# Dylan Southern
**Dylan Southern** is an English film director and writer, often working in partnership with Will Lovelace, known for music documentaries including *No Distance Left to Run* (2010), *Shut Up and Play the Hits* (2012), and *Meet Me in the Bathroom* (2022), and for the narrative feature *The Thing with Feathers* (2025).[1](https://film.one/person/dylan-southern) With Lovelace he forms the directing partnership ThirtyTwo, a name that also appears in his music-video credits.[2](https://www.kff.tw/en/film/content/42)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Partnership | Co-directs with Will Lovelace as the directing partnership ThirtyTwo[2](https://www.kff.tw/en/film/content/42) |
| Breakthrough film | *No Distance Left to Run* (2010), on Blur's 2009 reunion; nominated for Best Long Form Music Video at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards and shortlisted for a Grierson Documentary Award[2](https://www.kff.tw/en/film/content/42) |
| Best-known concert film | *Shut Up and Play the Hits* (2012), documenting LCD Soundsystem's final show at Madison Square Garden on April 2, 2011[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2124908/) |
| Scene documentary | *Meet Me in the Bathroom* (2022), adapted from Lizzy Goodman's 2017 book; world premiere at Sundance 2022[4](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/meet-me-in-the-bathroom) |
| First narrative feature | *The Thing with Feathers* (2025), adapted from Max Porter's novella *Grief is the Thing with Feathers*, starring Benedict Cumberbatch[5](https://licaf.co.uk/festival/guests/dylan-southern) |
| Current project | *Oasis: Don't Look Back in Anger* (2026), a documentary on the Oasis reunion tour, with a cinema release on 9 September[6](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/shows-festivals/i-dont-think-liam-even-realised-there-were-cameras-there-for-the-first-week-dont-look-back-in-anger-film-makers-reveal-how-they-secretly-filmed-the-first-oasis-rehearsals-in-15-years) |
## Early career and music videos
Southern was in Liverpool in the early 2000s, just out of film school, making music videos for friends' bands and trying, unsuccessfully, to manage a band.[7](https://thefilmstage.com/will-lovelace-and-dylan-southern-on-the-magic-of-nyc-the-indie-music-landscape-and-making-meet-me-in-the-bathroom/) He and Lovelace went on to work on music videos for Björk, Arctic Monkeys, and Idles before turning to feature-length music films.[8](https://whynow.co.uk/read/dylan-southern-will-lovelace-meet-me-in-the-bathroom) IMDb credits him as director of videos including [Arctic Monkeys](https://www.edgepedia.org/arctic-monkeys)' "My Propeller" (2010) and The Fall's "Bury" (2010), and, as ThirtyTwo, Björk's "Thunderbolt, Live" (2011).[9](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3745191/)
## Music documentaries
**No Distance Left to Run.** The duo's first music film, released in 2010, followed the Britpop band Blur during their 2009 reunion and tour.[8](https://whynow.co.uk/read/dylan-southern-will-lovelace-meet-me-in-the-bathroom) The full-length documentary earned a Best Long Form Music Video nomination at the 53rd annual [Grammy Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/grammy-awards) and made the shortlist for a Grierson Documentary Award.[2](https://www.kff.tw/en/film/content/42) Southern is also credited as cinematographer and editor on the film.[9](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3745191/)
**Shut Up and Play the Hits.** Their second film centers on [LCD Soundsystem](https://www.edgepedia.org/lcd-soundsystem) and the band's final concert at [Madison Square Garden](https://www.edgepedia.org/madison-square-garden) on April 2, 2011, following frontman James Murphy over a 48-hour period from the day of the show to the morning after.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2124908/) • [10](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/shut-up-and-play-the-hits) Southern has said the directors were keen from the start that it not be the definitive story of the band; Murphy, whom they met in London through a mutual friend, mixed the sound for the movie himself.[11](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/apr/14/lcd-soundsystem-film) The film was produced by Pulse Films with Murphy among the producers, photographed by Reed Morano, and released in the United States on July 18, 2012; it grossed $629,107 worldwide.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2124908/) • [12](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/68859-SHUT-UP-AND-PLAY-THE-HITS) The title came from [Win Butler](https://www.edgepedia.org/win-butler), who yelled it at Murphy while the filmmakers were trying to decide on a name.[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2124908/)
Between the two music films, Southern co-directed the comedy special *Aziz Ansari: Buried Alive* (2013).[1](https://film.one/person/dylan-southern)
