My guest today is award-winning Quebec filmmaker Pier-Philippe Chevigny and his powerful Oscar-qualified short film Mercenaire. 

His film Oscar-qualified short MERCENAIRE premiered at Toronto International Film Festival, went on to win the Special Jury Award at the prestigious Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and has already been selected for 74+ festivals and won 13 prestigious awards.

MERCENAIRE is about ex-con hired by a pig slaughterhouse through a social re-integration program, and he desperately tries to find another job while repressing his inner violence.

Ladies and gentlemen, Mercenaire follows David played by Marc-Andre’-Grondin, a young man newly released from prison for a murder committed in murky circumstances. Desperate for stability, he reluctantly accepts the only job available through a social reinsertion program, working on a pig slaughterhouse line. 

As he endures the cruelty inflicted on animals and the escalating aggression of his co-workers, David must resist the violent impulses he fears will define him forever. In a workplace where killing is normalized, human and animal alike, the threat of losing his hard-won freedom grows dangerously close.

Pier-Philippe Chevigny Oscar-qualified short MERCENAIRE is full of tension and drama, but this film goes much deeper than that. 

MERCENAIRE is about humanity and about second chances. Just because one is released from prison only means they are physically free. One’s mindset and emotions are still caged, because society hasn’t changed their mindset as well. 

MERCENAIRE is brilliantly written and directed. Each member of the cast bring top performances and they are so good you may forget they are actors and actually slaughterhouse workers. 

MERCENAIRE rightly deserves to be Oscar-qualified and is aiming for the coveted Shortlist. It has all the elements of superb storytelling. 

#prisonreform #shortfilm #quebec #canada #canadian #filmfestival #filmmaking #filmmaker #filmdirector #slaughterhouse #cinema #bondoncinema #cinematography #filmproduction #humanity

My guests today are Daood AL-Lab-dulaa and Louse Zenker and their Oscar-qualified short film WALUD. 

Daood Alabdulaa, born in the Syrian desert in 1994, and after fleeing Syria in 2014, he sought asylum in Germany and now studies directing at HFF Munich, focusing on Middle Eastern social issues.

Louise Zenker, also born in 1994, grew up in a village in southern Germany. After earning a Master's in Communication Sciences, she began working in German television in 2019. 

In 2021, she started studying feature film directing at HFF Munich.. Zenker has collaborated with Alabdulaa on both documentary and fiction projects, including Fata Morgana.

WALUD, a short film co-directed by Daood Alabdulaa and Louise Zenker, has officially qualified for the 2026 Academy Awards and continues its successful international festival run. Set in the rural Syrian desert during the height of ISIS control, the film is a stark, visually striking exploration of womanhood, power, and survival under extreme patriarchy.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Oscar-Qualified short filmWALUD, co-directed by Daood Alabdulaa and Louise Zenker, is set in the rural Syrian desert during the height of ISIS control, the film is a stark, visually striking exploration of womanhood, power, and survival under extreme patriarchy.

In 2014, Amuna lives in isolation with her husband, ISIS fighter Aziz. When he brings home a second wife, Alina, a young European convert, Amuna’s fragile world begins to unravel. WALUD explores infertility, female social dependence, and the emotional complexities of life under oppressive systems. Its title, an Arabic word meaning “able to give life,” underscores the film’s central theme of female fertility.

WALUD is tense, it is heartbreaking, it will make you feel angry, empathy, sympathy and compassion all at the same time. 

In your current world, women are being attacked and judged and there is no reason for it. WALUD shows us that there are parts of our world in which the treatment of women and their womanhood harken back to the medieval times and it’s 2025. 

WALUD contains all the elements of an award winning film. The writing is excellent, the acting is stellar and you feel every thought and emotion of the characters. The cinematography is beautiful, even when the setting is the stark terrain of the Syrian desert. 

Everyone needs to see this film and this film needs to be shown before the United Nations. Women of all races, cultures and religions should be celebrated, not regulated down or treated like a subspecies. 

#filmmaker #filmmaking #filmdirector #womandhood #infertility #patriarchy #syria #shortfilm #oscars #academyawards #cinema #film #bondoncinema #cinematography

My guest today is Snigdha Kapoor, a US-based South Asian filmmaker, is known for centering underrepresented voices and creating work that bridges cultural, generational, and personal divides while exploring gender, sexuality, and societal norms. Her earlier short LOOK LIKE YOU was a ScreenCraft finalist, won the Audience Award at the Asian American International Film Festival, and currently streams on BFI Player. 

With her newest short, HOLY CURSE, Kapoor cements her reputation as a bold new storyteller whose films spark dialogue around gender, stigma, and the lived experiences of marginalized youth.

