Category: 2026 ARFF Barcelona

Posted on

The Last Guest – dir. Colman Otunga

(FINALIST)

Red Carpet & Award Ceremony 🎫 Get Your Tickets

Original Film Title: The Last Guest

Director’s Name:Colman Otunga

Writer’s Name: Colman Otunga

Producer: Sheila Asimwe

Country of Origin: Uganda

Country of Filming: Uganda

Language: English

Runtime: 15 minutes 22 seconds

Film Description:

Faith, poised in her wedding gown and moments away from marrying Jack, is joined by her loyal maid-of-honor and best friend Lori in a lavish bridal suite. Emotions run high as the ceremony nears—but nothing prepares her for the arrival of Michael, her ex-boyfriend, carrying wilted flowers and an even heavier truth.
Michael has just closed a multi-million-dollar deal on the tech startup they once dreamed of. He’s back in Kampala for good—and he wants her to reconsider everything. In a raw, emotionally charged exchange, Michael confesses that he still loves her and asks her not to marry Jack.
What follows is a deeply intimate conversation that unearths shared dreams, broken timelines, and the complex realities of love and growth. Faith must choose between the man who now embodies her past fantasies and the man waiting for her at the altar—representing her steady, chosen future.
In the end, The Last Guest is not a story of betrayal or rekindled romance, but one of acceptance, emotional closure, and the power of making peace with the road not taken.

Posted on

Peach Blossom Spring – dir. Xiaotang Zhou

(FINALIST)

Red Carpet & Award Ceremony 🎫 Get Your Tickets

Original Film Title: Peach Blossom Spring

Director’s Name: Xiaotang Zhou

Writer’s Name: Xiaotang Zhou

Producer: Xiaotang Zhou

Country of Origin: China

Country of Filming: China

Language: Chinese

Runtime: 17 minutes 26 seconds

Film Description:

Two third-grade primary school students were eating spicy strips in the VIP compartment of the toilet. Their secret “peach blossom land” was discovered because the spicy strip sauce accidentally dripped onto their clothes. Under the combined pressure from their parents and teachers, they destroyed their own “peach blossom land” with their own hands.

Posted on

The Sleep of Reason – dir. Aleksandr Akhmedov

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Red Carpet & Award Ceremony 🎫 Get Your Tickets

Original Film Title: The Sleep of Reason

Director’s Name: Aleksandr Akhmedov

Writer’s Name: Aleksandr Akhmedov

Producer: Aleksandr Akhmedov

Country of Origin: Kazakhstan

Country of Filming: Russian Federation

Language: Russian

Runtime: 21 minutes 17 seconds

Film Description:

A renowned poet is haunted by dreams that prophesy his death. Confronted with the choice to surrender to his end or defy destiny, he is drawn into a maelstrom by specters of the past—where time fractures, and the boundaries between memory and prophecy, dream and waking life, dissolve. In this liminal space, the buried truths of his hometown unravel before him.

Posted on

The Queen’s Jewels – dir. Joshua Friedman

(FINALIST)

Red Carpet & Award Ceremony 🎫 Get Your Tickets

Original Film Title: The Queen’s Jewels

Director’s Name: Joshua Friedman

Writer’s Name: Joshua Friedman

Producer: Linda Duncombe

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: Dominican Republic

Language: English

Runtime: 1 hour 43 minutes 14 seconds

Film Description:

The Queen’s Jewels is a classic and timeless tale of adventure. Small-town surfer Beau, our story’s protagonist is thrust into a hunt for Queen Elizabeth of Spain’s long, lost treasure. When Victoria, a rich and ruthless art and antiquities collector orders her crew after Beau, who holds the key to the missing treasure, Beau finds himself embarking on a journey to the Bahamas.
Upon arriving on Andros Island, Beau is introduced to local divers, Lala and Orion who find themselves alongside Beau in the hunt for the priceless jewels. Piece by piece, Beau and his new friends decipher the 300-year-old puzzle leading to the missing treasure all the while evading the looming and dangerous Victoria and her men.

Posted on

THE HOUSE GIRL – dir. Siraje Serunjogi

(FINALIST)

Red Carpet & Award Ceremony 🎫 Get Your Tickets

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.

Posted on

DESEO – dir. Sebastian Carpio

(FINALIST)

Red Carpet & Award Ceremony 🎫 Get Your Tickets

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.

Posted on

Servants in Disguise – dir. Donghun LEE

(FINALIST)

Red Carpet & Award Ceremony 🎫 Get Your Tickets

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.

Posted on

The Last Sun – dir. Nigel Canepa

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Red Carpet & Award Ceremony 🎫 Get Your Tickets

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.

Posted on

Bulletproof Baby – dir. Chris Benner

(FINALIST)

Red Carpet & Award Ceremony 🎫 Get Your Tickets

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.

Posted on

Sweet Spiral – dir. Angela King

(FINALIST)

Red Carpet & Award Ceremony 🎫 Get Your Tickets

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?