Category: 2025 ARFF Barcelona

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: A Couple of Years

Director’s Name: Lydia Konsta

Writer’s Name: Lydia Konsta

Producer: Apostolos Karoulas

Country of Origin: Greece

Country of Filming : Germany, Greece

Language: Modern Greek (1453-)

Runtime: 1 hour 25 minutes 27 seconds

Film Description:

In 1960, a treaty was signed between Greece and Germany that led almost 600.000 Greeks to immigrate and live as workers in the factories and mines of Germany. Descendants of this migration stream, Teo, Aglaia and Vasso, allow us a glimpse of their daily lives and reveal the effects of that massive population movement on the present and the future: the “meeting” of two cultures and the interaction in today’s socio-political developments. Through them we can recognize the undercurrent that drives their lives and connects them, while at the same time we are meeting the third generation of immigrants, who are neither “foreigners”, nor Germans or Greeks, but in a way citizens of the world, freed from the often limited traditional concept of Homeland.

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: Fight for Ukraine: For the Children

Director’s Name: Karen Floyd

Writer’s Name: Karen Floyd

Producer: Karen Floyd

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming : Ukraine, United States

Language: English, Ukrainian

Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes

Film Description:

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: SITTING STILL

Director’s Name: Gina M Angelone

Writer’s Name: Gina M Angelone

Producer: Gina M Angelone

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming : United States

Language: English

Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes

Film Description:

SITTING STILL is a documentary film that sees the world through the lens of Laurie Olin, a gregarious and irreverent visionary whose humanist approach to urban design has helped define the modern-day city.

The film gives voice to the critical environmental and social concerns that have driven Olin’s vision for over 50 years and affected our collective humanity like no other moment in history.

A contemplative look at the marks we make upon the land and why they matter, SITTING STILL includes the combined wisdom of architectural luminaries Frank Gehry and Billie Tsien, and esteemed landscape designer and fine artist, Walter Hood

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: A Distant Flame

Director’s Name: Sihui Shao

Writer’s Name: Sihui Shao

Producer: Jiajing Zhu

Country of Origin: China

Country of Filming : China

Language: Chinese

Runtime: 23 minutes

Film Description:

A Distant Flame” resembles the endless nostalgic summer I spent back in my hometown Fuxin, a small city in northern China. Growing up, I am always confused about my emotion towards my hometown. To explore these persistent feelings, I chose to make this film back there in Fuxin. This documentary/mockumentary is constructed in three parts: daily life of my grandma who is slowly losing her memories; a friend from Shanghai, who has never been to Fuxin but is cast as a character born in Fuxin; and the monkeys in the only zoo in Fuxin. They compose my complex feelings towards my hometown, which continually sting and tingle, where I see everything as 隔岸观火(A Distant Flame).

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Don’t Forget Me

Director’s Name: Gao Qi Sheng

Writer’s Name: Gao Qi Sheng

Producer: Zhu Ren Wei

Country of Origin: China

Country of Filming : China

Language: Chinese

Runtime: 1 hour 31 minutes 4 seconds

Film Description:

The film Don’t Forget Me chronicles the struggles of a small-town woman grappling with her child’s organ failure, exhausting all efforts to fight for her child’s survival. Concurrently, a young delinquent, confronted with the profound questions of existence after his mother’s brain death, resolves to honor the meaning of life by donating her organs.

The film explores themes of survival and death, as well as each individual’s journey of personal evolution amidst life’s complexities: the path of reconciliation with one’s inner darkness and demons.
Our protagonist’s battle to prolong her child’s life showcases women’s innate spirit of resilience.

Confronted by the relentless gears of destiny in a harsh world, the selfless struggles of ordinary individuals are both heroic and deeply moving. We all endure hardships, facing them, accepting them, growing accustomed to them — perhaps only then can we truly overcome them.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Real Fantasy

Director’s Name: King Man Fung

Writer’s Name: King Man Fung

Producer: Ke Ren Wang

Country of Origin: Korea, Republic of

Country of Filming : Korea, Republic of

Language: English

Runtime: 21 minutes 24 seconds

Film Description:

Jehoon, a financially struggling director who has been waiting for an opportunity for long years, serendipitously secures a commission from the major conglomerate RF Corporation to shoot a promotional film using AI actors. Unfortunately, on the set, AI malfunctions repeatedly, causing disruptions in the shoot and plunging Jehoon into despair. At this critical moment, Minnam, a celebrity with an appearance identical to the AI actor, visits the set, sparking a hopeful idea in Jehoon’s mind. From that point on, the shooting scene gradually takes an unexpected turn…

(WINNER)

Original Film Title: Adelaida

Director’s Name: Tamara Luisa Hernandez

Writer’s Name: Tamara Luisa Hernandez

Producer: Anzhalika Ramaniuk

Country of Origin: Nicaragua

Country of Filming : Nicaragua

Language: Spanish

Runtime: 10 minutes 26 seconds

Film Description:

Based on a true story, a young Nicaraguan woman flees into the jungle, pursued by the ones who love her the most.

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: Chustka

Director’s Name: Anzhalika Ramaniuk

Writer’s Name: Anzhalika Ramaniuk

Producer: Anzhalika Ramaniuk

Country of Origin: Belarus

Country of Filming : Belarus

Language: Belarusian

Runtime: 12 minutes 24 seconds

Film Description:

During World War II, three-year-old Nina finds herself in a German concentration camp, where she is listed as one of the patients scheduled to be burnt the next day. But her seven-year-old brother Kolya decides to risk everything to save his sister, despite the danger.