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Directors NotesBETH: Uzo Oleh & Yaw Basoah on Creating Channel 4’s First Digital Original Drama
Last Monday saw the British TV Broadcaster Channel 4 release Beth – a project billed as its first ever digital original drama, which was not only broadcast traditionally on linear TV as well as on Channel 4 Streaming, but also arrived for audiences first on Channel 4’s YouTube. Ahead of that, DN friend Nimi Raja sat down with Beth writer/director Uzo Oleh and producer Yaw Basoah for a chat about formats and the rich subtext peppered throughout their sci-fi mystery meets IVF relationship drama. [Note: This conversation contains spoilers but you can watch Beth at this link]
Head...2025-06-1744 minDirectors NotesLOLLIPOP: Daisy-May Hudson on Depicting the Heartbreaking Impact of a Failing Care System
In this episode we’re joined by Daisy-May Hudson whom we last spoke to as part of our London Film Festival coverage alongside co-director Sophie Compton for their feature documentary Holloway. Today, Daisy-May returns as the writer-director of feature drama Lollipop, which stars a captivating Posy Sterling as a young woman newly released from prison after serving four months, who is forced to struggle against a not fit for purpose child protection system to regain custody of her children. With Lollipop arriving on cinema screens this week as part of its Q&A tour, before being released nationwide on...2025-06-0938 minDirectors NotesROCKET FUEL: Jordon Scott Kennedy on Capturing Childhood Magic Through a Working-Class LensBack in October, we headed to the Bolton Film Festival (a favourite, regular stop for us on the UK film festival circuit) to sit on the jury as one of the partners for the inaugural Slick Films Fund live pitch event. Of the five Filmmakers pitching their projects in the hopes of walking away with the £10K Grand Prize, it was Bradford-based filmmaker Jordon Scott Kennedy’s estate-set, kitchen-sink science fiction comedy Rocket Fuel, that won the room for the live audience and jury alike. Soon after his Slick Films Fund win, the BBC came calling! Having presided over the...2025-05-2635 minDirectors NotesSATU - YEAR OF THE RABBIT: Joshua Trigg on His 16mm Indie Feature Odyssey in Laos
Self-funded with a minuscule budget of just £150,000 and shot on 16mm in Laos with non-actors and a skeleton crew who had to contend with snakes, poisoned well water and a mid-production camera break down due to the heat, writer/director Joshua Trigg’s feature debut Satu – Year of the Rabbit is pretty much the epitome of independent filmmaking. With Satu about to finish up its UK cinema tour, which began with a special IMAX preview screening of the film to open the BFI Future Film Festival and concludes on the 28th of April at Exeter Phoenix cinema, we bring you o...2025-04-1431 minDirectors NotesTHE ONLY GIRL IN THE ORCHESTRA: From Producer to Oscar Winning Director with Molly O’BrienThis episode marks the last of our Oscar winning short film director interviews and features Sarah chat with Molly O’Brien, who joined DN a couple weeks before the Academy Awards to take us inside her move from producer to director for her Netflix acquired documentary short The Only Girl in the Orchestra, which follows the trailblazing career of musician Orin O’Brien and her beloved double basses as the first female musician in the New York Philharmonic orchestra.[Watch/Read the full interview]
