Category: ARFF Barcelona – Best Short Film

Original Film Title: Lonely Season

Director’s Name: Hamid Reza Mahmoudi Mehrizi

Writer’s Name: Hamid Reza Mahmoudi Mehrizi

Producer’s Name: Hamid Reza Mahmoudi Mehrizi

Country of Origin: Iran, Islamic Republic of

Country of Filming: Iran, Islamic Republic of

Language: Persian

Runtime: 13 minutes 31 seconds

Film Description:

Farzaneh was a compassionate mother and a faithful wife. The life with love was going on, but unfortunately, her life was overshadowed by the shadow of darkness. While she was struggling with problems and circumstances, she accidentally found a secret that changed her life course completely….

Original Film Title: Oasis

Director’s Name: Adrien Servadio

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 1 minute

Film Description:

Aestetic birth of an oasis

Original Film Title: Here Is Where the Monsters Live

Director’s Name: Chance Fuerstinger, April Matson

Writer’s Name: Chance Fuerstinger, April Matson

Producer’s Name: Chance Fuerstinger

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 18 minutes 3 seconds

Film Description:

Oliver tries to live through a dark episode of depression; however, memories – both joyful and sorrowful – keep pushing their way to the forefront of his mind.

Original Film Title: Luna

Director’s Name: Jacopo Matteo Golizia

Writer’s Name: Margherita Giusti Hazon

Producer’s Name: Jacopo Golizia, Margherita Giusti Hazon, Massimo Sabet

Country of Origin: Italy

Country of Filming: Italy

Language: Italian

Runtime: 15 minutes

Film Description:

LUNA tells the story of several lives, lives that intertwine over the course of a long night. Nicolò and Camilla are two young lovers who have not yet managed to open up to each other, out of fear, pride, insecurities. Camilla plays the piano to dare a sense of emptiness, Nicolò has grown up too quickly, he is always tough but inside he suffers, and does not know how to share his insecurities. Luna, on the other hand, is a tormented girl who has lost her mother, very lonely, deep, thoughtful. An outsider who spends her days walking around the city with headphones in her ears. Will these three existences meet by pure chance (or destiny?) and their lives will never be the same ever since. A music box will be the object that will unite these stories, a sort of magical door that will give access to something unknown and mysterious.

Original Film Title: The Marsh

Director’s Name: Marcus Soederlund

Writer’s Name: Marcus Soederlund

Producer’s Name: Hampus Gunnarsson, Johan Wirfält

Country of Origin: Sweden

Country of Filming: Sweden

Language: Swedish

Runtime: 11 minutes 48 seconds

Film Description:

Society as we know it is gone. In Sweden it is summer – and a state of war.

Erik and Karim are people smugglers, bringing refugees through the Swedish wetlands. One day they meet Maria, a mother hoping to cross the border with her infant. Soon she will be faced with an impossible choice.

Based on the short story ”Kärret” by Jerker Virdborg.

Erik is played by mesmerizing newcomer Aron Skoog. Karim is played by Amed Bozan, named best actor at the Swedish Kristallen awards for his role in the Netflix hit series Caliphate. Charlotte Wandt, a Swedish director and actor, delivers a stunning portrayal of Maria.

Original Film Title: Bizzarro e Fantastico

Director’s Name: Kris Krainock

Writer’s Name: Kris Krainock

Producer’s Name: Dylan Gallagher

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: France, Italy

Language: French, Italian

Runtime: 26 minutes

Film Description:

The new Italian-language film from Writer/Director/Producer Kris Krainock; A Roman Everyman discovers a violently ill intruder on his sofa after returning from the market. Begrudgingly, the Everyman must nurse this stranger back to health before he can unearth the ominous man’s true purpose for being there.

Original Film Title: Para Nadar

Director’s Name: Flore Elise Hartout

Writer’s Name: Flore Elise Hartout

Producer’s Name: John English, Tom Garner

Country of Origin: France

Country of Filming: Spain

Language: Spanish

Runtime: 1 minute 48 seconds

Film Description:

When diagnosed with Leukemia, Ari hit rock bottom, she did not want to live on, as she felt lost, without purpose. Every day since, Ari goes above and beyond the barriers and limitations caused by her medullary lesion with an inspiring attitude and an ambitious goal. The Paris Paralympic Games 2024.

Original Film Title: The Exit

Director’s Name: Sara Saghari

Writer’s Name: Abigail Kienbaum

Producer’s Name: Abigail Kienbaum, Amir Rezazadeh, Sara Saghari

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Country of Filming: United Kingdom

Language: English, Lithuanian

Runtime: 10 minutes 25 seconds

Film Description:

While dog-sitting in London on Christmas Eve, a lonely cleaner is haunted by a childhood fairytale.

Original Film Title: The Empty Chair

Director’s Name: Jose Villalobos, Rob Margolies

Writer’s Name: Brian Thomas Wilson

Producer’s Name: Anna Clols

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English, Spanish

Runtime: 13 minutes 21 seconds

Film Description:

A woman with a broken past turns deep within herself to change her future.

Original Film Title: 500 Eskimo

Director’s Name: Daria Karpova

Writer’s Name: Daria Karpova

Producer’s Name: Elizaveta Matrosova, Yakov Dubrovsky, Julia Fruktenbein, Anna Malina

Country of Origin:

Country of Filming: Russian Federation

Language: Russian Federation

Runtime: English, Russian

Film Description:

Once upon a time a wizard comes to vizit Andrey and brings everything the character dreamt of when he was 6 years old: 500 ice creams and a dog. But here is a thing, Andrey is already 35. He has a family, a mortgage, a boring job and a daughter who is about to start her primary school year.