Category: 2025 ARFF Amsterdam

(Honorable Mention)

Original Film Title: Why Not Me

Director’s Name: Matt Cohn

Writer’s Name: Matt Cohn

Producer: Matt Cohn

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming : United States

Language: English

Runtime: 1 hour 20 minutes 15 seconds

Film Description:

Once amongst the lowest test scores in the state, Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy now stands as a beacon of hope for the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The culprit: a one woman storm by the name of Dr. Elaine Swafford. Dr. Swafford and co- founder Dr. Sue Anne Wells made a promise for the school: to inspire hope in each girl, positively change her trajectory in life, and empower her to possess infinite choices in the future. Why Not Me? is a feature documentary that tells the inspiring story of how Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy transforms the lives of underprivileged female students. Through the emotional journeys of four gifted students, the film highlights the school’s commitment to changing a flawed educational system and providing these girls with opportunities to support their future.

(Winner)

Original Film Title: JAKE

Director’s Name: Francisco Paco Carrascosa

Writer’s Name: Francisco Paco Carrascosa

Producer: Francisco Paco Carrascosa

Country of Origin: Switzerland

Country of Filming : United States, Switzerland

Language: English, French, German, Swiss German

Runtime: 1 hour 56 minutes

Film Description:

JAKE: A 16-year-old Appenzell (Switzerland) girl from a good family gives birth to a child after a language study trip to New York. The father: African-American, unknown. The child is immediately given up for adoption by the mother’s family. She is given the name Jacqueline and grows up in a rural, conservative, strictly Catholic environment. At the age of eight, she realizes that she was born into the wrong body. Jacqueline now knows that she is a boy. Three years later, the teenager discards the hated girl’s name and henceforth calls herself Jeremy. He embarks on a long journey of identity search and transformation, characterized by inner turmoil, drama and conflict.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: Brasse Vannie Kaap

Director’s Name: Lauren Scholtz

Writer’s Name: Lauren Scholtz

Producer: Lauren Scholtz

Country of Origin: South Africa

Country of Filming : South Africa

Language: Afrikaans

Runtime: 1 hour 14 minutes

Film Description:

BRASSE VANNIE KAAP is a captivating and emotional documentary film about an iconic South African Hip Hop group “Brasse Vannie Kaap” (BVK) who exploded onto the music scene during the pivotal early years of the new South Africa. Various group members and a host of local celebrities (Early B, Jack Parow and more), reflect deeply on BVK’s remarkable journey and their undeniable impact. The film also takes a behind-the-scenes peek at how Grandmaster Ready D and DJ Azuhl plan an intimate tribute show in honour of BVK’s late frontman Mr Fat aka Ashley Titus. It culminates with a nostalgic reunion performance that evokes the memory of a unique and special era in South African history and celebrates the legacy of this influential group.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: Becoming aNader

Director’s Name: Hanita Admony Atoun, Roy Dagon

Writer’s Name: Hanita Admony Atoun, Roy Dagon

Producer: Oded Kessler, Sun Bar

Country of Origin: Israel

Country of Filming : Israel

Language: Hebrew

Runtime: 1 hour 19 minutes 13 seconds

Film Description:

Becomin aNader is a documentary about Dr. Oded Kessler, a successful mainstream doctor, who is exposed to the mind-body connection after a family medical crisis brings him to study with Dr. Nader Bhutto. Oded embarks on a brave candid journey of spiritual healing, revealing stories from the past, while his fellow students are the ones treating him. The journey connects him to his life’s calling, opening the door to the medicine of the future and brings the group closer together as family.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: Broad Minded City

Director’s Name: Quirino de la Cuesta

Writer’s Name: Quirino de la Cuesta

Producer: Quirino de la Cuesta

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming : United States

Language: English

Runtime: 2 hours 8 minutes

Film Description:

Broad Minded City is a full-feature documentary film about Urban Planning, Design and Architecture exploring the relationship between Frank Lloyd Wright’s urban model, “Broadacre City,” and today’s urban sprawl. It investigates the origins of Broadacre City, the similarities/dissimilarities between Broadacre City and today’s urban sprawl, and the challenges today’s cities facing a sustainable future and a new urban typology addressing these issues.