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Head to Directors Note...2025-04-0726 minDirectors NotesIN THE SHADOW OF THE CYPRESS: Inside the Oscar Winning Silent Father-Daughter Short FilmHow did a silent, father-daughter animation crafted over six and a half years in Iran defy odds to win an Oscar? We bring you the second part in our series of interviews with this year’s Academy Award winning short film directors as we speak to Shirin Sohani & Hossein Molayemi, the filmmakers behind In the Shadow of the Cypress who reveal the creative triumphs and logistical battles behind their Best Animated Short Film Oscar winner, and why its absence of dialogue speaks louder than words.[Watch/Read the full interview]
Head to Directors Notes for more fi...2025-03-3142 minDirectors NotesSANTOSH: Sandhya Suri on Crafting a Nuanced Crime Thriller About Violence Against Women
A film which has been on the Directors Notes radar since we caught it at the London Film Festival last October, Sarah speaks to Sandhya Suri, writer/director of the BAFTA nominated/British Independent Film Awards winning crime thriller Santosh, about feeling compelled to step out of her documentary background for this gripping feature exploring the complexities between women in positions of power and dissecting the all too common violence inflicted on women.[Read the full interview]
LinksThe 9 Short Films Deserving of Top Billing on Your BFI Flare 2025 WatchlistOnir’s ‘We Are Fahe...2025-03-2314 minDirectors NotesSISTER MIDNIGHT: Exploring Misanthropy and Marriage with Director Karan Kandhari
A film for all the misfits who have also misplaced their instruction manuals for life and a filmmaker who first appeared on the Directors Notes pocast back in 2012 with his short film at the time, we sit down for an interview with DN alum Karan Kandhari, writer/director of possibly the strangest film you’ll see this year ‘Sister Midnight’, to chat about following his characters’ lead in the writing process, the pushback he faced trying to make the film 10 years ago and why if Radhika Apte hadn’t accepted the role that could well have been the end of the pro...2025-03-1624 minDirectors NotesI'M NOT A ROBOT: From CAPTCHA Fail to Oscar Win with Filmmakers Victoria Warmerdam & TrentDefying expectations of being the longshot nominee as the lone genre piece competing for the 2025 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film by triumphantly taking home the Oscar last Sunday, ‘I’m Not a Robot’ is a delightfully entertaining blend of sci-fi, dark comedy, and existential drama that doesn’t go where you expect. DN sat down with writer/director Victoria Warmerdam & producer Trent a couple weeks before the ceremony for a SPOILER filled discussion about the making of their CAPTCHA inspired Oscar winning short.[Watch I’m Not a Robot & the full interview with Victoria & Trent]
Chec...2025-03-1043 minDirectors NotesA Roundup of the BFI Future Film Festival 2025
In this instalment of the Director’s Notes podcast, we explore the 18th BFI Future Film Festival, delving into its programme of electrifying moving shorts and speaking to the inspiring filmmakers behind them in the iconic BFI Southbank. Jesse catches up with Young Programmer Felix Farrow, who provides insight into the BFI Future Film Festival selection and programming process. We then speak to three filmmakers who wowed us with their outstanding works, beginning with Lada Kopytova, who discusses finding her film Blueprint in the edit, followed by a brief interview with Grac Talbot about their Wizard of Oz inspired, mi...2025-03-0136 minDirectors NotesROCK PAPER SCISSORS: BAFTA Winner Franz Böhm on Depicting the Horrors of the Ukraine WarWriter/Director Franz Böhm speaks to DN about capturing the all too real horrors of a young man’s experiences on the frontline of the Ukraine-Russia war who is forced to make a difficult decision in order to protect others in his true life inspired BAFTA winning short film ‘Rock Paper Scissors’.[Watch/Read the full interview]
Please Note this interview was recorded before Rock Paper Scissors’ BAFTA win.
