Category: BEST STUDENT FILM – 2025 ARFF AMSTERDAM

(Honorable Mention)

Original Film Title: Gyre

Director’s Name: Michal Dawidowicz

Writer’s Name: Michal Dawidowicz

Producer: Michal Dawidowicz

Country of Origin: Poland

Country of Filming : Poland

Language:

Runtime: 23 minutes 43 seconds

Film Description:

“Gyre” is a story about an egocentric, self-confident man focused strongly on his career. At some point, fate gives him a chance to get lost on his too simple path and look at himself, at his loved ones, from a previously unknown perspective.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: 21st Century

Director’s Name: Mustafa Mert Yagci

Writer’s Name: Mustafa Mert Yagci

Producer: Mustafa Mert Yagci

Country of Origin: Italy, Turkey

Country of Filming : Italy

Language: Bulgarian, Chinese, English, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Turkish

Runtime: 22 minutes 28 seconds

Film Description:

People born between 1997-2002 from 8 different countries and 4 different continents answer one simple question. People who have spent their entire conscious lives in the 21st century answers the question: ‘What is the worst thing happen in 21st Century’

(Winner)

Original Film Title: A NECESSARY TRIP

Director’s Name: Laura Roxley

Writer’s Name: Laura Roxley

Producer: Verónica Estrugo

Country of Origin: Mexico

Country of Filming : Spain

Language: Spanish

Runtime: 2 minutes 57 seconds

Film Description:

Aru is ready to go out partying when a mysterious object calls him into alternate, surreal dimensions. On this intense journey, he faces confusion, resistance, and the conflicts of his own ego, undergoing a process of self-discovery that challenges his perception of reality.

(Honorable Mention)

Original Film Title: When the curtain falls

Director’s Name: Dominique Pierre Lüthi

Writer’s Name: Dominique Pierre Lüthi

Producer: Dominique Pierre Lüthi

Country of Origin: Switzerland

Country of Filming : Switzerland

Language: German

Runtime: 15 minutes 44 seconds

Film Description:

A couple, marked by a tragic event, struggles with the aftermath that has changed their lives forever. In the midst of a tense conversation filled with blame, assumptions, frustration, anger, and grief, a third presence lingers in the room, seemingly responsible for it all. While everyone has something to hide, one of them carries a terrible secret.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: A Chime in the Dark

Director’s Name: Sylvester Le

Writer’s Name: Sylvester Le

Producer: Sylvester Le

Country of Origin: Netherlands

Country of Filming : Netherlands

Language: English

Runtime: 5 minutes 7 seconds

Film Description:

Albus, a cat wizard, journeys into a lifeless forest to fulfill his late mentor’s final wish: restore the once-vibrant land. As he conjures a powerful potion, he is interrupted by a glowing spirit, Pipu, offering a simple leaf. Dismissing it as a distraction, Albus repeatedly banishes the spirit—eventually casting it off a cliff. But when his spell fails and all hope seems lost, Pipu returns, offering not only a flower but a new path. By finally accepting the spirit’s help, Albus completes the ritual, and the forest comes back to life. Through this act, Albus finds peace, connection, and renewal.

(Honorable Mention)

Original Film Title: The Missing Part

Director’s Name: Marv Hathim

Writer’s Name: Marv Hathim

Producer: Remy Spaan

Country of Origin: Netherlands

Country of Filming : Netherlands

Language: English

Runtime: 12 minutes 2 seconds

Film Description:

When a friend goes missing during a weekend getaway, Frank sets out to find the truth behind the disappearance, only to learn that the truth runs deeper than he could’ve imagined.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: FORGOTTEN SURVIVOR

Director’s Name: Alangkot Chukaev

Writer’s Name: Nachapon Vachin Cherdchoo

Producer:

Country of Origin: Thailand

Country of Filming : Thailand

Language: Japanese

Runtime: 11 minutes 43 seconds

Film Description:

The Forgotten Survivor is a quiet, deeply personal short film — a true story written by a ten-year-old boy who once struggled to breathe in a world thick with polluted air. Through his wide, wondering eyes, we journey across fossil beds, coastal reefs, and the hushed halls of deep-time museums.

Along the way, he meets the crinoid — a delicate-looking marine creature, often overlooked, yet astonishingly resilient. For nearly 400 million years, it has endured. Not strong or swift, the crinoid survives by adapting, waiting, and quietly outlasting extinction after extinction.

Blending intimate storytelling with paleontological exploration, the film blurs the line between documentary and personal essay. In an age that celebrates the dominant and the loud, the crinoid offers a different kind of wisdom: that survival can be silent, strategic, and unseen — and that sometimes, the smallest voices echo across the longest spans of time.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: GAD

Director’s Name: Haruka Kurosu

Writer’s Name: Haruka Kurosu

Producer: Sana Matsuda

Country of Origin: Japan

Country of Filming : Japan

Language: Japanese

Runtime: 32 minutes 54 seconds

Film Description:

Ayumu has an anxiety disorder. While he is unable to distinguish between reality and dreams due to the side effects of his medication, his classmate Akira begins to repeatedly attempt suicide.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: The One in Red

Director’s Name: Nicholas Muzzillo

Writer’s Name: Nicholas Muzzillo

Producer: Lorena Da Cruz, Hayley Kirk

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming : United States

Language: English

Runtime: 16 minutes 38 seconds

Film Description:

A Legendary Ronin.
A Troubled Past.

A Red Ronin, guided by his past to a place of great significance, is hunted by a Gray Ronin, but not for the reasons we think.

(Honorable Mention)

Original Film Title: Kate Can’t Win

Director’s Name: Quincy Marks

Writer’s Name: Quincy Marks

Producer: Quincy Marks

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming : United States

Language: English

Runtime: 8 minutes 20 seconds

Film Description:

Most politicians run to win. Kate Barr is different.