Thoughts & Prayers

"I'm generally interested in that space where something can feel both funny and quite bleak at the same time, and you're not entirely sure how you're supposed to respond to it."

Tim Nathan channels financial frustration and a threatening TV Licence letter into his absurdist comedy 'Thoughts & Prayers' - a dry, clinical reckoning with late-stage capitalist Britain where a man's life unravels after two licensing inspectors arrive to strip him of everything he owns.

The Quackening

"Part of the inspiration was to make something utterly unpredictable, creatively unwieldy and basically just wanting to experiment with structure and pace as a rejection of a lot of the clichés we were seeing in shorts."

James Button talks to DN about the inspiration to buck the trend for his VFX-laden, Welsh-set comedy horror 'The Quackening' about a grumpy Welshman press ganged into saving his grandmother and the world from a demon duck...before midnight. James shares the challenges of being a one-man ensemble, how make-up and visual effects made it all possible, and the downright cute pleasure of working with a real-life duck co-star named Heisenberg.

Trapped

"As we developed the story we realised we had a very interesting and not well documented angle into the inner workings of a prep school - a place where many students will go on to large corporations or government and have a significant hand in shaping our world."

Sam & David Cutler-Kreutz tell us how being brought up by teachers gave them an insight into prep school dynamics and how this inspired the story behind their high-stakes drama 'Trapped', in which a struggling janitor is demeaned and propositioned by smug students as he catches them carrying out a senior prank. The brothers also discuss casting the film, the incredibly technical undertaking of dressing one key location, and developing a 'snap' that can levitate audiences.

Long’s Long Lost & Mini Mart

"I just want to contribute a level of weirdness to the Viet-American pantheon of films. I want to see us making stranger stuff!"

Julian Doan unpacks staging grief as a vice and the joy of improvising in Vietglish with the cast in his supernatural short 'Long's Long Lost & Mini Mart', where he turns the back room of a Little Saigon convenience store into a purgatory where reunions with the dead are sold alongside booze and cigarettes.

10 Astonishing Animations from Annecy’s 50th Edition

A flesh dress. An intergalactic singles cruise. A businessman who's secretly a pigeon. For its 50th edition, Annecy Festival served up some of the boldest animation around, and we've picked the ten shorts to keep on your radar.