## Meet Me in the Bathroom
The 2022 documentary adapts Lizzy Goodman's 2017 oral history of the New York rock scene of the early 2000s, covering [The Strokes](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-strokes), Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, TV on the Radio, LCD Soundsystem, and [The Moldy Peaches](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-moldy-peaches) against the backdrop of 9/11.[8](https://whynow.co.uk/read/dylan-southern-will-lovelace-meet-me-in-the-bathroom) • [13](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/meet_me_in_the_bathroom) It premiered at the [Sundance Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/sundance-film-festival) in 2022 and runs 105 minutes.[4](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/meet-me-in-the-bathroom)
**Archive-only method.** The film was built almost entirely from raw archive footage and audio interviews from the period, with only a few contemporary interviews recorded near the end of the edit. Research began in 2020, and the lockdown turned the archive hunt into a DIY process: the directors, the editors Andrew Cross and Sam Rice-Edwards, and the producers searched old forums, tracked down photographers, and chased leads such as spotting a mini-disc recorder in the corner of a photograph and locating the journalist who owned it.[8](https://whynow.co.uk/read/dylan-southern-will-lovelace-meet-me-in-the-bathroom) Southern has described the approach as experiential rather than retrospective: the goal was to drop the viewer into the time and let the story unfold, embracing the chaos of the period.[7](https://thefilmstage.com/will-lovelace-and-dylan-southern-on-the-magic-of-nyc-the-indie-music-landscape-and-making-meet-me-in-the-bathroom/) Roughly an hour of the finished film consists of new or previously unseen photographs and archive.[7](https://thefilmstage.com/will-lovelace-and-dylan-southern-on-the-magic-of-nyc-the-indie-music-landscape-and-making-meet-me-in-the-bathroom/)
The directors deliberately kept out the voices of cultural commentators; every voice in the film comes from the bands or from excited fans at shows, and Southern framed the film around the coming-of-age narratives of the artists rather than claims about the scene's cultural impact.[7](https://thefilmstage.com/will-lovelace-and-dylan-southern-on-the-magic-of-nyc-the-indie-music-landscape-and-making-meet-me-in-the-bathroom/) He has also argued that the idea of a single New York "scene" was largely a construct of the British music press, since the Brooklyn art-rock bands, the [Lower East Side](https://www.edgepedia.org/lower-east-side) rock bands, the anti-folk musicians, and James Murphy's dance-rock project were distinct and largely separate.[8](https://whynow.co.uk/read/dylan-southern-will-lovelace-meet-me-in-the-bathroom) The film begins and ends with a reading of [Walt Whitman](https://www.edgepedia.org/walt-whitman)'s poem "Give Me The Splendid Silent Sun", a bookend Southern described as asking whether the musicians shown had done enough to join New York's mythological canon.[8](https://whynow.co.uk/read/dylan-southern-will-lovelace-meet-me-in-the-bathroom) The Moldy Peaches agreed to reform for the premiere.[8](https://whynow.co.uk/read/dylan-southern-will-lovelace-meet-me-in-the-bathroom)
## The Thing with Feathers
Southern's first narrative feature, *The Thing with Feathers* (2025), adapts Max Porter's award-winning novella *Grief is the Thing with Feathers* and stars [Benedict Cumberbatch](https://www.edgepedia.org/benedict-cumberbatch); Southern wrote and directed it.[5](https://licaf.co.uk/festival/guests/dylan-southern) • [14](https://www.berlinale.de/en/press/press-material/presskit-download-action.html?file=Berlinale_Special%2FAlle_Filme%2F202517001_en_1_The_Thing_With_Feathers.pdf) He has described it as a meditation on grief, and on male grief in particular, done in an idiosyncratic way.[15](https://guides.justwatch.com/us/author/dylan-southern) The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2025 and grossed $791,000 worldwide.[16](https://www.whatsafterthemovie.com/person/dylan-southern)
