The WeAreDN Awards 2026

Tender

"The process of synthesizing sculpture and animation – or stop motion and live action – is not one that is done on paper ahead of time, but by following our noses, by remaining stubbornly playful and curious even as the walls close in around us."

James Siewert returns to DN with his Just Desserts music video Tender, a stop motion piece depicting society's rise and fall upon a single rotating platform. James talks to us about the song and the visuals going hand in hand, the process of building this physical world with spontaneous creativity, and how real-life fire and animation do not work well together.

Spiders on My Lashline

"I found myself in a trance, in complete awe of the dancers—admiring their athleticism, power and strength."

In Spiders On My Lashline, filmmaker Grace Tan transforms a story of violence and trauma into one of visceral reclamation and rage through the radical power of queer pole dance helmed by performer Linhqu.

Some Kind of Paradise

"I was thinking about themes of masculinity, vulnerability, performance, intimacy, and then one evening in my room I was listening to country and western music, and a lone cowboy floated into my mind's eye."

British filmmaker Nicholas Finegan shares how growing up watching Westerns combined with his experiences of Grindr hook-up culture led to him exploring it all through a neo-Western lens in his unflinching romance drama Some Kind of Paradise. A short film which sees a reclusive barman at an Arkansas line-dancing bar connect with a charismatic Hollywood actor, pushing him to question the isolated life he has built for himself.