Check out all of our BAFTA 2025 interviews
Head to Directors Notes for more filmmaker interviews and to watch our daily selection of new films...2025-02-2329 minDirectors NotesTHE FLOWERS STAND SILENTLY, WITNESSING: How Theo Panagopoulos Reclaimed Archive Films of PalestineDirector/Editor Theo Panagopoulos sits down with DN to discuss his BAFTA nominated documentary short The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing for which he reclaims archival Scottish missionary footage from the 30s and 40s of his ancestral Palestine to question the role of image-making as a tool of both testimony and violence when connected to entanglements between people and the land.[Watch/Read the full interview]
Check out all of our BAFTA 2025 interviews
Head to Directors Notes for more filmmaker interviews and to watch our daily selection of new films. If you’d like your fi...2025-01-2633 minDirectors NotesBAFTA's Anna Higgs on the Awards, Membership & Building an Equitable British Film IndustryOur first episode of 2025 sets the bar pretty high for the episodes to come this year. This week we’re joined by BAFTA film committee chair Anna Higgs who as well as discussing her route into the film industry and the innovative work she’s done in her roles at places like Film4 and NOWNESS, talks to us about BAFTA’s work to support and nurture talent within the film industry, the process of how films make it to BAFTA nomination, how the voting system works and also shares her advice for building a sustainable film career.[Watch/Read t...2025-01-191h 02Directors NotesBRING THEM DOWN - Christopher Andrews on Broken Trust, Violence & Toxic MasculinityIn our last episode of the Directors Notes podcast for 2024, we bring you Sarah’s chat with, at the time BIFA nominee and now, The Douglas Hickox Award winning director Christopher Andrews for his blistering debut feature Bring Them Down, which pits Christopher Abbott against Barry Keoghan in a tense thriller about two warring farming families set against the harsh landscape of rural west Ireland.[Watch/Read the full interview]
Check out all of our BIFA 2024 interviews
Head to Directors Notes for more filmmaker interviews and to watch our daily selection of new films. If...2024-12-2031 minDirectors NotesWANDER TO WONDER: Nina Gantz on the Craftsmanship of Her BIFA Winning ShortWe sit down with Nina Gantz the talented filmmaker behind this year’s BIFA Best British Short winner Wander to Wonder, a stop-motion tale following a trio of tiny performers from a beloved children’s television show as they struggle to navigate life after the untimely death of the show’s creator. Gantz takes Directors Notes inside the extraordinary craftsmanship of her film, which offers a unique and poignant exploration of loss, blending humour and sadness in perfect harmony.[Watch/Read the full interview]
Check out all of our BIFA 2024 interviews
Head to Directors Notes...2024-12-1429 minDirectors NotesKNEECAP: Rich Peppiatt on Jokes as Molotov Cocktails in His BIFA Winning Feature DebutA film which we’ve been endlessly quoting here at DN and that has already bagged a Sundance Audience Award and four BIFA wins (with 10 more nominations still up for grabs), Kneecap director Rich Peppiatt joins us for a chat about his bewilderment over the reactionary backlash to the film before it had even screened, how not coming from Ireland freed him to take shots at all sides and standing strong against conflicting notes from funders in order to not sacrifice the integrity of his blisteringly entertaining film.[Watch/Read the full interview]
LinksBAD AS...2024-12-0131 minDirectors NotesMEAT PUPPET: Eros V on Puppet Possession & the Power of Great TitlesThe story of a man-child, obsessed with toys, who finds himself possessed by a puppet, Eros V’s BIFA nominated, twice SXSW winning horror-comedy short ‘Meat Puppet’ was always going to turn heads. Directors Notes caught up with Eros to learn how a conversation with The Jim Henson Company inspired the short, the unusual challenges actors David Jonsson and Máiréad Tyers had to master for their roles and the lo-fi techniques behind the magic trick of bringing a puppet to life on a shoestring budget.[Watch/Read the full interview]
LinksBAD ASS BITCHES...2024-11-2635 minDirectors NotesLAST SWIM: Sasha Nathwani on Capturing the Carefree Nostalgia of Youthful FriendshipsA film we enjoyed so much that we invited writer/director Sasha Nathwani to join us for a (second) deep dive interview about his Crystal Bear winning feature debut ‘Last Swim’, in which he explains why the vibrant yet nostalgic colour palette was intrinsic to his contemporary coming-of-age drama and how this specific London-set story captures a universal sense of youth relevant far beyond the borders of England’s capital.
