Directors Notes

Robert Morgan’s BAFTA nominated stop motion animation Bobby Yeah is a strange but highly compelling film that defies simple explanation. Robert joins us to discuss building tension with the ‘temptation baseline’ and how his petty thug’s story wasn’t anymore evident to him than anyone else. People think I use different heads because they are projecting [...]

Bobby Yeah (2011) Bobby Yeah is a petty thug who lightens his miserable existence by brawling and stealing stuff. One day, he steals the favourite pet of some very dangerous individuals, and finds himself in deep trouble. He really should learn, but he just can’t help it.

This week we’re joined by director Julia Bacha whose latest film My Neighbourhood (co-directed with Rebekah Wingert-Jabi), continues her work at Just Vision to document and assist the nonviolent movement to end the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. We discuss the importance of capturing and maintaining media attention when it comes to effectively changing situations on the ground. [...]

My Neighbourhood (2012) Mohammed El Kurd is a Palestinian teenager growing up in the heart of East Jerusalem. When Mohammed’s family is forced to give up a part of their home to Israeli settlers, local residents begin peaceful protests and in a surprising turn, are quickly joined by scores of Israeli supporters. Mohammed comes of [...]

We were first introduced to directing brothers Bill and Turner Ross back in 2009 when we interviewed them for their documentary feature 45365. In their latest film Tchoupitoulas, we get to ride shotgun with the Ross Brothers as they guide us through an epic New Orleans night as experienced by three young brothers. Bill and [...]

Tchoupitoulas (2012) A documentary that follows three brothers as they discover the scenes of late-night New Orleans.

Director Mustapha Kseibati joins us this week to discuss his darkly comic, robbery gone wrong short Painkiller. We discuss the importance of mentorships and support networks for new filmmakers and bound over 80s TV. I’ve always tried. I think that’s what we all have to do, try & make the best out of the opportunities [...]

Painkiller (2011) Street-smart Dominic’s armed robbery of a convenience store goes wrong when he crosses paths with hard-working Jay, a taxi driver with nothing left to lose. Mutual contempt soon turns into a kind of understanding, but not without some pain along the way. *Warning: The language is definitely NSFW!

The idea behind the project is really to go way beyond the sort of classical view of the periodic table which everyone remembers from the poster on the wall in their classroom at school Mike Paterson’s 94 Elements is a multi-year, world-wide project which aims to explore the pertinent questions of consumption, sustainability and environment [...]

The humble tumbleweed may not seem like an obvious focus for a short, but Jared Varava’s non-tumbling protagonist proves to be the perfect vehicle for this tale of an outsider contently moving through life at their own pace. Jared joins us to discuss becoming persona non grata amongst the vfx community and share the secret [...]

Tumbleweed! (2011) The true and historically accurate tale of one tumbleweed that did not tumble.

Director and photographer Michael Lawrence has built a fruitful collaboration with musician Emil Hewitt over several music promos and joins us today to discuss how his writing location informed the structure and content of his work, and the power of mutual beards when making casting decisions. OK sit down for 5 minutes & if you [...]

Emil & Friends: Crystal Ball & Rwa Bhineda (2011/12) Music promos for tracks Crystal Ball, Let Your Heart and Prescriptions from the album Lo & Behold. And through the power of Vimeo you can watch both Crystal Ball and Rwa Bhineda in full right here, right now:  

Irish filmmaking duo D.A.D.D.Y. put sound (and the lack of it) front and centre in their playful short Mr. Foley. Mike and Enda join us to discuss creativity inspired by an imposed limitation and why we may be referring to them as L.A.D.Y. in the future. We were trying to write a musical but that’s [...]

Mr. Foley (2009) Mr. Foley wakes up in hospital to find his whole life is being soundtracked and sound effects added in front of his eyes. He starts to panic as he doesn’t know the score…