Category: Best Music Video – 2026 ARFF Barcelona

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Yellowstone Wild through Time

Director’s Name: Carol J. Amore

Writer’s Name: Carol J. Amore

Producer: Carol J. Amore

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 20 minutes

Film Description:

Connect ancient Yellowstone’s past and present into
an immersive journey of combined high impact visual
and enriched musical experiences.

Some Yellowstone ecosystems include magnificent wildlife
predator-prey territorial interactions (grizzly & black bears,
grey wolves, cougars, lynx, red foxes and more),
colorful geo-thermal formations with ancient microbes,
spectacular hot springs and geyser eruptions,
ever-changing weather patterns, dynamic wind/cloudscapes
as well as amazing celestial night skies.

Witness advanced film technologies using approved Lidar drones, thermal cameras, macro-photography, microscopic filming, high altitude images, time-lapse and slow motion filming to add more visual depth to bring audiences inside
Yellowstone National Park’s extraordinary environment.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Arvo Pärt’s prayer heard & words listened to

Director’s Name: Stephen P. Emery

Writer’s Name: Stephen P. Emery

Producer: Stephen P. Emery

Country of Origin: Canada

Country of Filming: China

Language: English

Runtime: 8 minutes 33 seconds

Film Description:

‘Music~Medicine~Dance’ is a newly formed project that will meet each May to work together under the direction of Stephen Emery. This piece was in our second gathering (May 2025), and part of the larger film called ‘Art Officially Intelligence’. The song & dance just came from nothing , from the moment. A very beautiful moment of Zazen, fortunately captured on film, to share with you..

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Dream State

Director’s Name: Andrea G Tooley

Writer’s Name: Andrea G Tooley

Producer: Andrea G Tooley

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 4 minutes 1 second

Film Description:

Dream State is a short experimental music film that moves between deadpan humor and dreamlike rhythm. Blending parody with atmosphere, it invites the audience into a world where the serious and the surreal overlap.

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: Toxic

Director’s Name: Jaume Roma, Clara Dresaire

Writer’s Name: Jaume Roma, Clara Dresaire

Producer: Clara Dresaire

Country of Origin: Spain

Country of Filming: Spain

Language: Catalan

Runtime: 3 minutes 55 seconds

Film Description:

TÒXIC tells the story of a young woman trapped in a relationship where her effort and affection are not valued, a situation that causes deep emotional wear and tear. Tired of giving more than she receives, she decides to end the relationship and finally dare to pursue her dreams and her own freedom.

The music video combines reality and fantasy, incorporating elements inspired by the world of dolls and objects with a childlike, magical connotation. As the relationship deteriorates, the protagonist doll visually reflects this wear and tear: her initial innocence and fragility are marked by the exhaustion and sorrow caused by the relationship’s dysfunction, and she transforms until she reaches a state of liberation and empowerment.

It plays with dimensions, perspectives, and the interaction between human and magical elements, with visual effects like a flying car that add a surreal and poetic touch. The piece seeks to convey both the vulnerability and the inner strength of the protagonist, inviting the viewer on an emotional and sensory journey through a world where fantasy and reality converge to tell a story of growth, autonomy, and hope.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Beautiful Blur

Director’s Name: Lena Báez

Writer’s Name: Lena Báez

Producer: Lena Báez, Rigel Yaluk Mosquera

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 3 minutes 35 seconds

Film Description:

“Beautiful Blur” is a visual journey through the disoriented beauty of emotional vulnerability. Blending live performance with abstract dream sequences, the music video evokes the sensation of being ungrounded, light, intoxicated, and emotionally adrift. Through soft, cinematic visuals, it drifts through a haze of levitation, memory, and feeling, inviting the viewer to float inside the artist’s inner world. The song’s emotional weight is made tangible as performers rise, untethered by gravity, embodying the metaphor in motion.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Cabaré

Director’s Name: Dude São Thiago, Emerson de Lucca Brandt

Writer’s Name: Emerson de Lucca Brandt, Dude São Thiago

Producer: Dude São Thiago

Country of Origin: Brazil

Country of Filming: Brazil

Language: Portuguese

Runtime: 5 minutes 36 seconds

Film Description:

The clip portrays, through an indigenous method of taming horses, first an imprisonment within unchangeable walls, and then a liberation towards a fusion with nature, an oceanic feeling. Between one state and the other, it is inevitable to pass through the moving body, the dance. The video features impressive landscapes that swallow the human figure, and details of bodies – human and non-human – that contain an entire universe.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Cabaré

Director’s Name: Emerson de Lucca Brandt

Writer’s Name: Emerson de Lucca Brandt, Dude São Thiago

Producer: Dude São Thiago

Country of Origin: Brazil

Country of Filming: Brazil

Language: Portuguese

Runtime: 5 minutes 36 seconds

Film Description:

Drama, body, poetry. Dude São Thiago breathes new fire into brazilians João Bosco & Aldir Blanc’s classic “Cabaré”—a standout from his debut double album O Sexo do Vento. This isn’t just a cover—it’s a reinvention. A ritual. A reclamation.

Blurring lines between music and performance, the track arrives with a visually stunning video feat. non-binary flamenco artist Carlinhos Rowlands, shot by Rinaldo Martinucci and directed by Emerson Brandt.
This is Brazilian songbook tradition flipped through a queer, cinematic lens.

Cabaré hits like a whisper that stings.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: My One and Only

Director’s Name: Daniel V Flores

Writer’s Name: Daniel V Flores

Producer: Daniel V Flores

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 4 minutes

Film Description:

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: WEAK13 – UNPOPULAR

Director’s Name: Nick J Townsend

Writer’s Name: Nick J Townsend

Producer: Nick J Townsend, Wesley Smith

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Country of Filming: United Kingdom

Language: English

Runtime: 3 minutes 54 seconds

Film Description:

Claymation music video for British band WEAK13. Written, animated and directed by Nick J Townsend

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: IRADOH – 3 Acts of Brotherhood

Director’s Name: Kaique Alves, Thiago Eva

Writer’s Name: Kaique Alves, Audrey Nobrega, João Monteiro, Angerson Vieira

Producer: Eduardo Saraiva, Juliana Furtuoso, Priscila Pina,

Country of Origin: Brazil

Country of Filming: Brazil

Language: Portuguese

Runtime: 18 minutes 15 seconds

Film Description:

Inspired by real events and the alarming number of women who go missing in Brazil each year, this musical short film tells the story of a mother who vanishes without a trace—leaving behind three young sons.

As they grow, each son takes a radically different path: one becomes a musician, one becomes a lawyer, and the other falls into crime. The film explores how trauma, environment, and individual choices shape human destiny—underscoring how the absence of a mother can echo through generations.

Through a fusion of music and narrative cinema, the film weaves social commentary with artistic expression. The original score was composed to reflect the emotional evolution of each character and the cultural pulse of Brazil’s urban periphery.

This piece stands out not only for its cinematic ambition—shot as an 18-minute short with a full narrative arc—but also for its purpose: to raise awareness about a silent crisis in Latin America. Co-produced by Sweet Filmes and KondZilla, the film was just nominee for 2025 Latin Grammy Awards in the Best Music Video – Long Form Music Video category