Category: Envision Awards – 2025 ARFF Barcelona

Original Film Title: Develop

Director’s Name: Lidewij Hartog

Writer’s Name: Lidewij Hartog

Producer: Lidewij Hartog

Country of Origin: Netherlands

Country of Filming : Netherlands

Language: Dutch

Runtime: 13 minutes

Film Description:

Develop is a short documentary about Ydwer van der Heide.
During a surfing accident, Ydwer became paralyzed from the chest down. But if water is such a vital part of your life and identity, how do you develop this relationship again? This film documents an intimate personal journey, through relationships, the body and photography.

Original Film Title: Good Eggs

Director’s Name: Caleb Weintraub

Writer’s Name: Caleb Weintraub

Producer: Caleb Weintraub

Country of Origin:

Country of Filming:

Language:

Runtime: 8 minutes 29 seconds

Film Description:

Set in a not-too-distant future where humanity has transcended aging, labor, and mortality, Good Eggs centers on a group of “holdouts” who reject post-humanist integration. These mostly elderly residents inhabit decayed, waterlogged Victorian mansions surrounded by overgrown topiary gardens. They embrace analog traditions and absurd rituals: flooding rooms for synchronized swimming, performing cheerleading routines for no audience, clipping hedges only to glue the leaves back on, restoring ruined artworks just to let them decay again, and stacking vintage TVs in playful, chaotic arrangements. Unlike their hyper-advanced counterparts, they permit themselves to feel pain, get nicked when shaving, and age ungracefully.

The tactile, ephemeral existence of the holdouts contrasts with a society that prizes sterile perfection and virtuality. In the hyperfuturized world, people appear perpetually youthful, their ailments seemingly healing on command. Occasionally, drone-like machines breach the mansion’s periphery, observing the residents with a mix of curiosity and detachment. In one pivotal moment, a mechanical insect-like drone delivers an egg—a fragile, enduring symbol of life—to a mechanically augmented man from the futuristic world. This wordless exchange bridges the two realms, offering a reflection on mortality, memory, and the resistance to progress.

Music is a shared language between the holdouts and the insect world. Boisterous and improvised, the holdouts’ compositions stand in contrast to the abstract, holographic performances of the future. They even perform routines for and sometimes with the insects, blending playfulness with poignancy.

Good Eggs explores the bittersweet absurdity and quiet beauty of preserving old ways in a world determined to leave them behind.

Original Film Title: 方舟太魯閣

Director’s Name: CHEN-TANG LEE

Writer’s Name: CHEN-TANG LEE

Producer: SHOU-LI LIU

Country of Origin: Taiwan

Country of Filming: Taiwan

Language: Chinese

Runtime: 23 minutes 30 seconds

Film Description:

Taiwan, an island, stands as an ark in the vast ocean, and Taroko is an “island within the island,” an ark within the ark, carrying and protecting all forms of life. Ark Taroko captures, through imagery, the precious and unique landscapes and life forms within this ark of Taroko, narrating their stories.
The film consists of five parts: “The Natural Ark,” “Guarding the Relicts,” “In the Name of Taroko,” “New Opportunities in Adversity,” and “Echoes in the Gorge.”
In Taroko’s rugged environment, with its high mountains and deep valleys, life thrives from coast to peaks. Each life form adapts and evolves, transforming through environmental challenges to become more unique. Glacial relics, limestone flora, and other species have uniquely evolved here, and within these exceptional mountains and forests, distinctive human cultures have flourished.
“Taroko is an ark for species and people alike,” and Ark Taroko invites you to witness resilient and beautiful life surviving freely amidst these lofty mountains and deep gorges.

Original Film Title: SORNYAK

Director’s Name: Gaspar Avedisyants

Writer’s Name: Gaspar Avedisyants, Polina Shishkina

Producer: JR Cardona

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: Russian

Runtime: 10 minutes

Film Description:

A flower of unknown origin is sprouting in a family’s house, profoundly altering their life.

Original Film Title: If Pigs Could Talk

Director’s Name: Miki Mistrati

Writer’s Name: Miki Mistrati

Producer: Mette Nissen

Country of Origin: Germany

Country of Filming: Denmark, Germany, United Kingdom

Language: Danish, English, German

Runtime: 1 hour 14 minutes

Film Description:

Step into a world where pigs break their silence and reveal their inner lives in “If Pigs Could Talk.” This groundbreaking documentary offers a unique and unprecedented investigation, giving fattening pigs on farms a platform to communicate their thoughts and emotions about their experiences in captivity.

Utilising cutting-edge AI technology, an internationally renowned research group has deciphered the intricate language of pigs, interpreting their vocalisations in ways never before imagined. The film delves deep, capturing pig grunts from large-scale production facilities in Germany and Denmark. In a revealing blind test, researchers decode these sounds to gain genuine insights into the pigs’ perspectives on their living conditions and the gruelling journey of transportation.

This eye-opening exploration challenges our understanding of animal welfare and raises crucial ethical questions about the food industry. “If Pigs Could Talk” is a thought-provoking journey that compels viewers to reconsider what ends on their plate. This is not just a film; it’s a call to reflect on our choices and the hidden voices behind them.

Original Film Title: Artificial

Director’s Name: Jeffrey Carrillo Proano

Writer’s Name: Jeffrey Carrillo Proano

Producer: Alek Barbour

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 21 minutes 18 seconds

Film Description:

In a near future, Alex, an information addict and workaholic struggles between her exploitative corporate job in Augmented Reality Marketing and her desire for artistic expression and freedom. Amidst pressure from her superiors adopting Focus IO, an eye data driven generative Ai, she faces a choice between financial comfort and creative fulfillment. Bumping into Josef, a tech-free, adventurous old friend, rekindles her desire to pursue her truest dreams despite the uncertainties.