Directed & PRODUCED DARIUS SHU
WRITTEN by ARRON BLAKE
A desperate woman from the society of rejected singles, known as the Leftovers, takes a bold leap of faith on a revolutionary new dating app, risking everything for one last chance at love.
about the film
PLOP premiered in competition at the Manchester Film Festival 2025. Other festival highlights include the BIFA qualifying Sunrise Film Festival & Brighton Rocks Film Festival. Plop also played at SCI-FI London, Clapham International Film Festival, Big Fridge International Film Festival and it was a Semi-Finalist at our very own Kino Short Film Festival earlier this year.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Darius Shu is a writer-director drawn to humanistic, emotionally resonant stories told through a visually poetic lens. His work often centres on underrepresented voices and overlooked narratives.
A passionate advocate for Asian and LGBTQIA+ representation in cinema, Darius is committed to using film as a catalyst for meaningful dialogue and cultural progress. His stories aim to create space, for reflection, visibility, and connection.
Darius made his directorial debut with His Hands (2019), a silent psychological drama nominated for Best Narrative Short at the Tribeca Festival 2019. He followed this with I Am Norman (2021), a fictional documentary thriller which premiered at the Oscar-qualifying Rhode Island International Film Festival. His latest short film PLOP (2025) premiered In Competition at the Manchester Film Festival and has screened at Picturehouse Finsbury Park, with selections at over five BAFTA/BIFA-qualifying festivals.
With over nine years of experience as a cinematographer, Darius has shot a wide range of acclaimed projects, including the BAFTA-nominated film Always, Asifa (2023), the Netflix documentary Peach Paradise (2022), Queer Parivaar (2022), Where We Came From (2024) starring Archie Panjabi, Cuddle (2026) featuring Mark Gatiss and served as 2nd Unit DOP on the feature film Last Days, directed by Justin Lin (Fast & Furious franchise, Star Trek Beyond) which world premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2025. He shot his first feature 'Slim', directed by Sky Yang and produced by Chi Thai.
Through his work, Darius continues to push the boundaries of independent film while championing stories that challenge, heal, and humanise.
READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH darius
Welcome to our Short of the Week series. Tell us a bit about yourself and your filmmaking background.
Thank you so much for having me and for spotlighting PLOP. I’m Darius Shu, a director and cinematographer based in London. I'm drawn to stories that explore the existential questions of identity, humanity, connection and the social constructs that shape our lives. I'm always fascinated to create something fresh out of something ordinary, to have my characters deal with the presence of anxiety, and be morally ambiguous. My background started in cinematography and have been a DP for 9 years, where I learnt how to build moods and emotion visually, and over the years that naturally led me into directing and storytelling. I like to blend social awareness with a touch of surrealism, creating films that feel both emotionally grounded and a little poetic. At the heart of it, I’m just obsessed with cinema’s ability to connect people and spark conversations.
Tell us about the genesis of Plop. Where did the idea come from and how did you develop that idea into the short that's now made its way out into the world?
My writer and actor, Arron Blake, pitched me a story he’d been developing, one I knew could really surprise and challenge audiences. I’ve always wanted to make a sci-fi film, being a huge fan of shows like Star Trek and Black Mirror, so I thought, why not take his concept and set it within a dystopian world? Finally getting the chance to bring that vision to life was incredibly exciting. The idea came from observing the absurdity and vulnerability of modern dating, one we both relate and is really fed up of...the endless swiping, algorithms, and the curated personas we present to the world. I wanted to see what happens when these societal constructs collide with our raw, unfiltered desire to be loved and accepted for who we truly are.
In the story, we disguise this in the app’s unconventional way of assessing compatibility which pushes people to confront their most honest, primal selves. The Leftovers aren’t just single people, they represent anyone who has ever felt rejected, outcast, or unworthy. Through the protagonist’s journey, we get a world where societal expectations clash with personal desires, and humour helps highlight the awkwardness, fears, and hopes that come with love and rejection on a first date. Developing Plop meant blending genres to feel fresh, using a sci-fi backdrop to exaggerate societal norms while keeping the emotions grounded, awkward, and relatable. At its heart, it’s about relationships, human connection, and navigating the modern world of AI and dating in a way that hopefully sparks both reflection and conversation.
What were some of the main obstacles you experienced when making Plop and how did you overcome them?
One of the biggest challenges with making Plop was juggling the sci-fi elements while keeping the human emotion grounded and awkwardly relatable. I wanted a world that looked heightened and visually striking, but with characters who still felt like real people stumbling through life and love. Another hurdle was the logistics of creating a dystopian world on a short film shoestring budget… because let’s face it, sci-fi is expensive, and our budget definitely wasn’t.
We got creative with production design, most of the story is in a single room, so we had to make it feel engaging without breaking the bank. A mix of practical and simple VFX, clever camera work, lighting, and little details helped make the world feel bigger than it actually was. Working closely with Joanna and Arron was crucial, we were constantly bouncing ideas off each other, improvising on set, and not afraid to scrap or tweak things in the moment.
In the end, all these obstacles forced us to be more inventive, and honestly, it made the process way more fun. I think that energy and chaos comes through on screen and maybe a little of our stress too!
Tell us about the journey of getting your film to audiences and some of the festival circuit highlights and/or online release.
The festival circuit has been amazing, we had our world premiere at Manchester Film Festival and 3 other BIFA qualifying festivals. It’s been so rewarding to see how audiences react in real time, especially when they laugh, cringe, or feel moved by the characters’ awkward, relatable moments.
Every film I make leaves room for interpretation and I like giving people the chance to come up with wildly different takes on the story’s metaphors, symbolism and concept. Honestly, sometimes I listen to someone’s interpretation and think, “Wow… I didn’t even notice that!", or "That was darker than what I had in mind" and at times "You're spot on, you just said exactly what I had in mind". Meeting fellow filmmakers and audiences who really get the world we were trying to create has been amazing. But the absolute best part of Plop? Watching it spark conversations about connection, dating, and human vulnerability… and realising that, just like my characters, people are awkward, confused, and completely winging it when it comes to love. Makes me feel a little less alone, and hopefully makes them laugh too, because in the world we are living now, we just have to have some laughs in our lives.
What advice or hacks would you give to other short filmmakers?
My biggest advice? Embrace the chaos. Short films are tiny worlds with tiny budgets, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make them look beautiful. Be creative, flexible, and a little fearless. Use your limitations as an advantage, turn a one-room set into a whole universe, and don’t be afraid to improvise on set. Feed your crew good food, happy people make better films. And most importantly, don’t take yourself too seriously; if you can laugh at your mistakes, the audience probably will too.
Any film recommendations that we should add to our watchlist?
Might be a completely different genre but I really love Monster by Hirokazu Kore-eda
