Author

About the Author /

Obsessed with film, the internet and WordPress, Directors Notes is the place Rob gets to brings all his interests together and really geek out. When not writing for DN he can be found on Short of the Week or Vimeo.

Film Festival, Sponsored

From Cosmic Head Explosions to Awkward Third Wheels: 11 Short Films to Discover at Encounters Film Festival 2026

From experimental documentaries to animated dance, DN selects 11 short films to discover at Encounters 2026.

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Live Action

When Friendship Becomes a Nightmare: Hugo De Sousa on His SXSW Short ‘Best Friends with the Devil’

Hugo De Sousa digs into the guilt of letting old friends go and takes that to the absolute extreme in the tonal tightrope of his SXSW comedy thriller short.

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Animation

The Seven Year Intergalactic Journey of Shahaf Ram and His Independent Animated Space Opera ‘Orange Story’

Shahaf Ram reflects on the seven years in the making solo journey of his animated DIY space opera — an intimate story of heartbreak told on a cosmic scale.

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Live Action, Premiere

Jasper Martin Finds Comedy in the Sisyphean Horror of AI Customer Service in ‘Listen Then Repeat’

Jasper Martin maps out using live off-stage cueing and intentional dialogue mistakes to build tension in his satirical AI customer service nightmare.

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Brief Somebodies - a short film by Andy Reid

Live Action

Andy Reid Calibrates the Cost of Making Something Honest in His Meta SXSW Short ‘Brief Somebodies’

Andy Reid confronts his own experience of sexual assault by staging a film rehearsal where two actors negotiate the ethical boundaries of depicting trauma.

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Live Action

Natural Selection Comes to Homeroom as Kyle Sims Pits Teacher Against Student in His Wordless Thriller ‘Galapagos’

A snake that wouldn't strike, a craigslist rabbit and a wordless script — Kyle Sims takes us inside his unnerving tale of shifting classroom power dynamics.

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Documentary, Premiere

Jacque Rabie Sets Aside Judgement to Find the Man Inside Japan’s Museum of Sex Dolls in ‘Hyodo’s Paradise’

Jacque Rabie discusses trust, intimacy and confronting his own relationship with sexuality while making a doc about the man behind Japan's museum of sex dolls.

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Live Action

Nathan Xia Interrogates Hollywood Representation and Personal Ego in Satirical Short ‘Flavor of the Month’

What do you do when your values are at odds with your own ambitions? Nathan Xia turns that question into a squirming, darkly comic piece of self-scrutiny.

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Live Action

How Jasper Caverly’s ‘Pleasure’ Challenges Masculinity and Queerness Through Australia’s Eshay Subculture.

Frustrated by insincere, offensive contemporary queer characterizations, Jasper Caverly crafts a visceral portrait of young men wrestling with vulnerability.

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Live Action

David Huang & Albie Smith-Chang on Blurring Reality and Fiction in iPhone Short Film ‘WE BUY GOLD’

David Huang & Albie Smith-Chang on how real locations, heavy improvisation and shooting on iPhone gave their short its authentic, unpredictable feel.

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babyface_sacha_beeley

Animation

How Being an “Extreme Daydreamer” Inspires the Work of Sacha Beeley and Her Short Film ‘Babyface’

With a spoon as its central character, we speak to animator Sacha Beeley about her love of oddball characters and her short film, Babyface.

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Animation, Documentary

Eoin Duffy’s ‘Christine Sinclair: Kind of a Big Deal’ Finds Inspiration in the Quiet Leadership of a Football Icon

Eoin Duffy returns to Directors Notes to discuss meeting the animated challenge of documenting the most prolific goal scorer in international soccer history.

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