For his second feature Lovers of Hate, director Bryan Poyser took inspiration from a Park City house to explore his uncomfortable tale of two brothers locked in a love triangle over the same women. We sat down after his SXSW screening to discuss how the Austin film community rallies around its own. The myth of the [...]

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To say webbie award winning director, Bobby Miller hit on a strange concept for his short TUB would be a pretty large understatement, but it’s a setup that successfully straddles comedy, drama and horror. Bobby and I took the DN SXSW interview experience to the crowds and bands of 6th Street. Just making a movie you’re [...]

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If you’re in a strong, loving relationship you can withstand anything right? In her debut feature, The Freebie, actor turned director Katie Aselton stress tests a couple’s marriage, when they give each other a mutual pass to a one night stand. I spoke to Katie about her move to the director’s chair. Related Posts DN SXSW10: Lovers [...]

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Alongside the feature strands, SXSW runs several shorts programmes throughout the festival, which often provide an early chance to see the work of up and coming directors. Sol Friedman’s Kabuki inspired short, Junko’s Shamisen has to be one of the most ambitious, and visually stunning pieces I’ve ever seen. He joins us to discuss the [...]

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Junko’s Shamisen (2009) Set in the rural backwoods of feudal Japan, a young peasant girl named Junko, returns home to discover her blind grandfather brutally murdered. Filled with despair, Junko, accompanied by a mystical fox spirit, abandons her old life and sets off for the village in search of better fortune. While begging, young Junko inadvertently [...]

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It’s been a long time coming but I’ve finally packed the DN bags, jumped on a plane and hit the indie directors’ favourite film festival, South by Southwest, or SXSW for those in the know. We open up with an interview for a film I originally saw at last year’s London Film Festival, but whose [...]

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His & Hers (2009) A 90-year-old love story told through the collective voice of 70 ladies at different stages of their lives. Related Posts DN SXSW10: His & Hers – Ken Wardrop We Dreamed America – Alex Walker Us Now – Ivo Gormley Tokyo Cowboys – Daneeta Loretta Saft & Patrick Jackson They Turned Our Desert Into Fire – Mark Brecke

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The first time we had the pleasure of director Jamie Travis’ company was for his triplet of films The Patterns Trilogy. Well, working in threes once again, he’s recently finished The Armoire, the final installment of his The Saddest Children in the World trilogy, and joins us to discuss evoking emotion through a formal filmmaking [...]

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The Armoire (2009) 11 year-old Aaron plays a game of Hide and Seek in which his friend Tony is never found. The mystery of their relationship?and of their queer attachment to the armoire in Aaron’s bedroom?can only be revealed, it turns out, through hypnosis. Note: If you’re in or near London on the 20th March, Jamie will [...]

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I miss my days of living in the North of England, so when I find a film that perfectly captures the spirit of the people and the atmosphere of the landscapes I feel at home, amongst friends or possibly enemies, but either way in the company of truly living, breathing lives on screen. It’s this [...]

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Cotton Stones (2009) A brother?s betrayal and the nightmare of growing up too fast, in a place where there is nothing to live for. Related Posts DN EP 158: Cotton Stones ? Jonathan Entwistle White Red Panic – Ayz Waraich The West Side – Ryan Bilsborrow-Koo & Zachary Lieberman The Shovel – Nick Childs The Patterns Trilogy – Jamie Travis

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Director Neil LaBute’s career has spanned numerous theatre and feature film productions, but for his latest project, LaBute collaborated with the team behind new PS3 game Heavy Rain, to create a documentary where famous ‘witnesses’ answered the question How Far would You Go…? to save someone you loved. You can watch How Far Would You Go…? [...]

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Here at DN we’re big fans of films that avoid spoon feeding an audience needless back story, but instead parachute you into the current narrative crisis and credit you with the intelligence to make sense of your new surroundings. The short drama Jade, is such a film and director Daniel Elliott joins us to discuss [...]

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Way back in the mists of DN time, director Tony Comley joined us to discuss his plane disaster animation Abigail. It’s my pleasure to welcome Tony back to the show for a catch up and look at his new experimental, time-lapse based short Stately Turrets Fall. Showlinks Tony Comley Sherbet Emily Hall Adobe After Effects Bloody Foreigners Related Posts Stately Turrets Fall – [...]

