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14th October 2026
2026 MFA Professional Acting Graduate Lucy Minderides has scooped awards with her short film ‘Dating In Your 20s’.
Entering the festival circuit in 2025, the ambitious project that combines musical numbers and puppets is now released to the general public via Directors Notes. The film, which stars Lucy and is co-written, produced, and directed by her too, was accepted as an official selection at many notable film festivals internationally, and scooped up a prize at the Aesthetica Film Festival. We caught up with Lucy to find out more about the film and her acting journey since graduating from the MFA Professional Acting course.
What was it like to star in and direct your own short film?
It was so much fun! I was co-directing with my filmmaking partner, Lily Rutterford, which meant I could switch between hats throughout the process. We’ve known each other since we were five and have been collaborating on all sorts of creative projects ever since, so we’ve developed this really enjoyable shorthand and synchronicity.
The film was such a labour of love. We were both involved in every aspect from start to finish, from writing and design through to the edit, and we just loved making it. I enjoyed the whole process so much, and it was a big part of what led me to apply to drama school. I remember thinking, quite simply, I want to do this more and more.
What was it like working on the film alongside your studies at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School?
Thankfully, production on the film was complete before I started the MFA at Bristol Old Vic. Still, it was so exciting to be going to festivals throughout the year and really see how my training has influenced my mindset and approach to the industry. We are instilled with a lot of confidence and excitement and gain so much trust in ourselves through all the weird and wonderful things we learn, which is so important going into the industry.
I think going into this course having made this film was so aligned with the teaching approach on the MFA course at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. From the off-set we are encouraged to think of ourselves as artists and creatives, not just actors, and we have so many opportunities to create our own work on the course. The teachers are all so inspiring and supportive of us as creatives, with special mention to the MFA course leader Paloma Oakenfold who inspired so much creativity in every one of us.
Do you have any advice for actors who want to create their own work?
As cliché as it sounds, I would say just do it. This is the fourth film we’ve made, and each time we develop and learn from before. We made this film with a very small budget, so if you have a vision and a will, you really can just make things. Making one thing leads to the next and then to the next, so just start with anything. And it’s so much FUN! Oh, and also make things with people you love and people who make you laugh.
Where can we watch the film and what are the next plans for it?
You can watch the film on YouTube as it just premiered today with Directors Notes! We very excitingly won Best Comedy at Aesthetica Film Festival earlier this year, and have since screened at BAFTA Qualifying LOCO London Comedy Film Festival and Raindance Film Festival!
We have been working to develop Dating in Your 20s into a series. We’ve fallen in love with the puppets and the music, and we feel that the format has the potential to work well episodically! Not least, dating and identity are endlessly fascinating, ever-changing yet comically repetitive topics to us that inevitably bleed into all of our writing. We want The Bathroomers (The Puppets) to explore all sorts of topics, in all sorts of places, through lots of musical genres.
We are also currently in the early stages of writing for an adult coming-of-age jukebox musical, which we want to make as our first feature film. Some of our all-time favourite films are jukebox musicals, where they take epic songs and build a beautiful story around them. Now that we’ve explored storytelling with music, it’s hard to stop! We are looking forward to what is to come.
You can watch Dating In Your 20s via VERIO films and DIRECTORS CUT here