Grief Archives - Directors Notes

How Nina Gantz Found the Perfect Balance Between Sadness and Humour in BIFA Wining Short ‘Wander to Wonder’

Nina Gantz takes DN inside the extraordinary craftsmanship of her stop motion short which offers a poignant exploration of loss for its diminutive stars.

Live Action

A Desperate Woman Visits the Site of Her Brother’s Death in Nicholas Payne Santos’ Horror Short ‘Strange Creatures’

Writer/Director Nicholas Payne Santos returns to DN and reveals why the visual effects had to be practical on his unnerving, grief-stricken horror short.

Live Action, Premiere

A Father Faces a Burden He Can’t Quite Grasp in Jesse Lewis-Reece’s Moving Drama Short ‘Mother of Mine’

Jesse Lewis-Reece unpacks the different facets of grief he wanted to explore with his personal bereavement drama.

Live Action

Michael Jobling’s ‘The Walk’ Captures Britain’s Disenfranchised Lives Via One Man’s Trek Through Nature

Michael Jobling speaks about purposely avoiding the typical approach to working class stories in his short showcasing a man’s gruelling emotional journey.

Live Action, Premiere

Pulkit Arora’s ‘Anu’ Explores Grief and Displacement Through the Confined Lens of a Solitary Hotel Room

Pulkit Arora tells us how a mounted jib arm enabled the evocative cinematography in his close quarters short about a lonely widow isolated in her mourning.

Live Action, Premiere

Youthful Abandon Clashes Against the Burdens of Impending Adulthood in Melina Valdez’ ‘Weapons and Their Names’

Melina Valdez unpacks her process of weaving magical realism into a grounded narrative informed by personal experience to portray the tumult of teenage grief.

Live Action, Premiere

An Embittered Son Plots His Revenge on the Football Hooligans Who Attacked His Father in Greg Cruttwell’s ‘Animals’

Greg Cruttwell explains how his disgust about the horrific violence of football hooliganism galvanised the creation of his blistering monologue revenge short.

Live Action

A Shared Loss Forges an Unlikely Bond in Lasse Lyskjær Noer’s Oscar Nominated Dark Comedy ‘Knight of Fortune’

Lasse Lyskjær Noer speaks to capturing the cathartic release of comedy even in the depths of despair for his short about two widowers struggling with grief.

Live Action

An Insuppressible Barrage of Grief Courses Through Misan Harriman’s Oscar Nominated Debut Short ‘The After’

Misan Harriman explains the narrative and emotional importance of the shocking opening to his Oscar nominated Netflix short starring David Oyelowo.

Live Action, Premiere

Repressed Family Trauma Rears Its Ugly Head in Tracy Mathewson & Kate Winter’s Psychological Trip Drama ‘ORTOLAN’

Tracy Mathewson & Kate Winter reveal how set design expressed emotional claustrophobia as 3 sisters embark on a psychedelic trip during their mother's wake.

Live Action

A Mother and Son Embark on a Surreal Day Out in Tom Stuart’s Emotive Comedy Short Debut ‘Good Boy’

Tom Stuart details the awkward practicalities of shooting in the vintage VW van which sits at the heart of his touching surreal personification of grief.

Animation, Premiere

A Father Attempts Everything to Save His Son in Cliona Noonan’s Heartbreaking Animation ‘Soft Tissue’

Cliona Noonan describes how her enforcement of creative limitations birthed the most interesting ideas in her tender familial animated short.

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