This film features interviews of former apprentices of Frank Lloyd Wright, well-known architects, urban theorists, designers, city planners, artists, community activists and transportation experts. In the interviews, they discuss transitioning for a viable, livable, sustainable and equitable future through civic engagement, grass-roots campaigning, and a better understanding what Broadacre City was about. Plus, how Broadacre City did or didn’t influence today’s urban sprawl like Los Angeles, Detroit, Phoenix, and other western cities dominated by the automobile is open to discussion. The question is “Where do you go?” when there is an ever-present need to change the present urban model.

The film also focuses on the greater Los Angeles area as a case study in urban development, transportation infrastructure, density, urban design, open space and housing dealing in transitioning away from the suburbia model. The present Los Angeles is in the midst of transitioning communities, street design, mobility, environmental impact, identity, bringing nature into the equation and the role of architecture and design.

Frank Lloyd Wright, considered the greatest American architect, developed the term and the philosophy of “Organic Architecture” that was reflective of his life’s work. He influenced the world with his approach to urban planning, design and architecture via his urban concept model Broadacre City, and how it was misunderstood as the progenitor of urban sprawl. It’s more important at present to understand Broadacre City concepts and to apply those concepts of organic living to today’s urban approach.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: Halal Dreams

Director’s Name: Mohammed Mamdouh

Writer’s Name: Mohammed Mamdouh, Jumana Radi

Producer: Jumana Radi, Yauheniya Ramanovich

Country of Origin: United Arab Emirates

Country of Filming : United States

Language: Arabic, English, Georgian, Korean

Runtime: 8 minutes 10 seconds

Film Description:

On a cold night, under the pulse of neon and motion, an Egyptian halal food truck worker spends his day trying to call his daughter. Each time he picks up the phone, the city itself reaches out not as a disruption, but as a living presence. What unfolded became a way to see life from the ground up, not through skylines, but through the rhythm of those who serve, feed, and carry its stories. It’s a story about longing, and the quiet weight of trying to stay close to someone you love in a place that never stands still.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: The lit-up calm

Director’s Name: Hisashi Arima

Writer’s Name: Hisashi Arima

Producer: Shinji Aoki

Country of Origin: Japan

Country of Filming : Japan

Language: Japanese

Runtime: 1 hour 27 minutes 30 seconds

Film Description:

The setting is Suzu City, Ishikawa Prefecture. On May 5, 2023, at around 14:42, the “Reiwa 5 Noto Earthquake” struck the Okunoto region of Ishikawa Prefecture, recording a maximum seismic intensity of 6+. The town was aiming for recovery from the earthquake’s damage. The festival-loving locals somehow managed to make their festival a success and began their path to recovery.

January 1, 2024, at 16:10. Once again, Suzu City was hit by the “Reiwa 6 Noto Peninsula Earthquake.” Despite the catastrophic situation caused by repeated earthquakes, the people of Suzu were determined to rise again

(Honorable Mention)

Original Film Title: NO FLOWERS

Director’s Name: MAURIZIO MALIORE

Writer’s Name: MAURIZIO MALIORE

Producer: MAURIZIO MALIORE

Country of Origin: Italy

Country of Filming : Italy

Language: Italian

Runtime: 1 hour 9 minutes

Film Description:

NO FLOWERS (Nessun Fiore) is an independent documentary that tackles a dramatically topical issue: sexual violence as a weapon of war. Through the voices of women who bear witness, analyse and recount their memories, the film tells how sexual violence has been used over the centuries as a tool of domination and annihilation.
From ancient Greece to Italy devastated by the “marocchinate” of the Second World War, to Bosnia in the 1990s, Nessun Fiore denounces a crime that, despite changing its face and context, has never ceased to exist. Women have learned to defend themselves and be resilient even in the face of such heinous violence.
Among the protagonists are Luciana Romoli, a partisan courier, Azra Nuhefendic, a Bosnian journalist, and Gabriella Geraci, a psychologist, who explore individual and collective trauma. Also contributing are Tibisay Ambrosini, coordinator of the Stop Rape Italia campaign, and Emiliano Ciotti, president of the Associazione Vittime delle Marocchinate (Association of Victims of the Marocchinate), which has collected over 20,000 documents on these forgotten acts of violence.
Ilaria Patamia gives voice to the Greek chorus that unites myth and history, Paola Diegoli pays tribute to the victims of every war, and Roberta Biagiarelli, who has been committed for years to recounting the tragedy of Srebrenica (this year marks the 30th anniversary of the genocide), reminds us how necessary it is to continue to tell the story.
In what Pope Francis has called “the third world war in pieces”, Nessun Fiore questions whether these historical acts of violence are also at the root of the growing brutality in times of peace: femicide, domestic abuse, silent oppression.
Nessun Fiore is an act of memory, justice and truth.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: Dogs and War in Ukraine

Director’s Name:AKANE YAMADA

Writer’s Name: AKANE YAMADA

Producer: TAKASHI SHINOMIYA

Country of Origin: Japan

Country of Filming : Japan, Poland, Ukraine

Language: English, Japanese, Polish, Ukrainian

Runtime: 1 hour 49 minutes

Film Description:

In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
One month later, director Akane Yamada traveled to the country.
Since the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, Yamada has focused her work on documenting the lives of animals in disaster zones, including the 20-kilometer exclusion zone around the Fukushima nuclear power plant.
At the border with Poland, she witnessed animal welfare organizations from around the world mobilizing to help refugees and their pets.
Even during wartime, some Ukrainians continued to adopt dogs and cats from shelters—animals who, in turn, provided comfort to hearts wounded by war.
Meanwhile, in Borodianka, near Kyiv, a large number of dogs were found dead.
Shocked by the horrifying footage, Yamada spent three years investigating the tragedy to uncover the truth.
In June 2023, she met the women who had rescued dogs from the Borodianka shelter.
Through them, she identified the person in charge and discovered that the shelter had been abandoned during the Russian occupation.
During her reporting, the Kakhovka Dam was destroyed, flooding the Kherson region.
Yamada traveled with a Ukrainian animal rescue team to document efforts to save abandoned animals—dogs and cats left behind—while Russian forces loomed on the opposite bank of the river.
She continued following those who risk their lives to save animals in the most dangerous frontline areas.
In July 2024, she rushed to a children’s hospital in Kyiv that had just been struck by a missile attack.
Through the stories of people who refuse to abandon animals even amid the devastation of war, this documentary portrays the resilience and dignity of those who refuse to surrender to violence.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: Following In The Footsteps of My Ancestors – dir.

Director’s Name: Ute Koehler, Katherin Wermke

Writer’s Name: Ute Koehler

Producer: Ute Koehler, Katherin Wermke

Country of Origin: Germany

Country of Filming : Austria, Germany, Poland, Ukraine

Language: German, Polish

Runtime: 60 minutes 6 seconds

Film Description:

“Following in the Footsteps of My Ancestors” is a personal documentary film by Ute Köhler about her family history. The filmmaker embarks on an extraordinary journey to retrace the emigration route of her ancestors, who emigrated from southern Germany to Galicia (present-day Poland) in the 18th century and later to Volhynia (Ukraine).
The film begins with Ute Köhler’s own hike from Dolgesheim to Ulm in southern Germany, followed by a bicycle tour along the Danube to Vienna (Austria). This is the same route taken by her ancestors from five generations back, 240 years ago. Through interviews with witnesses such as her great-uncle Ludwig Zimmermann, who was born in Volhynia in 1902, as well as conversations with historians and archivists in Poland, the moving emigration story of German colonists unfolds.
The documentary shows how her ancestors lived as farmers in German colonies, for example in Hohenbach and Reichsheim in the Vistula triangle in Galicia and later near the city of Lutsk in Volhynia in the 19th and early 20th centuries, until they were forced to flee again during World War I. Ludwig Zimmermann’s family was deported to the Russian interior in 1915 and returned to Germany in 1918. The film combines personal investigation with historical analysis and culminates in Ute Köhler’s decision to process this family history into a novel, a literary tribute to her courageous ancestors.