Category: 2022 ARFF BARCELONA

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File 631 – dir. Marius Th. Barna

Original Film Title: File 631

Director’s Name: Marius Th. Barna

Writer’s Name: Bogdan Ficeac

Producer’s Name: Marius Th. Barna, Avram Iclozan

Country of Origin: Romania

Country of Filming: Romania

Language: Romanian

Runtime: 2 hours 8 minutes

Film Description:

The film, inspired by real events, reveals a web of intrigues from the unseen world of politics, press and secret services, a world of corruption, of cynicism, of unscrupulousness… The young reporter Dinu, seemingly naive and inexperienced, is sent by his boss, the owner of a television trust, to resume the investigation into the old case of the CIA flying prisons, which is said to have landed also in Romania. Following some contradictory information, Dinu is caught in the middle of extremely hard conflicts between groups of former Intelligence Officers and Politicians. Coincidentally or not, Dinu is mysteriously looking for File 631, named after the purchase price of a kitchen hood buyed by a truthful politician, who discovers an incredible leak of information from a NATO base in Romania. The press event agitates, provokes, tempts different media, top politicians, secret services, both internal and external, causing hilarious dramas, but also absurd, and the fact itself becomes the main stake of the subsequent events. The explosive ending is a real examination of conscience for Dinu. He tries to maintain his professional dignity and finds duplicity, amoral volatility and the lack of measure of a world that relentlessly continues its course.

Director Biography – Marius Th. Barna

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There’s No Hell Like Home – dir. Russell Southam

Original Film Title: There’s No Hell Like Home

Director’s Name: Russell Southam

Writer’s Name: Russell Southam

Producer’s Name: Russell Southam

Country of Origin: Australia

Country of Filming: Australia

Language: English

Runtime: 14 minutes 45 seconds

Film Description:

Sometimes your sanctuary is not always your salvation.

This film deals with the suspension of mental health outpatient services, border closures, and public health orders to self-isolate in Australia during the 2020/2021 Covid-19 global pandemic.
How do the homeless, the poor, and those ostracized by family and friends access their ongoing mental health care when social distancing closes regional outpatient services?

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Yokosuka1953 – dir. Tsuyoshi Kigawa

Original Film Title: Yokosuka1953

Director’s Name: Tsuyoshi Kigawa

Writer’s Name: Tsuyoshi Kigawa

Producer’s Name: Tsuyoshi Kigawa, Miyuki Uehara

Country of Origin: Japan

Country of Filming: Japan

Language: Japanese

Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes 51 seconds

Film Description:

The name of the director of this documentary is Kigawa Tsuyoshi. Just through having the same family name as Kigawa, he met YOKO. She was born in Yokosuka during the turmoil of post-war Japan and was adopted to the U.S. YOKO know how deep her mother’s love for her; however, she had to be adopted and moved to the United States. She hadn’t heard from her mother nor meet her more than 66 years. The director searched for her mother’s whereabouts and invited YOKO to Japan. The journey to find her mother begins.

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It Gets In Your Blood – dir. Ed Hartman

Original Film Title: It Gets In Your Blood

Director’s Name: Ed Hartman

Writer’s Name: Ed Hartman

Producer’s Name: Ed Hartman

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Runtime: 14 minutes 16 seconds

Film Description:

“It Gets in Your Blood” is a short documentary by Ed Hartman. The film is about Richard Lyford, a filmmaker who made 9 films before he was 20-years-old, worked for Disney on Fantasia, Dumbo, and Pinocchio, and went on to direct an Academy Award-winning documentary. In spite of all of this, very few know who he is, or why he is important to filmmaking, today.

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Postcard – dir. Asmae ELMOUDIR

Original Film Title: Postcard

Director’s Name: Asmae ELMOUDIR

Writer’s Name: Asmae ELMOUDIR

Producer’s Name: Aljazeera Documentary

Country of Origin: Morocco

Country of Filming: Morocco, Qatar

Language: Arabic

Runtime: 1 hour 23 minutes 42 seconds

Film Description:

Finding an old picture postcard of a mountain village marks the start of an existential journey for director Asmae El Moudir. She explores life in Zawia, Morocco, where her mother was born.

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Talk with Us – dir. Fabio Costa Prado

Original Film Title: Talk with Us

Director’s Name: Fabio Costa Prado

Writer’s Name: Diego Kelman Ajuz, Fabio Costa Prado

Producer’s Name: Simone Caetano

Country of Origin: Brazil

Country of Filming: Brazil

Language: Portuguese

Runtime: 29 minutes 46 seconds

Film Description:

Twelve subjects with different disabilities from all over Brazil talk about Communication and the specific ways through which they connect with the world and with themselves.

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Sleeping Warrior – dir. Janet Wells, Mwaura Timothy

Original Film Title: Sleeping Warrior

Director’s Name: Janet Wells, Mwaura Timothy

Producer’s Name: Nina Ruiz, Janet Wells

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Country of Filming: Canada, Kenya

Runtime: 1 hour 32 minutes 47 seconds

Film Description:

‘Sleeping Warrior’ is a feature documentary about the first female African Lacrosse team. We follow these young women from their homes in Kenya to the World Championships in Canada and see how an unimaginable opportunity transforms their humble lives. From getting their first passports, to discovering how their friends and families react , we learn how the power of sport changes these young women. There is heartbreak, joy and always strength of spirit.

During the course of filming, one player discovered that her deceased mother might be alive after all, so we follow her dramatic journey to find her real family. The title comes from a mountain the girls train under in Kenya called ‘Sleeping Warrior’ and these young women are so strong, yet have been oppressed their whole lives, they are truly warriors.

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Dom Salvador and Abolition – dir. Lilka Hara, Artur Ratton

Original Film Title: Dom Salvador and Abolition

Director’s Name: Lilka Hara, Artur Ratton

Writer’s Name: Lilka Hara, Artur Ratton

Producer’s Name:Lilka Hara, Artur Ratton

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English, Portuguese

Runtime: 1 hour 18 minutes

Film Description:

An immersive journey, Dom Salvador and Abolition is the untold story of Dom Salvador, an Afro-Brazilian musician who found a home in New York. Departing at the height of Brazil’s military dictatorship in 73’, Salvador left behind an enormous shadow.

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Luna – dir.  Jacopo Matteo Golizia

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.

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The Marsh – dir. Marcus Soederlund

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.