Experimental Archives - Directors Notes

Light Devours Form and Fashion Dissolves in Adam Muscat’s Otherwordly Short ‘In the Heart of the Flower Citadel’

Adam Muscat delves into translating designer nil00's mechanical flower cities into spectral silhouettes in their collaborative hybrid fashion film.

Documentary

Livia Albeck-Ripka & Víctor Tadashi Suárez Expose the Poison of LA’s Post-Fire Limbo in ‘Still Standing’

Turning 16mm film stock, degraded tape and suffocating silence into tools of witness, 'Still Standing' documents once intimate spaces becoming hazardous zones.

Live Action

An Intimate, Evocative Dive Into Fertility, Fear, and Women’s Agency Through Magical Realism in Rita Heer’s ‘Abja and Her

Rita Heer breaks down the practical effects process behind using floating resin and edible jelly to physically manifest a woman's egg freezing trepidation.

Awards, Documentary

Alison McAlpine Finds the Universe in the Unhurried Gaze of Donkeys in Oscar-Nominated Doc ‘perfectly a strangeness’

In the vastness of the desert, Alison McAlpine follows three donkeys into an abandoned observatory and discovers a new language for what a story can be.

Live Action, Premiere

Radical Vulnerability Powers a Deliriously Earnest Exploration of Selfhood in Collaborative Drama ‘The Unexpressed’

Dancing between sincerity & surrealism 'The Unexpressed's' creative collaborators discuss rejecting conflict in favour of shared unravelling in their sismance.

Live Action

Ben Wheatley Builds a Cardboard Multiverse in His Gloriously Unpolished Lo-Fi British Sci-Fi Thriller ‘Bulk’

Ben Wheatley chats about embracing the joys of DIY aesthetics in his low-budget mind-bending multiverse thriller, where film form echoes narrative function.

Live Action

Will Wightman Unleashes the Domestic Disgust of Shared Flats in Insta360 Comedy Horror ‘This Place is a Sh*thole’

Will Wightman explains layering practical chaos with post-production keyframing to craft impossible camera moves in his tale housemate horror.

Animation

Inside the Hypnotic World of ‘Shapes’: How Tsz-wing Ho Let Music Lead the Way

Animator Tsz-wing Ho returns to DN to share how mastering time management and connecting deeply with music inspired the creation of mesmerising film 'Shapes'.

Animation, Premiere

Feelings of Tenderness and Dread Collide in Amanda Bonaiuto’s Surreal Animation ‘Confetti’

Animator Amanda Bonaiuto joins us to discuss how tone and direction has guided her distinct approach to filmmaking and why she's wary of the trap of 'style'.

Documentary, Premiere

Ima Iduozee Weaves a Luminous Ode to Black Hair and Barbershop Intimacy in His Documentary Short ‘Crown’

Ima Iduozee shares how a last-minute opportunity to test a unique camera led to a film exploring the sacred, community role of the Black barbershop.

Animation

Cassie Shao Transforms Repetitive Explosive Moments into Narrative Inspiration in ‘This is a Story Without a Plan’

How the repetitive feeling of "watching an explosion slowly unfolding" led animator Cassie Shao to create her experimental mixed media relationship short film.

Art & Fashion

Luke White Opens up a Channel Between Past and Present in Hypnotic Emotionally Charged Dance Short ‘Boy Inside’

Luke White discusses using insects and meteorological balloons as metaphors for internal struggle and catharsis in his kinetic films.dance short.

Experimental Tag Archive

Light Devours Form and Fashion Dissolves in Adam Muscat’s Otherwordly Short ‘In the Heart of the Flower Citadel’

An Intimate, Evocative Dive Into Fertility, Fear, and Women’s Agency Through Magical Realism in Rita Heer’s ‘Abja and Her

Alison McAlpine Finds the Universe in the Unhurried Gaze of Donkeys in Oscar-Nominated Doc ‘perfectly a strangeness’

Radical Vulnerability Powers a Deliriously Earnest Exploration of Selfhood in Collaborative Drama ‘The Unexpressed’

Ben Wheatley Builds a Cardboard Multiverse in His Gloriously Unpolished Lo-Fi British Sci-Fi Thriller ‘Bulk’

Will Wightman Unleashes the Domestic Disgust of Shared Flats in Insta360 Comedy Horror ‘This Place is a Sh*thole’

Inside the Hypnotic World of ‘Shapes’: How Tsz-wing Ho Let Music Lead the Way

Feelings of Tenderness and Dread Collide in Amanda Bonaiuto’s Surreal Animation ‘Confetti’

Ima Iduozee Weaves a Luminous Ode to Black Hair and Barbershop Intimacy in His Documentary Short ‘Crown’

Cassie Shao Transforms Repetitive Explosive Moments into Narrative Inspiration in ‘This is a Story Without a Plan’

Luke White Opens up a Channel Between Past and Present in Hypnotic Emotionally Charged Dance Short ‘Boy Inside’

Newsletter Signup