Ladies and gentlemen, Snigdha Kapoor’s HOLY CURSE is the story of 11-year-old Radha, who, while visiting India, begins to question and grapple with their gender identity in a world the demands conformity. Instead of acceptance, Radha is subjected to manipulative orthodox rituals by loved ones, believing these will dispel an alleged ancestral curse affecting Radha's thoughts. 

What unfolds is a tender, playful and thought-provoking portrait of how society and family can both nurture and oppress, and how young people carry the weight of inherited expectations.

This film is full of love, a mother’s nurturing nature, but also the males in the family are desiring to reverse Radha’s thoughts of being a boy through a religious ritual. 

Actress Mrunal Kashid who portrays Radha brings a stellar performance with such powerful believability that she places the audience in her shoes. 

Add in the music score and who feel the underlying tone of a bit of humor to lighten a very complex topic of gender identity. 

#filmmaker #shortfilm #interview #film #bondoncinema #cinema #filmmaking #cinematography #genderidentity #filmdirector #screenwriter

George Malcher and Gus Flind-Henry are a London-based directing duo, both 24, who first met while training as actors at drama school. They began writing and directing together for theatre in 2020, before moving into film. As actors, they have worked with the National Theatre, BBC, ITV, and Academy Award-winning Slick Films. Their debut short as directors, A Sisyphean Task, marks the launch of their fast-paced, performance-driven filmmaking style - rooted in authenticity, character, and a deep understanding of storytelling from both sides of the camera.

Ladies and gentlemen, the BIFA nominated short film, A Sisyphean Task is a celebration of both fantastic teaching and the joys of the British school years, whilst shedding light on the quiet crisis around teacher retention in the UK. 

Set entirely within a South London classroom, the story begins at the start of a new academic year, throwing the audience headfirst into the raw, unrelenting chaos of Lucy’s first day as a newly qualified teacher. Alongside the headmaster, Tim played by actor Hugh Bonneville, acting as her temporary tutor, despite already being stretched far too with his own duties. 

Lucy’s unwavering grit and determination gradually earn her students’ respect and admiration, and by the end of the first term her classroom feels alive - a rare pocket of warmth and focus amidst the chaos of a tough secondary school. But as the year continues and Lucy looks to build on her progress, the cracks of the system begin to show, and she soon feels the mounting pressures that drive so many young teachers to the edge. 

This film is absolutely wonderful to watch, but gives the audience what our teachers actually go through. Their job is not 9-5 and it’s also a very emotional job. A SISYPHEAN TASK shows us teachers are mentors, counselors, even becoming both father and mother to some students. 

The acting is superb, the cinematography and sound mixing rivals any A-list feature film. And to tell you the truth, after the film was over, I wanted to see more. It’s just beautiful from beginning to end. 

Thank you Gus and George for sharing your film with me today and I wish you much success this award season. 

#teaching #teachers #education #headmaster #school #sisypheantask #filmmaking #filmmaker #filmdirector #filmproduction #hughbonneville #downtonabbey

AFIA NATHANIEL - DON’T BE LATE, MYRA Short Film

My guest today is Pakistani-American filmmaker Afia Nathaniel to discuss her Oscar-qualified short, DON’T BE LATE, MYRA. 

Drawing from her own lived experiences and her perspective as a survivor, Afia transforms trauma into bold, cinematic storytelling that confronts patriarchy and sparks vital dialogue about children’s safety in Pakistan and around the world. 

With her acclaimed debut feature Dukhtar (Pakistan’s official submission to the 87th Academy Awards), which was groundbreaking work in both Pakistan and Hollywood.

But it’s her newest short film, the gripping short film Don’t Be Late, Myra marking a milestone in Afia Nathaniel's return to telling stories from Pakistan.

Don’t Be Late, Myra is both a survival thriller and an unflinching commentary on the silence surrounding child harassment and abuse in Pakistan and beyond.

Ladies and gentlemen, Afia Nathaniel’s short film DON’T BE LATE, MYRA is set against the bustling streets of Lahore, the film follows 10-year-old Myra, who, after missing her school van, is forced to walk home alone. 

Navigating harassment and menace on her way, Myra faces a quiet but escalating danger that exposes the vulnerabilities children endure in public spaces. With its urgent pacing and raw emotional undercurrent, Don’t Be Late, Myra is both a survival thriller and an unflinching commentary on the silence surrounding child harassment in Pakistan and beyond.

Deeply personal in its origins, the film draws on Afia’s own childhood experiences and her perspective as a survivor of assault. By transforming trauma into urgent art, she brings visibility to an issue often silenced by patriarchy, sparking essential conversations about children’s safety and the cultural taboos that endanger them.

DON’T BE LATE, MYRA left me deeply disturbed and shaken. Children all over the world are enduring childhood harassment and abuse and it shouldn’t be that way. 

