Film Festival Category

Film Festival

10 Genre-Spanning Short Films That Capture the Essence of SXSW London 2026

DN takes a closer look at the wide short film selection of the second edition of SXSW London, selecting 10 must-watch titles for you to hunt down.

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Film Festival, Live Action

Cannes Double-Hitter Vida Skerk Finds Solidarity in the Industrial Sublime in Haunting ‘Left Behind, Still Standing’

Vida Skerk's second consecutive La Cinef Cannes selected short binds a closing British steelworks and the immigrant overseeing it into one haunted reckoning.

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Animation, Film Festival

Fanny Capu Unburdens the Next Generation From the Suffocating Weight of Legacy in Stop-Motion Cannes Short ‘Pickled’

Fanny Capu on engineering a dancing puppet for her grad NFTS Cannes premiering short that asks what each generation is owed and what heritage it can discard.

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Awards, Film Festival

WeAreDN Awards 2026 – The Winners

Yesterday we marked 20 years of DN at the WeAreDN Awards 2026. For those not in the room, watch the winning films and read our interviews with the awardees.

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Film Festival, Live Action

“It Is an Infectious Product” Designing a 45-Year-Old Masterpiece: Muzaffar Ali on ‘Umrao Jaan’s’ Timeless Appeal

45 years on, Muzaffar Ali unpacks how a painter's eye, a poet's ear and Lucknow's Kathak heritage shaped the timeless femininity of his bio-epic.

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Animation, Film Festival

10 Short Films that Capture the Spirit of Cardiff Animation Festival 2026

Here are the 10 standout shorts from Cardiff Animation Festival - each one showcasing a distinct and exciting voice in animation.

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Awards, Film Festival

Directors Notes Presents the WeAreDN Awards 2026 & Twenty Years of Supporting Indie Filmmakers

Three years of the WeAreDN Awards. Twenty years of Directors Notes. Presenting our biggest celebration yet!

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Film Festival, Sponsored

10 Audacious, Bold and Unstoppable Short Films Screening at NFFTY 2026

From animated shorts to documentaries, experimental pieces to music videos, NFFTY 2026 arrives with a packed programme of striking range and ambition.

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Film Festival

Poignant, Playful and Powerful: 10 Must-Watch Shorts from BFI Flare 2026

DN returns to BFI Flare, the UK's largest queer film festival, to curate a list of 10 unmissable LGBTQIA+ shorts being celebrated during it's 40th edition.

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Film Festival

SXSW 2026 Guide: 14 Emerging Filmmakers You Need to Know

With the SXSW Film Festival here again Directors Notes took a deep dive into this year's line-up and selected 14-filmmakers with bright futures ahead of them.

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Article, Film Festival

BFI Flare Programmer Diana Cipriano on the Evolution of LGBTQIA+ Cinema and the Festival’s 40th Anniversary

Ahead of the 40th Edition of BFI Flare, programmer Diana Cipriano guides DN through the team's inspiring curation process.

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Film Festival

10 Shorts That Left Their Mark from the 48th Edition of Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival

DN returned to the world's largest short film festival to uncover 10 standout films from Clermont-Ferrand's expertly curated 48th edition programmes.

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