LinksCheck out all of our BIFA conversations
Head to Directors Notes for more filmmaker interviews and to watch our daily selection of new films...2024-11-1730 minDirectors NotesHOLLOWAY: Sophie Compton & Daisy-May Hudson on Co-Creating a Trauma-Informed Documentary FeatureThe next in our series of director interviews from London Film Festival 2024, Sarah caught up with Holloway co-creators Sophie Compton & Daisy-May Hudson who picked up the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at LFF and was one of Sarah’s festival favourites. As you’ll hear in their chat, Holloway sees six incredibly brave, former prisoners re-enter the decaying space they were once incarcerated in to reclaim their narratives and give voice to the voiceless women still behind bars, while also prompting us as viewers to examine the purpose of our broken penal system.
Head to Directors Note...2024-11-1034 minDirectors NotesMOTHER VERA: Cécile Embleton & Alys Tomlinson on documenting a nun’s journey of self discovery
Never have I felt the idiom, never judge a book by its cover to be truer than in my experience with the 2024 London Film Festival Grierson Award Winner Mother Vera. Co-directed by Cécile Embleton and Alys Tomlinson, within the opening scene of Mother Vera I was immediately struck by the discord between the type of documentary I was expecting and what unfolded onscreen. Set in a remote, cold and unforgiving environment surrounding a hidden Orthodox monastery in Belarus, we are offered an insight into one woman’s reckoning of herself, her past and her present as we explore her...2024-11-0332 minDirectors NotesA Roundup of the London Film Festival 2024
The relaunch of the Directors Notes Podcast is a multi-faceted episode with a variety of voices where we bring you a roundup of our activity from the 2024 BFI London Film Festival. I dove into the proverbial trenches of the festival, immersing myself in as many films as possible and catching up with filmmakers both old and new to the site as I trod the well trodden paths between Picturehouse Central, BFI Southbank and other festival venues.
Featured below is my chat with Dr. Dario Llinares from The Cinematologists, longtime friends of DN and a much loved stronghold...2024-10-2757 minDirectors NotesDN372: The Passion of Desire Spans Decades in Lucio Castro’s Queer Romance Feature ‘End of the Century’
Joining DN for our final podcast episode of 2019, Argentinian Director Lucio Castro’s debut feature End of the Century reunites two men for a one night stand whose seeds were sown two decades earlier. In our interview, Castro and I get into his use of performance rather than prosthetics to donate different time periods, the flexibility of shooting with a skeleton crew and the importance of walking your actors through the mechanics of sex scenes.
End of The Century (2019)
Two men meet by chance while in Barcelona. What seems like a one-night encounter between two st...2019-12-2320 minDirectors NotesDN371: Maura Delpero Embarks on an Enthralling Exploration of the Meaning of Motherhood in Dramatic Debut ‘Maternal’
Marking her move into fiction filmmaking, Italian Director Maura Delpero’s Maternal (Hogar) is an enthralling exploration of the meaning of motherhood set within the confines of a religious Buenos Aires refuge for young unmarried mothers. In our chat Delpero shares why she believes personal stories make universal cinema, how the tools of her documentary background provided an elucidating view of the lives she wanted to dramatise on screen and her methods for building cohesion between the performance styles of the film’s professional, non-professional and child actors.
Maternal (2019)
Lu and Fati are teen mums livi...2019-12-2020 minDirectors NotesDN370: Eryk Rocha Captures the Financial and Emotional Struggles of a Nocturnal Rio Cab Driver in ‘Burning Night’
During our time at this year’s London Film Festival DN took the opportunity to sit down with Eryk Rocha the Brazilian director of Burning Night (Breve Miragem de Sol) – a film which depicts the isolation and economic struggle of a Rio de Janeiro taxi driver as he works the city’s late night streets. In our discussion, Rocha reveals the ways in which his documentary background brought an authentic reality to this fictional story and how the film’s themes of hardship and separation mirror the current crisis in Brazil.
