coaxed into playing a racial stereotype.

Film Festival, Live Action

Ng Choon Ping & Sam H. Freeman Capture the Threat of Heterosexual Spaces in Intense Late-Night Thriller ‘Femme’

Co-Directors Ng Choon Ping & Sam H. Freeman discuss the importance of rehearsal when crafting the visceral tension of their jaw-dropping thriller 'Femme'.

Live Action

Dekel Berenson Poignantly Captures the Ukrainian Love Tourism Industry in BIFA Winning Short ‘Anna’

Part two of a series exploring women's lives across the globe Dekel Berenson discusses 'Anna' his touching portrait of the Ukrainian love tourism industry.

Live Action

Rene Pannevis Details How He Expanded His BIFA-Winning Car Thief Short ‘Jacked’ Into Feature Debut ‘Looted’

Providing an inside view of the feature development process, Rene Pannevis talks British realism, small-town criminals and the generational divide.

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