This is a film that should be shown before the United Nations, because of it’s very powerful and emotional storytelling. 

Afia’s knows how to tell a story with small nuances and subtleties that will have a profound effect on the audience. It’s no wonder her film is a multi-film festival award winner and is now in the running for the 98th Academy Awards. 

My guest today is award-winning Chinese-born filmmaker Michael Yuchen Lei.

His fiction and non-fiction work has screened at leading festivals including Tribeca, Slamdance, San Sebastian, CPH:DOX, and Palm Springs. 

Michael is a graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, where he began his career in music as a photographer for Joe Walsh of the Eagles, later photographing artists such as Ringo Starr, the xx, and Outkast.

He produced the documentary Echo which went on to win the 2023 Audience Award at Aspen Shortsfest and premiered on The New Yorker. He is currently a 2025 Rideback RISE Fellow and an Indeed Rising Voices filmmaker.

Michael’s Oscar-qualified short film MUSHROOM DAD, has been selected as part of the groundbreaking Indeed Rising Voices Season 5, the celebrated initiative from Emmy-winning writer, producer, and director Lena Waithe’s Hillman Grad Productions and Ventureland, in partnership with Indeed.

Ladies and gentlemen, the poignant and surreal dramedy, Mushroom Dad follows a young chef struggling to manage the most important night of his career, the opening of his restaurant, while unexpectedly caring for his Chinese-immigrant father, who accidentally consumes psychedelic mushrooms. Blending humor and heart, the film is both a playful family tale and a meditation on identity, generational divides, and the immigrant experience.

Everything about this film is fantastic from the storyline, the acting, the emotion and the cinematography, but this film truly shines because the heartfelt message it brings to the audience. 

When we’re young we tend to react to our parents ways of criticism. Sometimes they don’t know they are being critical as they think they are helping us along in their own way. 

Maybe we need to take some psychedelic mushrooms and get the emotional clarity to see that some criticism is just love in disguise.

#shortfilm #cinema #film #filmmaker #indeed #risingvoices #oscars #academyawards #family #fatherson #filmmaking #filmdirector #psychedelicmushrooms #chinese #familytradition

My guest is Ross Syner, an award-winning British film writer/director whose emotionally charged storytelling and cinematic visual style have earned him recognition across the UK and the international film industry. 

Ross has currently qualified for both BAFTA and BIFA consideration with his latest short film BROTHERS, starring BAFTA-winning actor David Bradley, which is now on an active awards-season run.

Ross first gained international attention with his debut short film Francois, a project that gained him accreditation to the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, giving him early exposure to the global film industry. 

He followed this early success with JACK, a powerful drama that won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Short Film, cementing his reputation for creating deeply human stories with a striking cinematic edge.

He is the founder of Mockingbird Film Co, and continues to champion bold, original storytelling.

Ladies and gentlemen, Ross Syner’s BROTHERS is about a family's bond and morals are tested by a life-changing situation.

Every day we make decisions of choosing between right and wrong. But would you be willing to lay down your life for the ones you love? Would your sacrifice your future for someone else?

BROTHERS brings up so many questions we should ask ourselves. Morality, the distinction between right and wrong or good or bad behavior. 

Cinematically, this film is spot on beautiful. The lighting, the coloring, the simple camera work makes this film focused on the story and its incredible cast. 

Actors David Bradley, James Eeles and Jack Christou bring realistic, emotional depth to their characters. They make us live within the dilemma they are facing. 

The music score by Anthony Ford is beautiful, but it leaves us with the feeling of living with the mistake of one person and the sacrifice of another. 

This is an award winning film and it should be nominated for both the BAFTA and the BIFA. It has all the elements and I will leave it at that. 

#oscars #academyawards #shortfilm #shortfilms #film #family #brothers #filmmaker #filmmaking #filmdirector #filmproducer #filmproduction #cinema #cinematography #bondoncinema

My guest today is Pardeep Sahota and his newest short film OK/NOTOK. 

He is a British Asian director, screenwriter and producer. He has cited his obsession with filmmaking beginning at age ten, shooting films on his father's VHS camera. 

He studied at the University College London, he made short films with the UCL Film Society. Working in commercials he is a three-time Clio award winner and won the Gold - Emerging Artist Award at the British Arrows 2022. His short film series Bleeding Art was Official Selection at Slamdance Film Festival 2020.

His newest short film, OK/NOTOK is a genre bending sci-fi comedy drama that speaks to our world right now. 

Ladies and gentlemen, Pardeep Sahota’s OK/NOTOK short film is a look into our possible dystopian future of life, especially in the area of relationships. 

We are connected by social media making our world seem smaller, but also more disconnected than ever. 

