Category: Best Short Film – 2026 ARFF Barcelona

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: THE HOUSE GIRL

Director’s Name: Siraje Serunjogi

Writer’s Name: Siraje Serunjogi

Producer: IMACULATE MUGANZI

Country of Origin: Uganda

Country of Filming: Uganda

Language: English

Runtime: 22 minutes 21 seconds

Film Description:

When a teenage girl arrives in the city with nothing but a plastic bag of belongings, she hopes to find work and stability. She lands a job as a maid in a middle-class household, where a strict and callous woman lives with her two children. From the start, she is met with cruelty—endless chores, harsh words, and a growing sense of worthlessness. The woman’s young son follows suit, treating her with disdain, making her existence a silent battle for dignity.

As the mistreatment continues, the maid’s emotional turmoil festers, pushing her to the edge. One evening, after a particularly harsh scolding, she reaches her breaking point. In the kitchen, she prepares drinks for the family—but this time, she considers a drastic act. As she watches the woman and her son suffering from poisoning, the horror of her actions unfolds—until a sudden noise pulls her back to reality. It was only a dark thought. Shaken and overwhelmed, she rushes away, leaving behind a scene that never happened, but one that reveals just how close she was to the edge.

Silent Cries is a gripping psychological drama that explores abuse, resilience, and the fragile boundary between victimhood and vengeance.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: DESEO

Director’s Name: Sebastian Carpio

Writer’s Name: Sebastian Carpio, Javier frausto

Producer: enrique bravo, bertha avila

Country of Origin: Mexico

Country of Filming: Mexico

Language: Spanish

Runtime: 7 minutes 15 seconds

Film Description:

Barbara, a seven-year-old girl, wishes with all her heart to have a little brother. At school, she makes up a story that her mother is pregnant. When the teacher congratulates her mother in front of everyone, the lie turns into an uncomfortable mirror. Her mother, taken by surprise, does not deny it. Little by little, she comes to understand that her daughter’s longing is born from the emptiness left by a broken marriage—a truth she herself does not dare to face.
DESEO is an intimate and delicate portrait of innocence, the need for love, and the silences woven within a family that no longer knows how to remain a family.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Servants in Disguise

Director’s Name: Donghun LEE

Writer’s Name: Jaeyoung WOO

Producer: Jiyoung Lee

Country of Origin: Korea, Republic of

Country of Filming: Korea, Republic of

Language: English

Runtime: 5 minutes 15 seconds

Film Description:

In a future society divided by technology, Omega is a high-tech robot butler working for a wealthy family.
Wanting to become more human, he lives with Iota, a clumsy old robot. But as Iota’s strange behavior continues, Omega grows suspicious.
When he discovers the shocking truth, everything changes in this story about identity and humanity.

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: The Last Sun

Director’s Name: Nigel Canepa

Writer’s Name: Orlando Charvetto

Producer: Lynn Hardy

Country of Origin: Gibraltar

Country of Filming:Gibraltar

Language:

Runtime: 19 minutes 51 seconds

Film Description:

In a future where the sun is blocked and humanity is forced underground, Gibraltar holds the last light. Lena, a former scientist, strives to bring back the sun. One day, a stranger arrives with ancient knowledge and new hope.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Bulletproof Baby

Director’s Name: Chris Benner

Writer’s Name: Chris Benner

Producer: Chris Benner, Jennifer Trainer

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 21 minutes 30 seconds

Film Description:

On the eve of the apocalypse, three friends host a party that turns into a reckless, soul-baring disaster. As the night unravels, relationships crack and reality sets in. Before the world ends, they’ll have to survive each other—and the party—first.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Sweet Spiral

Director’s Name: Angela King

Writer’s Name: Angela King

Producer: Angela King

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 4 minutes 5 seconds

Film Description:

One woman’s descent into the uncharted waters of love and infidelity. Her torn decision to enter into a doomed relationship, the most powerful drug of all, is a journey into a quagmire of emotion. Free will can be a scary ride for some and dangerously sweet for others. When you are being pursued by the man of your dreams, is it best to run from him as fast as you can?

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: Built By Hand. Born From The Soul

Director’s Name: Maja Korycinska, Grzegorz Korycinski, Victoria Roi

Writer’s Name: Maja Korycinska, Grzegorz Korycinski, Loyd Rozzo, Claire Rozzo

Producer: Maja Korycinska, Grzegorz Korycinski, Victoria Roi

Country of Origin: Portugal

Country of Filming: Portugal

Language: English

Runtime: 6 minutes 29 seconds

Film Description:

“Built By Hand. Born from The Soul” tells the story of Siesta Campers’ origins—a family’s dream that began under an Alfarroba tree, restoring vintage VW Kombis by hand. Each van, carefully rebuilt, carries a spirit of freedom and intentional creation.

That same soul flows into the shaping of surfboards from natural agave, where hands, dust, and dedication bring form to function. From workshops to winding roads, from golden coastlines to rolling waves, the film celebrates heritage, sustainability, and the freedom of vanlife, showing how craftsmanship and soulful travel are inseparable.

(WINNER)

Original Film Title: OFF SCREEN

Director’s Name: Jean Paul PLAZA

Writer’s Name: Jean Paul PLAZA

Producer: Jean Paul PLAZA

Country of Origin: France

Country of Filming: France

Language: French

Runtime: 18 minutes

Film Description:

Simon, a dynamic man in his thirties, divides his time between sports, film, and his job. He’s inseparable from Alice, his loyal and vivacious friend, with whom he shares many passions. During a trip to a flea market, Simon buys a locked box
that seems impenetrable. With persistence, he manages to force it open. Inside, he discovers a camera. Not only does it
work, but it also seems to cause certain events it films to replay themselves.
At first incredulous, he thinks it’s simply a matter of coincidence. But as he films more, he realizes that each scene captured by the camera is repeating itself, sometimes with disconcerting similarity.
Simon quickly becomes obsessed with this extraordinary “toy.” What begins as innocent entertainment will gradually
disrupt their daily lives and sow doubt about the line between staged events and destiny.

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: Twist of Faith

Director’s Name: Anna Pisareva

Writer’s Name: Anna Pisareva

Producer: Anna Pisareva

Country of Origin: Spain

Country of Filming: Spain

Language: English

Runtime: 9 minutes 20 seconds

Film Description:

After years in an abusive relationship, Liz secretly hires a hitman to kill her partner. Haunted by guilt, she falls into a metaphysical realm where a Demon and an Angel embody her inner struggle between revenge and redemption.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: TRUFFAUTNEANDO or TRUFFAUT IN OUR HEARTS

Director’s Name: Cavi Borges

Writer’s Name: Raul de Orofino

Producer: Raul de Orofino

Country of Origin: Brazil

Country of Filming: Brazil

Language: Portuguese

Runtime: 14 minutes 14 seconds

Film Description:

A couple, a woman and a man, who separated during the pandemic, reunite five years later in a movie theater after both have just watched a film by filmmaker François Truffaut. Both have married new partners, and this is their first time seeing each other after all this time. They didn’t know the other was there watching the same film they saw when they first started dating when they were young. He invites her for coffee in the theater lobby, and they begin talking. And it is clear how the cinema of filmmaker François Truffaut marked their lives.