DN & BIFA Present: Best British Short Film Nominee Screening & Q+A

The 2026 BIFA nominations have arrived, and ahead of the winner being revealed, Directors Notes is bringing all five Best British Short Film nominees together on one screen. On Wednesday 25th November, from 6pm, we return to Lanzarote Works in Hackney for an evening with the shorts and the people who made them.

This year’s nominated list moves from a UK asylum hotel to a West Bank road at night, from a 1988 journey to space to an art class confrontation and arrives on the campaign trail of a would-be MP. Together, the five films make a strong case for what British short filmmaking can achieve… and the results are impressive as hell!

We’re not stopping at the credits. Filmmakers from all five shorts will join us for a DN-style panel discussion, digging into the why and how behind their work.

📅 Wednesday, 25th November
📍Lanzarote Works, 230 Dalston Ln, London E8 1LA

EVENT DETAILS
Doors: 18:00
Film screening: 18:45 – 20:40
Filmmaker discussions: 21:00 – 22:00
Networking: 22:00 – 23:00

Tank

"Almost all of my aunts, uncles, cousins and their families are now displaced from their homes and scattered across the region. By writing against authoritarianism three decades ago I felt Ahmad had written the perfect warning for today."

Writer-Director Sami Abusamra takes DN inside his adaptation of Sudanese author Ahmad al-Malik's short story into the Soviet-era set satire 'Tank'. As well as a commentary on authoritarianism, the film is an exploration into the perception of power and how it's revered, even when given to those who don't deserve it.

Surprise

"Mary Elizabeth and I are both fascinated by social anxiety and that feeling when something relatively minor happens and your brain immediately races toward the absolute worst version of how it could unfold."

Kendall Goldberg discusses co-writing comedy short 'Surprise' with Mary Elizabeth Ellis, who stars as a socially anxious guest at a birthday party of strangers whose bathroom mishap escalates into a chain of disastrous events that spiral wildly out of control.

Ser un Hombre

"Hunting offers a fascinating dramatic backdrop. You have inherent danger, masculinity, camaraderie, and underlying violence - making it fertile ground for escalating narrative conflict."

Filmmaker Lucas Parra speaks to DN about how memories of a childhood hunting trip inspired him to create a short film exploring the "nuances of masculinity" in Spanish coming-of-age thriller 'Ser un Hombre' (Be a Man).