Dani Pearce’s unique visual eye and sharp mind for narrative nuances had us hooked with her short film, Backpedal. We catch up with the Australian filmmaker about her creative process and how she probably inherited her parents’ insatiable spirit of inquiry by a childhood spent living in a new country every two years

The Fridman Sisters are here! The São Paulo directing siblings, Lina and Maria, have brought their canny knack of reinventing reality with fabulously surreal production design to their first commercial out of London for McDonald’s. But it’s not all about raining baked beans and flipping office desks – their film for Nike, The Doll I Never Asked For, is sharp-witted live-action story-telling at its best.

Diego Nuñez Irigoyen has won 20 or so Cannes Lions not to mention winning a place on the prestigious 1.4 Awards Showcase! He’s recently signed to Knucklehead in the States and London – thank goodness because we really could do with some more laughs.

The films out of HALAL usually take you to some place you’ve never been before. The Amsterdam-based production company’s directing roster of unpronounceable names has become synonymous with quirky, skilfully crafted filmmaking with original visual narratives. Honoured with the Gold Producers Award in Cannes by the YDA jury, we talk with HALAL partner and EP Gijs Determeijer about their nine-year approach to encouraging its talent to be distinctive rather than relentlessly commercial.

Division Paris director Sacha Barbin chats with Amelie Lambert about his latest music video Miracle for Labrinth

Blink director Fred Rowson gets to grips with the multitude of stories and events chronicling the victories and setbacks of the LGBT+ movement

As a young girl Thessa Meijer had a knack for competitions, winning crazy prizes such as air freshners until fortuitously she won a video camera. The die was cast. Her short film, The Walking Fish, a tragicomic about ambition, perfection and self-acceptance, unanimously won the YDA Special Jury Award in Cannes. Here we talk with the new director about her intense two months creating her stunningly original narrative in Japan

Mackenzie Sheppard's intrigue with man's alienation with nature leads him to the nursery of Monarch butterflies in Mexico

Multidisciplinary artist and Kode Media director Anna Radchenko talks with Nicco Montanari about her latest film Kokosmos, a tribute to her Russian childhood fascination with space

A selection from the Saatchi New Creators Showcase with an emphasis on different ways of filmmaking for social platforms

Director Eve Mahoney gives us a glimpse into the lives of dance-pop outfit Nimmo as they finish their album The Power

Writer / director Clara Aranovich has a way of delving into the human psyche with a wry talent for storytelling whether it’s for music videos, short films or commercials for Major League Baseball.

Director Taylor Cohen and cinematographer Larkin Sieple team up on this brilliantly creepy film about a troubled, teenage girl who goes to extreme lengths on Twitter to make contact with a famous DJ.

Lief director Savanah Leaf talks about her mini-doc on the rise of a young Italian Trap artist, Priestess, which opened the recent Tribeca Film Festival.

Directing duo Bedroom have been making films together since they were 13. Five years on they have been working with Compulsory on a cracking trio of videos for girl wonder Beabadoobee - still with their regular friends and family as cast, including grandad as the doc.

New York's AICP new director's short list.

Nicco Montanari talks with model Francesco Cuizza about co-directing with LA-based filmmaker JMP on this fashion film for jewellery designer Ugo Cacciatori. Shot in the early hours on a Californian beach, Warrior with a Crown employs movement and original choreography to express how failing should be seen as the fuel for one’s success.

Londoner Tash Tung has evolved her art training and stints as a model / actor into becoming a highly polished filmmaker expressing her narratives with a distinctive and clever filmic language

Headphones on for a roll through AICP's shortlist

Animation, live action narratives or elaborate special effects – Lebanese-American director Najeeb Tarazi is a master of all skills: CGI, editing, writing and directing complex ideas. The director talks about his creative process, his love of collaborating and why he enjoys editing on a Friday or Saturday night while Los Angeles is buzzing

Dougal Wilson, Rupert Sanders, Martin de Thurah, Spike Jonze, Lance Accord, Ben Smith, Errol Morris and Garth Davis - such a familiar line-up of names vie for top spot in AICP Direction shortlist

Californian director Daniel Iglesias Jr's distinctive film language is born out of his talent to write, meticulously pre-vis, shoot, edit and play around with special effects

Vedran Rupic, the Business Club Royale director, talks about how he and his team made this brilliant bonkers Swedish film for Salvatore Ganacci

Rose Hendry takes us on a melodic tracking journey, spinning around and turning into rooms with musical instruments until we finally arrive in a room with the artist Trish Clowes herself. We talk with HLA’s new director about the techniques behind the video for Clowes’ track, Abbott & Costello

AICP’s shortlist of international advertising excellence

No surprises that Nike ads feature big time in AICP single commercials shortlist. Take a look at these cracking ads from Spike Jonze, Kim Gehrig, Lance Acord, Georgia Hudson, Dougal Wilson, Rupert Sanders, Derek Cianfrance, Daniel Lindsay and TJ Martin

This year’s winning entries of Adfest’s Fabulous Five short film competition for young commercial directors are brilliant.

Cyprien Clément-Delmas explores our collective attitude towards pollution and climate change in this film for Paris artist Basile di Manski out of the director’s new creative studio Intrusion.

Big hits and big hitters just keep on rolling

Rolling with the very best

The music is great. The visuals are brilliant. And the messages are parfait