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Stately Turrets Fall (2009) Commissioned by the Barbican, this 4 minute piece takes it’s ingredients from a time-lapse shot of a construction fire and weaves them through a musical piece by composer Emily Hall. Related Posts DN EP 156: Stately Turrets Fall ? Tony Comley Abigail – Tony Comley _grau – Robert Seidel Weightless – Erika Janunger Virtuosi – Marcelo Garcia

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I’m very pleased to welcome Andy Capper back to the show, to discuss the journey he and VICE founder, Shane Smith, took into the dangerous heart of Liberia for the latest revelatory film in The VICE Guide to… series. Showlinks VBS CNN Presents VBS.TV Liberia Lariam William Bennett / Cut Hands Jihad Milkshake Related Posts The VICE Guide to Liberia – Shane Smith & [...]

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The VICE Guide to Liberia (2010) VBS travels to West Africa to rummage through the messy remains of a country ravaged by 14 years of civil war. Despite the United Nation?s eventual intervention, most of Liberia?s young people continue to live in abject poverty, surrounded by filth, drug addiction, and teenage prostitution. The former child soldiers [...]

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It’s an oft quoted phrase that ‘Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity’, well this week’s guest Fede Alvarez is certainly living proof of that. After working away on his pet ‘robots attack’ SFX project for a couple of years, Fede cashed in on the Facebook built, viral hype surrounding his short Panic Attack [...]

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Panic Attack! (2009) Giant robots invade Montevideo! Related Posts DN EP 154: Panic Attack! – Fede Alvarez White Red Panic – Ayz Waraich The West Side – Ryan Bilsborrow-Koo & Zachary Lieberman The Shovel – Nick Childs The Patterns Trilogy – Jamie Travis

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Eddie White, co-director of the beat poetry meets Arabic Jazz, kidnapped felines short The Cat Piano, joins us to discuss the film’s creation and the tricky journey through film festival submissions, wins and eligibility rules to make it to the pre Oscar nomination short list. Showlinks The People’s Republic of Animation The Cat Piano The Cat Piano Facebook [...]

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The Cat Piano (2009) In a city of singing cats, a lonely beat poet falls for a beautiful siren. When a mysterious dark figure emerges, kidnapping the town?s singers for his twisted musical plans, the poet must save his muse and put an end to the nefarious tune that threatens to destroy the city. Related Posts DN EP [...]

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I’m joined this week by director Ivo Gormley, whose documentary feature Us Now explores the ways in which Internet communities are able to share knowledge and form intelligent, collective decisions, and how this could translate to the governing of our lives and society as a whole. Showlinks Us Now Ivo’s Twitter The Us Now Global Screening Project Think Public CouchSurfer Mumsnet Royal Society [...]

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Us Now (2008) Us Now takes a look at how the internet could allow us to do away with politicians and run the government ourselves. It tells the stories of the online networks whose radical self-organising structures threaten to change the fabric of government for ever. Related Posts DN EP 152: Us Now ? Ivo Gormley We [...]

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Get out there make the film you want, with the kit you have to hand and recognition will follow. Despite sounding like a fairytale that indie filmmakers tell each other during the tough times, director Marc Price did just that for his debut zombie feature COLIN, which not only picked up a trail of buzz [...]

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COLIN (2009) Colin is bitten by a zombie; he dies and returns as one of the undead. We follow him as he wanders through suburbia during the throes of a cadaverous apocalypse. Through his encounters with objects, places and people, we learn who Colin was and more pertinently, what he has now become. Related Posts DN EP 151: [...]

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After their successful collaboration on the decaying seaside town documentary Blackpool: Las Vegas of the North, directors Andy Capper & Leo Leigh have joined forces again and hit the streets of Swansea to produce their second film for VBS’ Rule Britannia series, Swansea Love Story. They both (separately) join us on the show this week [...]

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Swansea Love Story (2009) Swansea Love Story, is the newest installment of VBS’ Rule Britannia series, and follows young heroin users in the city, their families and their daily routines. Related Posts DN EP 150: Swansea Love Story ? Andy Capper & Leo Leigh We Dreamed America – Alex Walker Us Now – Ivo Gormley Tokyo Cowboys – Daneeta Loretta Saft [...]

