Directors Notes

Screening as part of the London Film Festival’s Blood is Thicker than Water shorts programme, Bryan Reisberg’s Father/Son portrays a disquieting family dynamic played out in the company of a visiting girlfriend. Closing our LFF interviews for the year Bryan and I talk about cutting away the narrative fat until all that remains is a [...]

Father/Son (2012) Oliver brings his girlfriend on a hunting trip to meet his father.

Initially conceived as a documentary, Iveta Grofová’s debut feature Made in Ash uses a mix of non-professional actors and locals to depict the harsh life altering decisions made by an Eastern Slovakia girl who travels to the West Bohemian town of Aš in the hope of building a better future for herself. We chat to [...]

Inspired by online footage posted by teens of the bullying and sexual activity present in their everyday lives, Serbian director Maja Miloš’ debut feature Clip is a portrayal of teenage love blossoming within the harsh conditions of their environment. We discuss casting non-actors authentic to Clip’s subject matter and how Maja’s documentary background provided her [...]

Sean Baker’s Starlet tells the story of a burgeoning friendship between a young woman and an elderly widow after a yard sale purchase brings them together. Sean joined us at the London Film Festival to discuss challenging audience preconceptions and explaining ‘reverse cowgirl’ to your star’s representation. The larger a film gets, the more cooks [...]

The second instalment in A United Howl, Karan Kandhari’s trilogy of shorts about misfits, outsiders and loners, Flight of the Pompadour is a charming tale of a teen’s search for acceptance and the perfect hair. Karan and I got all dorky about film stocks and that all important rockabilly quiff at the London Film Festival. [...]

We spoke to Russian director Mikhail Segal’s at the London Film Festival about his second feature Short Stories; a collection of four narratives each playing out a different cinematic genre within the framing of a rejected manuscript which draws consecutive readers into its tales. There is one common idea, one common thread that I wanted [...]

Based on Boris Bergmann’s book Viens La Que Je Te Tue Ma Belle, Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s feature Punk is a portrait of the animality of a teenager trying to establish his identity from the fringes of society. Jean-Stéphane joined us for a chat about the film and his desire to experiment with cinema on the edge [...]

Co-directors Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa’s second feature Good Vibrations tells the true life story of Terri Hooley Ulster’s Godfather of Punk, who provided a musical alternative to the fracturing violence of Northern Ireland’s Troubles. We caught up with Leyburn and Barros D’Sa at the London Film Festival to discuss how the pair captured [...]

Actor, turned director Kate Hardie’s film Shoot Me screened as part of the Obsessive and Compulsive shorts programme at this year’s London Film Festival and explores issues of female self-image and ageing. In a brief respite from the hubbub of the festival we spoke to Kate about using comedy as an effective camouflage for issues [...]

Director Mat Whitecross held his cool in a special ‘speed round’ London Film Festival interview for his new feature Spike Island, which captures the infectious dedication of Stone Roses fans, risen to a fever pitch around that legendary gig. We discuss the importance of mixing lucky breaks with a determination to create on your own [...]

Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern continue their filmmaking partnership by transforming two of France’s most famous actors into anti-establishment punks in their Cannes Special Jury Prize winning comedy Le Grand Soir. We caught up with Delépine at the London Film Festival to discuss the pair’s preference for low budget, small crew filmmaking and their development [...]

I’ve been a keen follower of the work of director Kieran Evans ever since the DV experimental documentary Finisterre he co-directed with Paul Kelly for Saint Etienne in 2003. I caught up with Kieran at the London Film Festival to discuss his move into features with his adaptation of Niall Griffiths’ Liverpool set novel Kelly [...]

The London Film Festival is currently in full force for its 56th edition, which can only mean that DN has navigated the dangerous territory of the Filmmakers Afternoon Teas (hey some of those finger sandwiches have fierce corners!) to collect the choicest of interviews between mouth fulls of cake and slurps of tea. First up [...]

The collection of musicians known as Morphine held a special place in many fans and fellow muscians’ hearts as one of the most original, talented bands on the scene until the tragic death of lead singer and slide bass player Mark Sandman on July 3rd, 1999. Co-director Robert Bralver and producer Jeff Broadway join us [...]