Category: BEST STUDENT FILM – 2025 ARFF BERLIN

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: We Must Create Magnificence

Director’s Name: Hank McNeil

Writer’s Name: Hank McNeil

Producer: Hank McNeil

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 20 minutes 20 seconds

Film Description:

Pennsylvania “Penny” Pearce, a constantly-procrastinating student photographer, put off her thesis for so long that she only has one night to complete her entire project—or she won’t graduate in the morning! Standing in her way is none other than the filmmaker writing her story, whose attempts to raise the stakes for his characters jeopardize Penny’s project.

We Must Create Magnificence was Hank McNeil’s undergraduate thesis film, completed through the University of Notre Dame’s Department of Film, Television, and Theatre.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: The hope of life

Director’s Name: Khorshid Shirvandehi

Writer’s Name: Khorshid Shirvandehi

Producer: Khorshid Shirvandehi

Country of Origin: Iran, Islamic Republic of

Country of Filming: Iran, Islamic Republic of

Language:

Runtime: 2 minutes 43 seconds

Film Description:

A young girl stands before her mirror, haunted by distorted, ugly versions of herself–both who she is now and who she fears she will become. Each reflection deepens her sorrow, drawing her into quiet despair. As her tears fall, the sun presents itself as a symbol of hope, gently shifting her perspective. In its light, she begins to see beyond the surface–to a version of herself not shaped by fear, but by resilience and possibility.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: Without anyone knowing

Director’s Name: Nayeon Kim

Writer’s Name: Nayeon Kim

Producer: Minyoung Seo

Country of Origin: Korea, Republic of

Country of Filming: Korea, Republic of

Language: Korean

Runtime: 17 minutes 5 seconds

Film Description:

Abortion was legalized in South Korea in 2021, but little has changed. There are still no clear laws, no real protection, and no public conversation. Society remains silent — as if legality itself could erase the stigma. But behind closed doors, abortions continue. Quietly. Alone.

Women are left in the shadows, navigating an uncertain legal and emotional landscape. They carry the guilt, confusion, and fear — all by themselves.

This film is based on a real incident that occurred in South Korea. It follows So-young, a high school girl who, in order to undergo an abortion in secret, seeks out a surrogate guardian through a role-acting service. Her story reflects the harsh reality faced by many who are pushed to the margins by a system that fails to protect them.

This film confronts that silence. It gives voice to those left behind and asks: What does it mean to be legal, if no one is truly safe?

There is something that Soyoung, a high school girl, has to do without anyone knowing. Despite having fun with her friends, this continues to bother Soyoung. On the way home after breaking up with her friends, Soyoung goes back the way she came and runs somewhere.

(Winner)

Original Film Title: White Cherry

Director’s Name: Julian Otten

Writer’s Name: Julian Otten

Producer: Julian Otten, Joram Hartmann, Thomas Neubronner

Country of Origin: Germany

Country of Filming: Germany

Language: English

Runtime: 54 minutes 35 seconds

Film Description:

The private detective Cherry learns that an assassination attempt has been made on her brother, a journalist. Cherry feels responsible to continue his research. Neil, her former partner, confronts her with a shared past.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: Going home, a decade later

Director’s Name: Morgan Greenlaw

Writer’s Name: Morgan Greenlaw

Producer: Morgan Greenlaw

Country of Origin: Germany

Country of Filming: Germany

Language: English

Runtime: 8 minutes

Film Description:

Have you ever moved? What was it like going back?

I was born in Germany to American parents, and moved to the United States at seven years old, not returning to Germany until over a decade later. This documentary short tells the story of my experience returning to the home I abruptly left, drawing parallels to 20th century German filmmakers and the concept of vergangenheitsbewältigung: the act of processing the past, through film.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: Lost Haven

Director’s Name: Marisol Diaz

Writer’s Name: Marisol Diaz

Producer: Marisol Diaz

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 13 minutes 52 seconds

Film Description:

Lost Haven is a short film produced by Marisol Díaz-Gordon as she looks back at her father’s traumatic death due to COVID-19 at the beginning of Spring 2020 in New York.

Díaz-Gordon, with the use of black and white photography, openly presents moments of intimacy and venerability in her father’s home as she journeys to connect with what was there.

The short film captures her family’s messages to viewers on Facebook live during the Funeral viewing. Through video, voice-over and song, this short film touches on the agony of human loss.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: Assassination in Progress

Director’s Name: 定坤 倪

Writer’s Name: Dingkun Ni

Producer: Zhitong Zheng

Country of Origin: China

Country of Filming: China

Language: Chinese

Runtime: 35 minutes

Film Description:

Wang Bei, a young man who embarked on the path of assassination in order to raise funds for his girlfriend’s medical expenses, unexpectedly became a hero who acted bravely while tracking his target. After completing his mission, he suddenly woke up and found himself the target of the assassination – a successful entrepreneur facing south, living a luxurious life but feeling empty inside. Just as he yearned to relive his old life, the mysterious Saika technology provided him with an opportunity to change his destiny. Perhaps this time his life would become as he had hoped?

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: As Luna sees…

Director’s Name: Zi Yin

Writer’s Name: Zi Yin

Producer: Zi Yin

Country of Origin: Australia

Country of Filming: Australia

Language: English

Runtime: 5 minutes 29 seconds

Film Description:

Each individual will fills in their own way to fill the void created by death. I try to use the form of animation to tell the story of a girl saying her final goodbye to her kitten. With joy as a passing scene, smiling and waving goodbye.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: Do you want to see me do the striptease too?

Director’s Name: Jingxuan XU

Writer’s Name: Jingxuan XU

Producer: Jingxuan XU

Country of Origin: China

Country of Filming: France

Language: Mandarin Chinese

Runtime: 11 minutes 18 seconds

Film Description:

In a neon-slivered hotel room, a man sets his trap: cameras hidden behind wine glasses, measured lingerie hung like equations. When he leaves, a woman enters. She adjusts his lenses to frame the empty bed, then performs a calculated striptease for the surveillance feed.

As her dance ends, she removes his cameras and installs her own. The arrival of his next target ruptures the room’s fragile geometry. Blood blooms off-screen while lenses multiply—his predatory gaze replaced by her surgical observation.

When she finally packs his original device into her case, we see it now holds a collection of cameras, each bearing traces of viewer fingerprints. The cycle’s true subject emerges: not the hunt, but the eyes queuing to consume it.

(Finalist)

Original Film Title: South Ball North Ball

Director’s Name: Zhangxiang Fan

Writer’s Name: Shan Wang

Producer: Shan Wang

Country of Origin: China, Pakistan

Country of Filming: China

Language: Chinese, English, Russian, Urdu

Runtime: 14 minutes 33 seconds

Film Description:

People from southern and northern countries in China have become friends through two niche sports, cricket and ice hockey, turning swords into plowshares.