Short films are difficult. It’s easy to tell a story across 90 minutes or a couple of hours, where plot and characterisation can expand and grow. However, it takes real skill to deliver something short, punchy (and more importantly) narratively cohesive within a couple of minutes. This takes us nicely along to Dakota Stone, a new short from director Sherice Griffiths and writer Alfie Scattergood (aka Paul Knight).

Clocking-in at just nine minutes, the film features professional dancer, choreographer, and star of the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, Nancy Xu as an ass-kicking ‘fixer’. Offering-up action and characterisation, Dakota Stone is an entertaining little flick that works well within its own confines, while also feeling like an amuse-bouche to a much larger story.

Sherice Griffiths, Alfie Scattergood and Nancy Xu joined the Movies In Focus podcast to talk about Dakota Stone. During the course of the conversation, they discuss how the project came together, the logistics of making a short film in a limited timeframe - as well as teasing the future of the Dakota Stone character in a larger format.

Writer-director Torsten Ruether joins this episode of the Movies In Focus podcast to discuss his boxing drama, Uppercut. The film marks Ruether's English-language debut, adapted from his 2021 film Leberhaken, and features an impressive cast, including Ving Rhames, Luise Grossmann, Joanna Cassidy and Jordan E. Cooper.

Uppercut tells the story of Toni, a determined female boxer, and her journey with Elliott, a tough ex-boxing champion played by Rhames.

Torsten Ruether talks about making Uppercut, working with Ving Rhames and how the film developed and evolved from its early origins.

Uppercut is out now in U.S. cinemas, On Demand and On Digital.

First-up there's Martin Campbell, the director of the acclaimed James Bond films Goldeneye with Pierce Brosnan and Casino Royale starring Daniel Craig. This is followed by a chat with Simon West, the director of the iconic ’90s Nicolas Cage pic, Con Air and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider starring Angelina Jolie.

Martin Campbell discusses his new film, Cleaner, a high-rise action pic starring Star Wars star, Daisy Ridley and Clive Owen. We not only talk about the practicalities of making an action film, but we also cover 30 years of Goldeneye, the legacy of the James Bond franchise, as well as why we haven’t had a belated second sequel to his brilliant 1998 film, The Mask Of Zorro, starring Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

This was my third time interviewing the great Simon West, so we had great fun talking about keeping interviews fresh, as well as his new comedic action film, Old Guy. Shot and set in Belfast, the film stars the eclectic combination of Christoph Waltz, Cooper Hoffman and Lucy Liu. Simon talks about filming in Belfast and why he was so eager to ditch the stereotype of Northern Ireland’s violent past and shoot the province as a contemporary European location.