Black Stories Archives - Directors Notes

Freddie Leyden’s ‘Under the Skin of a Guild: Wake of Lost Souls’ Exposes Britain’s Colonial Horrors Through Dance

Freddie Leyden's history reckoning dance film explores the horrific past of Guildhall through heavy contrasts, wide angles and loose camera movement.

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.

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.

Art & Fashion, Documentary, Premiere

Dawn Richard Champions the Power of Self-Expression in Moving New Orleans-Set Dance Short ‘Pigments’

Dawn Richard breaks down why she wanted to alter the cliched image of New Orleans through her compelling and empowering dance short.

Live Action

An Undersung Political Activist is Given Her Due in Alex Kayode-Kay’s BAFTA Nominated ‘The Ballad of Olive Morris’

Alex Kayode-Kay reveals how he pounded Brixton's pavements to fund his BAFTA nominated short exploring the life of a woefully overlooked Black activist.

Live Action

A Teenage Boy Struggles With the Shame of Victimhood After a Brutal Attack in Toby Wharton’s Drama Short ‘Held’

We speak to Toby Wharton about the invisible camera work he employed to truly capture the raw emotions in his perturbing exploration of victimhood.

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, Premiere

A Black Student’s Revelation Leads to Uncomfortable Repercussions in Chinwe Okorie’s Drama Short ‘Elephant’

Chinwe Okorie tells DN how she mined a darkly comedic childhood memory for her short drama about a tense encounter for a girl at her new school.

Live Action

Kiosa Sukami Examines Portrayals of Black Men in His Contemplative Crime Drama ‘A Letter To Black Men’

Kiosa Sukami dissects the emotional and thematic purpose of the loose, free-flowing camera movements of his compelling crime drama short.

Live Action

Ray Smiling’s ‘Play This At My Funeral’ Extols Our Intimate Connections to the Songs in Our Lives

Ray Smiling describes co-opting the mixtape format to capture the symbiotic link between music and memory for his idiosyncratic series of vignettes.

Art & Fashion

Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah Highlights the Vibrancy of Black Stories With Celebratory MTV Branded Short ‘Noitamalcer’

Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah explains how she subverted stories of black pain with her vibrant joyous Juneteenth-set branded short.

Live Action, Premiere

Jermaine Manigault’s Experimental Short ‘Not Black Enough’ Cathartically Confronts Blackness in America

Epic long takes, musical pastiche and minimalist music, Jermaine Manigault reveals the tools he used to create a unique portrait of what blackness means.

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