Family Matters

Completed just before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Ellen Rodnianski explains why she felt compelled to go back and re-edit her chilling domestic abuse drama Family Matters, a Russia-set short film exploring the dangerous apathy that allows violence to fester, both behind closed doors and on a global scale.

Mira

What if your greatest passion was used against you? In stop motion horror Mira, a struggling accordionist busker gets more than she bargained for when her desire to be noticed is fulfilled. Animator Eva Louise Hall takes DN through her multifaceted process to avoid burnout over the long haul while crafting her dark tale of abusive creative relationships.

Shapes

Pulsating rhombuses and shifting spheres, Tsz-wing Ho returns to DN with her hypnotic animated short Shapes, an abstract piece that brings geometric forms to vibrant life through mesmerising rhythmic motion.

Mersea

Jamie McCormack takes us inside the long gestation period, which saw his short Mersea evolve from a drama/comedy into a tender, unconventional genre/gangster tale of fractured family, which moves from claustrophobic recriminating interiors into wide open catharsis.

Sink

Jordanian filmmaker Zain Duraie joins DN to discuss her debut feature Sink—a claustrophobic psychological drama where maternal love persists through mounting dread—and explains how she employed constrained, deliberate framing to build angles of denial which trap her audience in a mother's psychological state as her son's mental illness escalates.

“Would This Exist Without the Brand?” Margo Mars Lays Out LIEF Entertainment’s Approach to Authentic Storytelling

Margo Mars, founder of creative content studio LIEF, speaks to DN about the newly launched LIEF Entertainment. Founded with veteran film producer Raymond van der Kaaij, the studio partners with auteur filmmakers and progressive brands to produce authentic, compelling entertainment where world-class storytelling takes precedence.