Debut Feature Tag Archive

Awards, Live Action

Harry Lighton Navigates the Intersection of Kink and Suburban Mundanity In His Subversive Queer BIFA Feature ‘Pillion

DN alum Harry Lighton discusses crafting a visual language that finds the tenderness within the transgressive intimacy of his tender tale of queer first love.

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Awards, Live Action

Cal McMau Directs Balletic Violence and Claustrophobic Tension in His BIFA Winning Prison Thriller ‘Wasteman’

Cal McMau reveals how he embraced tight confines when choreographing the violence in his BIFA-nominated debut feature portrait of a merciless prison ecosystem.

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Awards, Live Action

Personal Grief and Political Upheaval Intertwine in Akinola Davies Jr.’s BIFA Winning ‘My Father’s Shadow’

Akinola Davies Jr. discusses the making of his semi-autobiographical feature 'My Father's Shadow', a debut leading this year's BIFAs with 12 nominations.

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Awards, Live Action

Laura Carreira Crafts a Sensory Portrait of Gig Worker Loneliness in Her Multi BIFA Nominated Debut ‘On Falling’

Laura Carreira explains why removing antagonists sharpened her film's critique of the gig economy and its deleterious effect on he isolated Portuguese migrant.

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Live Action

How Geoff Barrow & John Minton Made Invada Films’ Suspenseful Indie Thriller Debut ‘Game’

Geoff Barrow & John Minton champion the beyond your comfort zone filmmaking philosophy which saw them shoot their lead actor suspended upside down in a car.

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Film Festival, Live Action

Maternal Love Persists in Zain Duraie’s Claustrophobic Meditation on Motherhood and Mental Health ‘Sink’

Zain Duraie describes building unbearable tension by stretching a mother's denial to its breaking point in her drama about a son's fractured mental health.

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Live Action

Imran Perrettas ‘Ish’ Captures the Seismic Heartbreak of a Childhood Friendship Fracturing Under External Pressures

Imran Perretta details using black & white to recast Luton as a timeless landscape in his story of a friendship torn apart by a racially profiled police

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Awards

Exclusive First Look at the BIFA 2025 Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) Longlist

In partnership with BIFA, Directors Notes brings you a first look at the 2025 longlist for The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director).

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Live Action

“I Wanted to Create Life on Screen”: Rohan Parashuram Kanawade Dissects His Award-Winning Debut ‘Cactus Pears’

Rohan Parashuram Kanawade reveals how he crafted his Sundance and SXSW London winning debut - a tender, life-affirming portrait of grief and queer love.

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Live Action

Louise Weard Confronts Gender, Sex Work and Queer Friendship in Indie Epic ‘Castration Movie i: Traps’

Incels, Intimacy & Infertility: Louise Weard dissects her anarchic approach to directing her gut-punching queer epic.

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Live Action

Daisy-May Hudson’s ‘Lollipop’ Is a Heartbreaking Portrait of Maternal Resilience and Devastating Systemic Failure

Daisy-May Hudson opens up about turning pain into power in her feature where a young woman struggles against a broken system to regain custody of her kids.

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Podcasts

Joshua Trigg’s ‘Satu – Year of the Rabbit’ Is a Triumph of Grit, 16mm and Truly Independent Filmmaking

Joshua Trigg shares how he overcame the logistical nightmares of poisonous wells, a broken camera and losing half the funding for his debut indie feature.

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