Category: BEST STUDENT FILM – 2024 ARFF BARCELONA

Original Film Title: Project Postero

Director’s Name: Siqi Wang

Writer’s Name: Lola J V Garratt

Producer: Siqi Wang

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Country of Filming: United Kingdom

Language: English

Runtime: 10 minutes 22 seconds

Film Description:

Following a fragile victory against a pandemic zombie outbreak, Postero Laboratories claimed mandated licenses to experiment with the core properties of the Z-Virus on voluntary human subjects. To those with debilitating ailments, and terminal diagnoses, they promise healing and “eternal life”.

Original Film Title: Thief

Director’s Name: Liu Yan Hong

Writer’s Name: Liu Yan Hong

Producer: Gou XiangRui

Country of Origin: China

Country of Filming: China

Language: Chinese

Runtime: 17 minutes 22 seconds

Film Description:

“The film ‘Thief’ depicts the hardships of the underprivileged people living in a mega-city, with the aim of provoking people’s reflections on the phenomenon of exclusion in big cities. Zhang Zhibin, a member of the elite class in the city, returns to his hometown in search of a lost ring, and believes that he has caught the thief who stole it, namely Bo An, a member of the underprivileged class who currently possesses the ring. However, Bo An insists that he purchased the ring from a second-hand store, leading to a conflict between the two and triggering tensions between their respective families and social classes.”

Original Film Title: Terrace 

Director’s Name: Zixun Kino Ma

Writer’s Name: Zixun Kino Ma

Producer: Aithan Wang

Country of Origin: Australia

Country of Filming: Australia

Language: English, Mandarin Chinese

Runtime: 3 minutes 57 seconds

Film Description:

On the terrace of a nursing home, a female caregiver finds out that the care recipient has a son preference.

Original Film Title: Orange Shoes

Director’s Name: Stylianos Chrysostomou

Writer’s Name: Stylianos Chrysostomou

Producer: Stylianos Chrysostomou

Country of Origin: Cyprus

Country of Filming: Cyprus

Language: Modern Greek (1453-)

Runtime: 9 minutes 21 seconds

Film Description:

In an attempt to connect with his fiancee who’s she’s locked in a Sanitarium, Pavlos tries to enter in his own will without thinking of the consequences.

Original Film Title: Asfixia

Director’s Name: Luciano Alzate

Writer’s Name: Luciano Alzate

Producer: Luciano Alzate

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: Spanish

Runtime: 12 minutes 33 seconds

Film Description:

A failed writer and his son are stuck in their home after an apocalypse. Tensions rise as the son vies for freedom while the father forces him to write.

Original Film Title: V I A

Director’s Name: Jiaqi Kang, Yilan Huang

Writer’s Name: Jiaqi Kang, Yilan Huang

Producer: Jiaqi Kang, Yilan Huang

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 8 minutes

Film Description:

Set in the far future, the nomads journey is via various landscapes, where the boundaries between technology and nature have blurred, a new era has dawned. Welcome to “VIA.”
Our story folles a group of nomads, bound by a shared ritual. As they journey through the ever- changing seasons, they become one with nature, adapting and evolving, guided by the wisdom of their ancestors and the teachings of their land.As we witness the boundless potential of a future where we walk, via the beauty of our world and via the adventure of the unknown.

Original Film Title: 镜子上的口红

Director’s Name: Yuxi Zhang

Writer’s Name: Yuxi Zhang

Producer: Yuxi Zhang

Country of Origin: Australia

Country of Filming: Australia

Language: Mandarin Chinese

Runtime: 4 minutes 59 seconds

Film Description:

‘A Masked Figure’ focuses on the topic of ‘smile depression’, a short narrative film that delves into the complex emotions behind the usual outgoing and optimistic individual. The film will focus on the theme of mental health, social expectations and the connections between human relationships in a visually and emotionally resonant manner.

Original Film Title: SITTING THE MONTH

Director’s Name: Felicity LuHill

Writer’s Name: Rebecca Chu

Producer: Felicity LuHill, Rebecca Chu

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English, Mandarin Chinese

Runtime: 18 minutes 20 seconds

Film Description:

A new mother struggles with Chinese postpartum traditions.

SITTING THE MONTH is a carefully considered story about the emotional and cultural complexities of postpartum motherhood, particularly in the absence of one’s own mother. Through Iris, we pivot between cultural experiences and attitudes; a Western perspective lauds new mothers for “bouncing back” while a Chinese belief system encourages rest and recuperation, and it’s between these two cultural points of view that Iris is torn.

Original Film Title: 《就是這樣開始》

Director’s Name: Norman Ng

Writer’s Name: Norman Ng

Producer: Norman Ng

Country of Origin: Hong Kong

Country of Filming: Hong Kong

Language: Yue Chinese (Cantonese)

Runtime: 22 minutes 46 seconds

Film Description:

A lyrical reminiscence of an innocent childhood friendship in Hong Kong in the 80s, when being kind to someone did not requrie a reason like today. Shing’s dad despises Chi, whom he regards as rude. Shing sights Chi, who suffers from polydactyly, being bullied by hooligans. He comforts Chi by secretly letting him do glassblowing at his dad’s workshop secretly. His raged dad finds out and beats him up. Shing eventually wins his dad’s trust, but unintentionally spurs Chi’s low self-esteem, and Chi walks out on him. How will the two boys reconcile?

Original Film Title: Little White Lies

Director’s Name: Jisoo Kim

Writer’s Name: Jisoo Kim

Producer: Jisoo Kim

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: Korean

Runtime: 3 minutes 7 seconds

Film Description:

A story about a girl studying and living alone in New York, who misses her family but tells white lies so that her parents do not worry about her.