## Oasis: Don't Look Back in Anger
Southern co-directed with Lovelace the documentary *[Oasis](https://www.edgepedia.org/oasis-band): Don't Look Back in Anger* (2026) on the band's reunion tour.[1](https://film.one/person/dylan-southern) To film the first rehearsals of Noel and [Liam Gallagher](https://www.edgepedia.org/liam-gallagher) together in 15 years without being noticed, the filmmakers hid a camera rig in the London studio where the brothers met; Southern has said Liam Gallagher did not realize there were cameras there for the first week, and that the film shows the music gradually bringing the brothers together.[6](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/shows-festivals/i-dont-think-liam-even-realised-there-were-cameras-there-for-the-first-week-dont-look-back-in-anger-film-makers-reveal-how-they-secretly-filmed-the-first-oasis-rehearsals-in-15-years) The film received a cinema release on 9 September.[6](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/shows-festivals/i-dont-think-liam-even-realised-there-were-cameras-there-for-the-first-week-dont-look-back-in-anger-film-makers-reveal-how-they-secretly-filmed-the-first-oasis-rehearsals-in-15-years)
## Method and reception
Across the music films, Southern's stated method is to let the subjects and the period carry the film: archive over retrospective talking heads, fans and musicians over commentators, and immersion over explanation.[8](https://whynow.co.uk/read/dylan-southern-will-lovelace-meet-me-in-the-bathroom) • [7](https://thefilmstage.com/will-lovelace-and-dylan-southern-on-the-magic-of-nyc-the-indie-music-landscape-and-making-meet-me-in-the-bathroom/) Review aggregators record a career spanning documentary and fiction: Rotten Tomatoes lists *Aziz Ansari: Buried Alive* at 100 percent with audiences, *Shut Up and Play the Hits* at 89 percent with critics, *Meet Me in the Bathroom* at 73 percent, and *The Thing with Feathers* at 47 percent.[17](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/dylan_southern) A Karlovy Vary festival catalog described his direction of *The Thing with Feathers* as transforming the source material into a raw, poetic portrait of grief.[18](https://www.kviff.com/docs/2025/KVIFF2025_catalog_web.pdf)
## References
1. [Dylan Southern, Fi1m](https://film.one/person/dylan-southern)
2. [Meet Me in the Bathroom, Kaohsiung Film Festival](https://www.kff.tw/en/film/content/42)
3. [Shut Up and Play the Hits, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2124908/)
4. [Meet Me in the Bathroom, British Council UK Films Database](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/meet-me-in-the-bathroom)
5. [Dylan Southern, Lakes International Comic Art Festival 2026](https://licaf.co.uk/festival/guests/dylan-southern)
6. [Don't Look Back In Anger film makers reveal how they secretly filmed the first Oasis rehearsals in 15 years, MusicRadar](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/shows-festivals/i-dont-think-liam-even-realised-there-were-cameras-there-for-the-first-week-dont-look-back-in-anger-film-makers-reveal-how-they-secretly-filmed-the-first-oasis-rehearsals-in-15-years)
7. [Will Lovelace and Dylan Southern on the Magic of NYC, the Indie Music Landscape, and Making Meet Me in the Bathroom, The Film Stage](https://thefilmstage.com/will-lovelace-and-dylan-southern-on-the-magic-of-nyc-the-indie-music-landscape-and-making-meet-me-in-the-bathroom/)
8. [Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace on Meet Me In The Bathroom, whynow](https://whynow.co.uk/read/dylan-southern-will-lovelace-meet-me-in-the-bathroom)
9. [Dylan Southern, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3745191/)
10. [Shut Up and Play the Hits, British Council UK Films Database](https://filmsandfestivals.britishcouncil.org/projects/shut-up-and-play-the-hits)
11. [Shut Up And Play The Hits: the men behind the LCD Soundsystem movie, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/apr/14/lcd-soundsystem-film)
12. [Shut Up and Play the Hits (2012), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/68859-SHUT-UP-AND-PLAY-THE-HITS)
13. [Meet Me in the Bathroom, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/meet_me_in_the_bathroom)
14. [The Thing with Feathers press kit, Berlinale](https://www.berlinale.de/en/press/press-material/presskit-download-action.html?file=Berlinale_Special%2FAlle_Filme%2F202517001_en_1_The_Thing_With_Feathers.pdf)
15. [Dylan Southern, JustWatch guides](https://guides.justwatch.com/us/author/dylan-southern)
16. [Dylan Southern, What's After the Movie](https://www.whatsafterthemovie.com/person/dylan-southern)
17. [Dylan Southern, Rotten Tomatoes celebrity page](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/dylan_southern)
18. [Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2025 catalog](https://www.kviff.com/docs/2025/KVIFF2025_catalog_web.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Film and television directors › Directors of Europe › British and Irish directors*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license