Burning Night (2019)
Down on his luck...2019-12-0820 minDirectors NotesDN369: Henry Blake Exposes the Cruel Exploitation of Britain’s Youth by Drugs Gangs in Shocking Debut ‘County Lines’
If you live in the UK then you’ll be all too aware of the shocking amount of youth on youth violence which has plagued the country in recent years. Less often reported is the fact that these attacks are often fuelled by the activities of criminal gangs who recruit vulnerable children as expendable foot soldiers in a cross-country drugs distribution practice know as ‘County Lines’. In his forthright British feature debut County Lines, New Zealand born director Henry Blake draws on his first hand experience as a London youth worker to expose the human cost of this despicable practi...2019-11-3020 minDirectors NotesDN368: A Defiant Teen Discovers the Destructive Power of Lies in Svetla Tsotsorkova’s Bulgarian Drama ‘Sister’
Returning to the narrative roots of her well received debut feature Thirst, Svetla Tsotsorkova’s Sister (Sestra) is a self proclaimed “confession of love to those who live a seemingly unnoticeable life”. The story of compulsive tall tale teller Rayna, Sister follows the defiant teen as one of her fanciful stories threatens to tear her family apart. In our interview, Tsotsorkova reveals how her time at film school built the foundations of her filmic voice and the power of lies on and off the screen.
Sister (2019)
A small town in present-day Bulgaria. A mother and her tw...2019-11-1611 minDirectors NotesDN367: A Deep Dive into ‘Burning Cane’, Phillip Youmans’ Debut Feature Which Made Tribeca History
A film which left this year’s Tribeca on a wave of plaudits – not least because this debut feature made history when 19 year old filmmaker Phillip Youmans became the youngest and first African-American director to be awarded Best Narrative Feature at the festival – Burning Cane tells the story of an ageing mother struggling between her religious convictions and the love of her alcoholic son. Arriving on Netflix today, we spoke to Youmans about the necessary ‘mind-split’ when taking on multiple production roles on an independent feature and why his natural affinity for handheld camera work was a welcome boon for the ti...2019-11-0620 minDirectors NotesDN366: Hari Sama Returns to the Hedonistic Days of Mexico City’s Post-Punk Scene in ‘This Is Not Berlin’
We kick off our 2019 season of podcasts with an interview recorded at the London Film Festival with Director Hari Sama, who talks to us about heading back to a Mexico City of 1986 and the character defining post-punk days of sexual liberty, outsider art and drugs which helped shape him, in his vibrant semi-autobiographical feature This Is Not Berlin (Esto no es Berlín).
This Is Not Berlin (2019)
1986. Mexico City. Seventeen-year-old Carlos doesn’t fit in anywhere: not in his family nor with the friends he has chosen in school. But everything changes when he is inv...2019-11-0219 minDirectors NotesDN365: Isabella Eklöf Exposes the Rot Beneath the Glitzy Veneer of Power & Money in Unflinching Debut ‘Holiday’
An assured debut feature which despite its frank depiction of sexual violence never slips into the male gaze and in fact, purposely turns the tables on the long problematic trope of the femme fatale, Holiday from Swedish Writer/Director Isabella Eklöf, uses the life of glitzy excesses experienced on the Turkish Rivera by a newly minted gangster girlfriend as an indictment of ultra-liberal capitalism – where beneath the veneer of wealth and beauty lies the dark reality of a world in which violence rules and money talks. DN spoke to Isabella at the London Film Festival about our problematic att...2018-11-3022 minDirectors NotesDN364: Philippe Faucon Contemplates the Loneliness of Economic Migration in French Drama ‘Amin’
Our penultimate interview from this year’s London Film Festival, DN speaks to veteran French Director Philippe Faucon about his story of economic separation and loneliness, Amin. Shot in Senegal and France, and featuring a predominately non-professional cast, Philippe discusses why working with non-actors is an integral part of his process and the power of cinema to enable audiences to connect with lives outside of their day to day experiences.
