Category: BEST ANIMATION & VFX – 2024 ARFF BERLIN

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Where the two seas meet

Director’s Name: Motaz H Matar

Writer’s Name: Motaz H Matar

Producer: Elizabeth D. Matar

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 30 minutes

Film Description:

In this animated short drama, Yassin is pressured by his brother, Bader, to take a job translating letters in Arabic for the Museum of Seville with the idea that they can steal a valuable tapestry to avenge Bader’s perceived mistreatment of their Andalusian heritage. But this gets more complicated as Yassin falls in love with the museum curator, Mira, and both dive deeper into letters that Yassin is translating: letters from the mystic Ibn Arabi, exploring the secrets of the universe and spiritual awakening. When push comes to shove, guns drawn and chase at hand, Yassin has to define for himself what it means to stand up for his identity.

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: SHINE animation

Director’s Name: Gediminas Pranckevicius

Writer’s Name: Helen Jane Long

Producer: Helen Jane Long

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Country of Filming: Lithuania

Language: English

Runtime: 3 minutes 21 seconds

Film Description:

Animation for the song SHINE inspired by the people in our lives who are there during our tough times

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Yu the Great: Legends Rising

Director’s Name: Yong Jun Su

Writer’s Name: Jin Wei Xie, Shan Zhen Xiao

Producer: Zhu Bing Lee, Hong Mei Tang

Country of Origin: China

Country of Filming: China

Language: Chinese

Runtime: 13 minutes

Film Description:

The story starts from the painting inspection conducted by two middle school students Xiaotian and Gina in modern times, and tells the life experience of ancient young Yu in the West Qiang Kingdom.

It is independent story every two or four episodes to tell us how YU, the legendary hero who tamed the rivers in central and east China and founded first dynasty founder in Chinese history grew up when he was child.

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: Journey to the West

Director’s Name: Xinsong Liu

Writer’s Name: Chuan Shi, Jun Hua

Producer: Zhu Bing Lee

Country of Origin: China

Country of Filming: China

Language: Chinese

Runtime: 13 minutes

Film Description:

The elderly Wu Cheng’en traveled to the westward journey town at the foot of Mount Fu in Zongyang with his first draft of “Journey to the West”, and was attracted by the rich westward journey culture and strange scenery here. The highlights of Journey to the West emerged in his mind one after another, and finally he completed the final draft of “Journey to the West”.

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: Master Carpenter·Legacy of Luban

Director’s Name: Yong Jun Su

Writer’s Name: Jin Wei Xie

Producer: Zhu Bing Lee

Country of Origin: China

Country of Filming: China

Language: Chinese

Runtime: 13 minutes

Film Description:

It tells the story of a carpenter genius Xiaokang who unlock the thousand-year-old Luban lock with wisdom, explore the mystery of carpenter skills with the mortise and tenon elves in the lock, practice the craftsman spirit with persistence and hard work, learn and compete with other students on campus, and finally achieve a win-win situation, help people solve problems, understand the spirit of craftsmanship, and inherit the culture of craftsman.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: IRaH

Director’s Name: Sam Bhattacharjee

Writer’s Name: Sam Bhattacharjee, Sara Bodinar, Luke Hetherington, Claudiu-Cristian Prisecaru, Sudhanshu Dube

Producer: Sam Bhattacharjee, Mitra Bhattacharya

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Country of Filming: United Kingdom

Language: Hindi

Runtime: 2 hours 13 minutes

Film Description:

Everybody wants a piece of Hari Singh and his revolutionary new app: the IRAH 5.10. Sadly, this extends to kidnappers, Police, Cyber Security Agencies and international hackers.

(WINNER)

Original Film Title: New Idea

Director’s Name: Marko Bosanac

Writer’s Name: Marko Bosanac

Producer: Marko Bosanac

Country of Origin: Serbia

Country of Filming: Serbia

Language: English

Runtime: 11 minutes 58 seconds

Film Description:

The “NEW IDEA” is a short animated movie about the inner struggle of a creative mind. Pensilio, Loopito, and Lensio are the characters who represent creativity, research, and production, and they are on a journey to find a new idea. Every scene describes a particular obstacle in the developing process stage of the mind. In the final scene, it will revealed that everything was happening in the head of a teenage girl.

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: Fracti

Director’s Name: Lavinia Petrache

Writer’s Name: Lavinia Petrache

Producer:Lavinia Petrache

Country of Origin: Switzerland

Country of Filming: Switzerland

Language: No Dialogue

Runtime: 5 minutes 34 seconds

Film Description:

Humans live their routines inside a village floating in the sky. What happens when one of them causes the world to end?