What if we were able to order a companion and have them programmed with available upgrades. Would you buy into that? Millions of you would, but what you won’t be able to avoid is the emotional attachment that you will have with it. 

Smartphone apps are designed to get you in for free and then created to move you to in-app purchases. It’s like a programmed drug habit. You want more, but you have to pay more to get the continued stimulation or that artificially created high. 

Before the smartphones and apps, we relied on human connection to be stimulated with conversation, dating, falling in love, giving love and receiving love back. 

In all honestly, Pardeep’s film OK/NOTOK shows us we have already been living in a dystopian world and the only true escape is to look up from our phones and see that real life is still there waiting on us to embrace and be an active participate. You can’t program real life and that’s the way it should be. 

I loved this film, because it makes us think and we don’t need Chat GPT to do that, at least not me.

#dystopian #dystopian #AI #humanoids #robots #shortfilm #shortfilms #filmmaking #filmmaker #filmdirector #filmproduction #cinema #cinematography #oscars #academyawards #cinephile #bondoncinema 

Alexander Farah is an Afghan-Canadian director and editor, whose work has screened globally at Berlinale, Telluride, and Clermont-Ferrand. 

His first short film “Sahar” premiered at TIFF in 2014. Notably, he directed the narrative music video for “Meet You At The Light” which won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Choice Awards at SXSW in 2022. 

Alex also edited the 2024 Canadian Screen Award-winning short film “Motherland” directed by Jasmin Mozaffari. 

Alex’s recent project “One Day This Kid” premiered at the TIFF in 2024, and won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Short Film at the SXSW in 2025.

Ladies and gentlemen, Alexander Farah’s ONE DAY THIS KID is about a young kid growing up under the weight of his father's expectations, Hamed contends with fear, desire and shame, in search of a self unknown.

The film is based on the text by David Wojnarowicz. If that text was made into a film, it would break your heart and much has changed in society in the last 35 years. 

Alex’s ONE DAY THIS KID is a silent reminder that society still sees people differently. Parents have an idea how they want their children to be when they grow up, but it doesn’t always work out that way. 

In many cases, it can take years for acceptance to rise and then it’s too late as many memories could have been made in the presence of love. 

ONE DAY THIS KID is a poignant, powerful and emotional film. One I hope shows that we shouldn’t withhold love, just because we disagree. Love is a bridge not to be burned, but to find every opportunity to cross it with arms and heart wide open. 

The storytelling is powerful, the acting is stellar and the cinematography and music score are of the highest quality, and has rightly earned to an award winning film. 

#shortfilm #film #filmmaker #filmmaking #filmdirector #screenwriter #lgbtq #selfawareness #cinema #bondoncinema #cinephile #oscars #academyawards

My guest today is emerging filmmaker  Jada George  making her awarding winning directorial debut with  Where The Children Go To Play, a chilling dystopian short film that forces audiences to question what it means to be “worthy” of survival in a system governed by cold, synthetic judgment. 

Produced by Twin Pine Production with producing unit Alex Benton, Joshua Montrel, and AP Julian Thedford, the film is set in a sterile, near-future society and follows  Sevyn Thomas  and  Solana Jackson, two young candidates subjected to a brutal psychological selection process. Inside fluorescent-lit chambers, they face synthetic proctors—hyper-intelligent androids designed to probe their deepest fears and beliefs. 

By the end, Sevyn and Solana emerge transformed, branded with tattoos symbolizing their rare passage into humanity’s future. 

“With Where The Children Go To Play, I wanted to explore the intersection of power, identity, and survival in a world where worth is determined by a cold, calculated system,” says director  Jada George. 

“The story reflects my fascination with dystopian narratives that mirror our own social structures—whether in politics, education, or the workplace. My hope is that audiences see both the characters’ struggles and their own experiences reflected in the film.” 

Ladies and gentlemen, the film is set in a sterile, near-future society and follows  Sevyn Thomas  and  Solana Jackson, two young candidates subjected to a brutal psychological selection process. 

Inside fluorescent-lit chambers, they face synthetic proctors—hyper-intelligent androids designed to probe their deepest fears and beliefs. 

Memories are weaponized, morality is tested, and every answer draws the line between survival and sacrifice. By the end, Sevyn and Solana emerge transformed, branded with tattoos symbolizing their rare passage into humanity’s future. 

This film is simple and the point, and an unnerving point it makes. Are we headed to a dystopian world where our every thought and move will be scrutinized by artificial intelligent being? The reality is, it’s already happening, especially in China. What would you do in this situation is the question. 

#dystopian #thriller #psychologicalthriller #suspensethriller #mindset #mindgames #reset #film #cinema #filmmaker #filmmaking #filmdirector #filmproduction #bondoncinema #shortfilm #shortfilms #cinephile #storytelling