#481 – Cut/daily Meets... Awards Contenders and more

Hello, it's 2026, in case you haven't noticed.

And in case you didn't know, we're in the final weeks of the nominations window for many of the biggest awards in the business.

So in this bumper issue of Cut/daily Meets... I'm starting the year with a truckload of editorial wisdom from some of those award contenders.

I'm also seizing the opportunity to share several other exceptional interviews I've had stored up in the Cut/daily Meets... publishing queue for far too long.

Here's what's in store:

• Amir Etminan – It Was Just an Accident
• Billy Fox – Sung Song Blue
• Yorgos Mavropsaridis – Bugonia
• Affonso Gonçalves – Hamnet
• Brett W Bachman & Josh Ethier – Companion
• Julia Cohen – Tell Me Lies | The Paper
• Tad Seaborn – Vikings | From | The Institute

I know, it's a lot.

But there's actually a strikingly common theme throughout – the power and importance of watching movies.

So after you get done reading all of these interviews (click the links above). Throw on a new (or old) favourite and watch attentively.

But first, something new...

This embarrassment of riches was one of the reasons I asked the following question in the final issue of 2025...

The initial response: Yes 40.9% | No 30.3% | Maybe 28.8%

was fairly... inconclusive!

So, I'm back for more data with a new Cut/daily feature to try out.

With so many (fabulous) editorial insights to learn from, I wanted you to have a way to keep tabs on the most useful Issues - the ones you want to read, reference, or share again.

Now you can.

I've added a new bookmark functionality to the entire Cut/daily site:

• Sign in to Cut/daily
• Bookmark any Issue by clicking the pin icon above the title
• Visit cut-daily.com/bookmarks
• See a full list of your bookmarked Issues
• Thank me later.

Note: Pins are saved to your browser's local storage, so if you clear your cache, these will be lost. Export and import your pins to create a backup or move your stored pins to another browser.