Category: BEST FEATURE FILM – 2024 ARFF PARIS

Original Film Title: Avni Ki Kismat

Director’s Name: Shonet Anthony Barretto

Writer’s Name: Shonet Anthony Barretto, Shaun Ward

Producer: Asit Ghosh, Diana Ghosh

Country of Origin: India

Country of Filming: India

Language:

Runtime: 2 hours 10 minutes 5 seconds

Film Description:

Village inhabitants near a forest in India are being killed by an unknown animal. Instigated by corrupt officials and the media, the villagers are inclined to believe that Avni, a tigress from the neighbouring forest, is responsible for the deaths. Avni is then labelled a man-eater without any evidence and this irresponsible act puts her life in danger, as fearful villagers call for her execution. Mihir Ghosh, a tiger conservationist from the city, works with his friends in the local Forest Department and with village leaders to educate the people about coexisting with wildlife. While the country is divided into people who support the execution and others who protest it, Mihir and his friends challenge the official narrative intended to slander Avni, and work towards uncovering the agenda behind the shoot-to-kill order.

Original Film Title: Tricked and Treated

Director’s Name:  Victoria Monai Richards

Writer’s Name: Victoria Monai Richards, Sherrie Richards, Michael Anthony Snowden

Producer: Sherrie Richards, King Hoey, Joel Harold, Joseph Harold, Grant Gilmore, Victoria Monai Richards, Tichina Arnold

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 1 hour 39 minutes

Film Description:

Tricked and Treated is a heartwarming, race against time comedy, that follows three inseparable college friends; Noble, Sunshine, and Nigeria; on an outlandish journey to find Noble’s ailing PawPaw.

After Noble receives disturbing news of her PawPaw’s deteriorating health, she and her two best friends leave school to spend what could be their last Christmas with him. Shortly after their arrival, PawPaw mysteriously disappears. With the help of her street reformed Auntie and a host of other mysterious, nefarious, and eccentric characters, Noble and her two best friends embark upon a wild, hilarious, and unpredictable search and rescue mission to find her PawPaw. With the clock ticking on his failing health and Christmas around the corner, will Noble and her friends find PawPaw in time or will they be taken too?

Original Film Title: The Strangers’ Case

Director’s Name:  Brandt Andersen

Writer’s Name: Brandt Andersen

Producer: Ossama Bawardi

Country of Origin: Jordan

Country of Filming: Jordan, Turkey

Language: Arabic

Runtime: 1 hour 43 minutes 15 seconds

Film Description:

In Sir Thomas More, Shakespeare wrote a speech in which More makes a passionate defence for refugees, pleading for empathy from his fellow countrymen and culminating in a poignant description of the plight of refugees – “The Strangers’ Case” – which persists today.

A doctor and her daughter come home following a chaotic shift at an Aleppo hospital. In the midst of a birthday celebration the two women are forced to make a difficult decision that will forever change their lives and their relationship.

A soldier witnesses heinous crimes towards men, women and children in service of the Syrian regime. As the violence and corruption escalate, he finds himself reevaluating his own humanity.

A smuggler in Turkey tries desperately to make ends meet for his young son. In an effort to save enough money to afford their own escape, he arranges for passage to Greece on inflatable liferafts to refugees in a nearby camp for a steep price.

A poet who has made it to the safety of a Turkish refugee camp with his young family barters for space on an overcrowded boat, which is pushed out into rough seas, bound for Greece.

A Greek coastguard captain spends his days and nights rescuing sinking lifeboats full of migrants off the coast of Lesvos, constantly haunted by those he wasn’t able to save.

Original Film Title: The Imposters

Director’s Name:  Nicholas Winter

Writer’s Name: Nicholas Winter

Producer: Nicholas Winter

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Country of Filming: United Kingdom

Language: English

Runtime: 1 hour 28 minutes

Film Description:

Maya has just split from her long-term girlfriend and meets the enigmatic Hattie. Together they travel to Hattie’s house, and Maya is impressed with Hattie’s success and attitude towards life. They fall for each other, but soon, things begin to unravel as Maya realises that Hattie is perhaps not who she says she is, and everything is not as it seems.

Original Film Title: The Ride

Director’s Name:  Adam Marino

Writer’s Name: Joe Costa,

Producer: Denise Carey-Costa

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 1 hour 28 minutes

Film Description:

After causing a fatal hit and run, a pregnant woman decides to leave the world she once knew behind her. While driving aimlessly through the night she encounters several characters along the way who try to help her make the right decision.

Original Film Title: The Tale of Billy O’C

Director’s Name:  Pete Harris

Writer’s Name: Pete Harris

Producer: Pete Harris, Shane O’Keeffe

Country of Origin: Ireland

Country of Filming: Ireland

Language: English

Runtime: 25 minutes

Film Description:

In 1970s rural Ireland, the murderer of an IRA safe house operative, must be stopped before executing his master plan.