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Despite the open mind I try to always bring to cinema, I have to admit that the term ‘British gangster film’ makes my heart drop involuntarily as I brace myself for a parade of wide boys with imaginatively descriptive names such as Fingers Charlie, running round with shooters, spouting Mockney. Director Ben Wheatley has shown [...]

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Down Terrace (2009) Bill and Karl have just got out of jail free but all is not well at Down Terrace. The family business just isn’t working out and Karl’s had more than he can take of his old man’s philosophising and preaching. Karl’s girlfriend is pregnant – by him? Who knows… Either way?a little information [...]

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Tuesday – 1st December – 8pm – Sallis Benney Theatre   So once again it seems that the great films we curate here on Directors Notes refuse to be contained by our humble site and are making a break for the silver screen. This time round we’re honoured that CINECITY, the Brighton Film Festival, with whom DN [...]

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After reading about a group of desperate slum dwellers from Sri Lanka who daringly posed as the non-existent national handball team in order to secure their passage out of the country, producer Uberto Pasolini decided to temporarily sit in the director’s chair to bring their true life story to the big screen. Showlinks Machan The Full Monty Related Posts Machan [...]

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Machan (2008) Based on a true story, this tragicomical tale tells the story of a sports team with a difference… Living on the margins of society, under impossible pressures, a group of desperate slum dwellers find an invitation to a handball tournament in Bavaria, Germany. This one-way ticket to the West could be the answer to their [...]

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You know the sinking, gut wrenching feeling you get when your favourite TV show up and quits at the height of its success, or that band you love and adore call it a day after just a couple of kick arse albums? Well that’s something I’d always presumed wasn’t a worry I’d ever need to [...]

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In the third installment of our daily Doc/Fest gems, Super 8 legend Norwood Cheek takes us through the Attack of the 50 Foot Reels filmmaking challenge. . A Buzz Films Production Related Posts Doc/Fest 09 – The International Pitch Doc/Fest 09 – Crossover Summit Doc/Fest 08 Vod03 – Daisy Asquith Doc/Fest 08 Vod02 – Emily James Doc/Fest 08 Vod01 – Lee Kern

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Sheffield Doc/Fest day two sees six filmmakers pitch for a £10k DFID funded opportunity to create a 10 minute short for the Community Channel. Greg Sanderson chairs a panel of judges including Executive Producer Jane Stephenson. . A Buzz Films Production     Related Posts Doc/Fest 09 – Crossover Summit Doc/Fest 09 – Attack of the 50 Foot Reels Doc/Fest 08 Vod03 [...]

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The time has come once again when the documentary film community converges on the city of Sheffield for Doc/Fest. With director Frank Boyd as their guide, Buzz Films‘ Jan Bednarz & Simon Wan captured the goings on at the inaugural Crossover Summit event. . A Buzz Films Production     Related Posts Doc/Fest 09 – The International Pitch Doc/Fest 09 – [...]

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Sadly, we’ve reached the last of our London Film Festival ‘09 afternoon tea interviews, but it’s a great one to go out on. I very selfishly took up a nice chunk of time with directors Matt Harlock and Paul Thomas, who were at LFF for the premiere of their much anticipated documentary, American: The Bill [...]

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For his third feature Passenger Side, director Matt Bissonnette decided to go back to basics and the freedom that comes from shooting a film on a low budget, with a skeleton crew. We sat down over LFF tea and cakes to discuss the process of bringing his tale of road tripping, polar opposite brothers to [...]

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As a fan of many years and with a couple near misses in the past, today’s LFF interview is probably the highlight of the festival for me. It was my pleasure to spend some time (however brief) with director Harmony Korine, to discuss his latest offering Trash Humpers, along with the chances of us ever [...]

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Today’s LFF afternoon tea interview is a doubleheader with co-directors Damani Baker and Alex Vlack, who after over 11 years of patient persistence, were able to bring their documentary Still Bill to the screen; a look at the life, relationships and of course music of the legend that is Bill Withers. Showlinks Still Bill Related Posts DN LFF09: Trimpin: [...]

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