The YDA 2020 Focus

We tidied our bedrooms and Zoomed around the world to chat to the Gold-winning directors from this year's competition about what picking up a YDA really means.

Talent

Why new directing talent matters

UK production company You Are Here picked up the Gold Producers Award at the 2020 YDA. Here, the company's MD and EP, Jeremy Goold, explains the importance of nurturing new talent.

Talent

Jakub Jirásek talks accidental adolescent terrorism

With his darkly comedic short Don't Be A Pussy picking up a Gold at this year's YDA, Jirásek tells Jamie Madge how a film for his Master's Degree ended up evolving into a biting satire on social status.

Talent

YDA Winner Yuan Yuan on childhood and cultural literacy

Yuan Yuan Zhang, an MFA candidate at NYU Tisch in writing and directing, who won two Gold Screens for their film Heading South, gives advice to aspiring directors and explains how she drew from her own experiences for the film.

Talent

YDA winner Jeremy Merrifield on punching through problems

Jeremy Merrifield, the winner of this year's Young Director Award Special Jury Prize, discusses the inspiration behind Balloon, his powerful and emotional film about a young boy coming to terms with his place in the world and the impact of hyper-masculinity on his outlook.

Talent

YDA winners Christina Amundsen and Emilie Thalund help stop the violence

Christina Amundsen and Emilie Thalund, the winners of the charity commercial category at this year's Young Director Award, discuss the inspiration, and the making of Isolation, their film about ending violence against children.

Talent

How a wait in the RAINN made way for YDA Gold

SMUGGLER director Samantha Scaffidi talks to Jamie Madge about how her acting background and sensitivity to the subject matter made her film for anti-sexual assault organisation RAINN the most urgent PSA of the year.

Talent

Sarah Clift talks dark comedy and Dream Pitches

Continuing our series of interviews with this year's Young Director Award winners, we speak to Best Use of Humour Gold Screen-winner Sarah Clift about her brilliant short film, The Birth of Valerie Venus.

Talent

YDA winner Natasha Mynhier delivers In A Beat

Natasha Mynhier, the winner of the Mid-Length Film (30 to 60 mins) - Northern America category at this year's Young Director Award, talks to us about how she crafted this powerful film.

Talent

YDA winner Jackson Tisi introduces us to Leon

Jackson Tisi, the winner of the Passion Project - Northern America category at this year's Young Director Award, talks about the process behind making his documentary Leon, and about the man himself.

Talent

Paul Nevison on YDA wins and having no grand plan

Paul Nevison picked up Gold and Silver Screen awards at this year's YDA for two stunning short documentary films that take viewers to places they might otherwise never see. Here, he discusses his approach to filmmaking and that he got into directing "because nobody stopped me".

YDA winner Phoebe Arnstein's immersive film

Farhad Ghaderi on finding a YDA win in a Virtuous Circle

For Andzej Gavriss, one moment You're Born, the next you win a YDA

Talent

Loïc Andrieu answers his Call Of The Wild

The YDA-winning director discusses how a genre-bending movie concept led to awards gold.

Talent

YDA winner Dylan Holmes Williams sings The Devils Harmony

Dylan Holmes Williams, the winner of the short film category at this year's Young Director Award's, discusses the inspiration behind The Devils Harmony, his film about a bullied teenage girl that leads an A cappella club on a trail of destruction against her high school enemies.

Talent

YDA winner Jesse Lewis-Reece talks multi-disciplinary study and personal stories

A film surrounding a poem, Eyelash, directed and edited by Jesse Lewis-Reece, made a huge impact with the Young Director Award jury, netting four prizes. We chat with him about inspiration, the importance of a soundtrack, and how empathy influences his work.

Talent

Daniel Bergmann talks new directing talent

The Managing Partner of Stink Films, a YDA 2020 Producers Award-winner, on the company's approach to nurturing new talent, what you need to be successful and why the YDA matters.

The Health Focus

As health and beauty advertising changes with our habits, and the ever-ailing high-street given a Covid death sentence, industry leaders tell us how the industry keeps fit.

The Future Focus

Covid wasn't the only thing to rock the world in 2020, so, with an opportunity to change things for the better in the coming years, we look at what lies ahead.

The Diversity Focus

We speak to the those within advertising spearheading attempts to create industry equality around the issues of race, gender, disability, class and more.

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