Amin (2018)
Amin came from Senegal nine years ago to work in France, leaving behind his wife Aïsha and their three children. His work is his...2018-11-2315 minDirectors NotesDN363: Sara Colangelo Tracks a Destructive Spiral of Obsession in Feature Thriller ‘The Kindergarten Teacher’
During our time at the London Film Festival DN took the opportunity to speak to Director Sara Colangelo about her adaptation of Nadav Lapid’s critically acclaimed 2014 feature The Kindergarten Teacher, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal in what has been heralded by many as a career-best performance. In the following interview, Sara discusses the advantages of a Netflix release, how she deployed thriller stylistic traits to convey the inner psychology of her troubled lead and why directing is less being an onset dictator and more about facilitating conditions which enable cast and crew to perform at their peak.
The Ki...2018-11-1524 minDirectors NotesDN362: A Troubled Imposter Tries to Find Her Way Home in Christina Choe’s Psychodrama ‘Nancy’
DN heads back to the London Film Festival for an interview we recorded with Director Christina Choe whose feature debut, the psychodrama Nancy, picked up the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance earlier this year. In our interview we speak to Christina about the difficulties of securing financing for films led by complex female protagonists, gathering a more than enviable cast of well respected actors her first time out and how her documentary films inform her fiction work.
Nancy (2018)
Nancy is a provocative psychological thriller about love, intimacy, and trust – and what happens when lies be...2018-11-0817 minDirectors NotesDN361: Erik Poppe Forces Us to Experience Norway’s Terror Attack First Hand in One-Shot Feature ‘Utøya – July 22’
A rightfully grueling and all-encompassing viewing experience, Erik Poppe’s Utøya: July 22 depicts in real time the violent tragedy of the 2011 Utøya summer camp massacre in Norway, which saw a heavily armed right-wing extremist take the lives of 69 youths over the course of a relentless 72 minutes. We spoke to Erik at the London Film Festival about why it was important to tell this story from the perspective of the victims and survivors, and how his desire to represent the weight of time for those trapped on the island as a tangible element of the film led him to c...2018-11-0225 minDirectors NotesDN360: London Film Festival 2018 – Female Filmmaker Panel
LFF Female Filmmaker Panel (left to right) Jessica Hynes, Sara Blecher, Arantxa Echevarria, Dyana Winkler, Soudade Kadaan & Sam Baker
Today on the podcast we bring you audio from the London Film Festival’s Female Filmmaker Panel chaired by The Pool founder Sam Baker and comprising filmmakers Arantxa Echevarria (Carmen and Lola), Sara Blecher (Mayfair), Dyana Winkler (United Skates), Soudade Kadaan (The Day I Lost My Shadow) and Jessica Hynes (The Fight). This inspiring panel spoke candidly about their experiences as women filmmakers from both narrative and documentary disciplines. As well as discussing the various impediments they’ve had to surm...2018-10-2535 min
The Cinematologists PodcastLondon Film Festival 2018 w/Filmmaker and Critic Marbelle
The London Film Festival always falls at a tricky time for the Cinematologists, coinciding with the start of the academic year. So in Episode 70 we were delighted that Dario was able to speak to the Editor-in-Chief of Directors Notes Marbelle. Covering the festival every year Marbelle searches out the films and filmmakers who might be slightly below the radar and puts together best of the festival piece for his now long-running website, which is always worth checking out along with the regular interviews both written and podcasted. Along with his festival picks Dario discusses with Marbelle the diff...2018-10-2451 minDirectors NotesDN359: Matthew Jones Charts the Rise, Fall & Redemption of James Lavelle in ‘The Man from Mo’Wax’
10 years in the making and spanning three decades in the life and career of underground DJ, music producer and record label owner James Lavelle, feature documentary The Man from Mo’Wax provides a compelling look at the foundation and implosion of one of the 90s most influential record labels and the driven man behind it who made careers, hits and a fair amount of enemies along the way. I sat down with first time feature director Matthew Jones to discuss the many hurdles he surmounted to bring James Lavelle’s warts and all story to screen.
The Man...2018-08-3032 minDirectors NotesDN358: Luca Dipierro Animates the Death of a Band in ‘Rising. A Requiem For Father Murphy’
Rising. A Requiem For Father Murphy heralds the final curtain call for experimental music duo Father Murphy. Right there with them for a large portion of that journey has been Portland-based, Italian artist (and multiple DN alum) Luca Dipierro, in a circular creative relationship which has seen Luca provide visuals for Father Murphy’s songs and the Italian two-some score Luca’s film work. Today, Luca and Father Murphy’s Chiara Lee & Freddie Murphy join us on the Directors Notes podcast to look back at the origins of their fruitful collaboration and reveal details of their largest project to date...2018-04-0632 minDirectors NotesDN357: James Erskine Documents the Awe-Inspiring Artistic, Athletic & Societal Struggle of ‘The Ice King’
Today we bring you an interview with emmy-nominated filmmaker James Erskine who’s feature documentary The Ice King hits UK cinemas and VOD today and tells the captivating story of John Curry, a man who not only redefined the sport of figure skating whilst being the first openly gay Olympian at a time when homosexuality was far from accepted but also elevated ice skating into an exalted art form in its own right. John shares how he crafted a story about artistic, athletic and societal struggle and reveals why The Ice King is only the first in a multi-step pl...2018-02-2324 minDirectors NotesDN356: Dustin Guy Defa Weaves a Whimsical Tapestry of New York Stories in Ensemble Feature ‘Person to Person’
If we crossed paths in 2011 it’s more likely than not I chewed your ear off about how taken I was with Dustin Guy Defa’s debut feature Bad Fever, a film that topped my list of favourites for that year. Needless to say, I’ve been eagerly awaiting Dustin’s follow up which made its appearance at the London Film Festival this year. I took the opportunity to catch up with Dustin to discuss film formats, his changing perspectives on life and filmmaking, and how he continued to hone his skills and directorial voice between features by constantly making s...2017-12-2114 minDirectors NotesDN355: A Prima Ballerina Fights for Relevance & Perfection in Birgitte Stærmose’s Psycho Thriller ‘Darling’
DN returns to our London Film Festival coverage where we got to spend time with award winning Danish Director Birgitte Stærmose to discuss Darling, her intense story of pain and perfection which unfolds in the demanding world of professional ballet. In our interview Birgitte describes how her decision to take a naturalistic and inventive approach to filming, which avoided repetition in shot setups across takes, infused the edit with a wealth of dynamic material.
Darling (2017)
Darling is a world-famous Danish ballerina. After a long absence, she and her husband Frans return to the Royal D...2017-11-0924 minDirectors NotesDN354: An English Boxer Fights to Survive a Brutal Thai Prison in Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s ‘A Prayer Before Dawn’
I first spoke to Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire at the London Film Festival back in 2012 about his troubled teenage angst feature Punk and had the pleasure of catching up with the French Director once again at this year’s festival to discuss A Prayer Before Dawn – his latest skirmish into the world of violence, which recounts the harrowing true story of Billy Moore, an English boxer incarcerated for three years in one of Thailand’s most notorious prisons.
A Prayer Before Dawn (2017)
The remarkable true story of Billy Moore, a young English boxer incarcerated for 3 years in one...2017-10-2615 minDirectors NotesDN353: Rob Curry & Tim Plester Herald the Rebirth of a Folk Legend in ‘The Ballad of Shirley Collins’
Seeing that DN alumni Rob Curry and Tim Plester (who previously joined us on the podcast to discuss Tempest and Way of the Morris respectively) were premiering their new film at the London Film Festival, I jumped at the opportunity to finally get them in a room together to talk about their fruitful co-directorial work. And so, we take a deep dive into the creation of their new feature, The Ballad of Shirley Collins, a lyrical documentary about the 20th century’s most important singer of English traditional song and her battle to rise again from long silent ashes af...2017-10-1937 min