Category: BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY – ARFF Amsterdam 2026

Original Film Title: Tyrant

Director’s Name: Julia Rayner

Director of Photography: Reuben Janet Ellis

Writer’s Name: Julia Rayner

Producer: Julia Rayner, Tony O’Reilly, Bradley R. Bernstein

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Country of Filming: United Kingdom

Language: English

Runtime: 19 minutes 45 seconds

Film Description:

In 1688, the Catholic King James II, rules over a troubled nation. With the arrival of the Protestant Prince of Orange in England to usurp the crown, King James has fled the battlefield and cannot be found. A runaway king, mistaken for a priest, is captured and incarcerated in the Mayor’s house. Unable to escape, the King, now stripped of his power, witnesses how his politics and religious ideals have affected the common man. James, a flawed human being, reflects on his dream for religious toleration and absolute sovereignty. Asking God for forgiveness, he maintains the belief that he has a divine right to rule as a monarch and will live to fight another day.

Original Film Title: Just Like That

Director’s Name: Valentine Marynych

Director of Photography: Dmytro Drach

Writer’s Name: Valentine Marynych

Producer: Valentine Marynych

Country of Origin: Ukraine

Country of Filming: Ukraine

Language: Ukrainian

Runtime: 19 minutes 58 seconds

Film Description:

Three amateur thieves attempt to steal a car from a lonely elderly man with a criminal past, but the events of the night take an unexpected turn for both the robbers and their target.

An elderly man has long abandoned his bloody trade as a contract killer to mourn his beloved wife and live out his days in peace. But one night, his quiet life is rudely interrupted by three burglars in colorful masks. Having absolutely no idea who they are dealing with, these rookies simply plan to steal his car. For a seasoned professional, taking out such amateurs is a matter of minutes. What could possibly go wrong? And, most importantly, how does his dead wife fit into all of this? But the routine burglary quickly spirals out of control, delivering shocking surprises for both the homeowner and the unlucky thieves.

Original Film Title: Getting Off The Wheel

Director’s Name: Ming Kwang Hun, Jeremy Ho, Gary Thong

Director of Photography: Magnum Ng

Writer’s Name: Ming Kwang Hun, Jeremy Ho, Gary Thong

Producer: Ming Kwang Hun, Rayen Lim

Country of Origin: Singapore

Country of Filming: Japan

Language: English

Runtime: 48 minutes 28 seconds

Film Description:

Getting Off The Wheel is an intimate, vérité-driven documentary following 10 individuals from Singapore at a 10-day Innerwork Retreat set in the spiritual landscapes of Kumamoto, Koyasan, and Awaji Island, in Japan in the final season of 2025.

Drawn from actual events that unfolded during the retreat facilitated and hosted by award winning master coach and trainer Hun Ming Kwang of Innerwork Circle and guest teachers Dr. Gary Reiss, 8th Dan Shihan Ikeda Hiroshi, 7th Dan Shihan Munetsugu Sakabe, and captured entirely unscripted in One Take, the film captures a profound collective process: Each participant enters with histories marked by trauma, inherited beliefs, family systems, conflict, and unspoken emotional burdens, and each is invited into a space of world work, deep democracy, healing, recalibration as they process, reconcile, and to meet different parts of themselves and each other in a shared sanctuary.

These are not reenactments, but real, unfolding human stories caught in the exact moment of rupture and healing: A three‑generation family sat together in the same space, confronting the intergenerational silences and unspoken histories that have shaped each of their lives, as they examine the possibility of stepping out of the rigid roles and duties they were forced to accept within their family structure and begin to unravel the inherited fractures each of them once carried in silence.

Original Film Title: What We Carry

Director’s Name: Afra AlMarar

Director of Photography: Damien Steck

Writer’s Name: Afra AlMarar

Producer: Najat Abdulrahman

Country of Origin: United Arab Emirates

Country of Filming: United Arab Emirates

Language: Arabic, English

Runtime: 14 minutes 28 seconds

Film Description:

May and Sultan struggle to live within a home consumed by silence after a devastating loss alters their relationship forever. While Sultan clings to hope and the possibility of moving forward, May endures relentless physical pain and carries a secret she cannot bring herself to reveal. As the distance between them grows, old suspicions resurface, and the burden she bears begins to fracture the fragile foundation of their marriage.

Original Film Title: Unyielding

Director’s Name: Luis Ben Renkel, Vincent Wallinger

Director of Photography: Luis Ben Renkel, Vincent Wallinger

Writer’s Name: Luis Ben Renkel, Vincent Wallinger

Producer: Luis Ben Renkel, Vincent Wallinger

Country of Origin: Netherlands

Country of Filming: Hong Kong

Language: English

Runtime: 13 minutes 46 seconds

Film Description:

A documentary about the underground breakdance scene in Hong Kong and their struggles with freedom.

Original Film Title: SILENCE

Director’s Name: Narek Shahverdyan

Director of Photography: Vahe Terteryan

Writer’s Name: Narek Shahverdyan

Producer: Lilit Lilá Hovhannisyan

Country of Origin: Armenia

Country of Filming: Armenia

Language: Armenian

Runtime: 15 minutes 14 seconds

Film Description:

At the Vazgenian Theological Seminary on Sevan Island, young seminarians live, study, and search for a deeper connection with God.
Each follows his own spiritual path.

Among them, a young deacon and musician believes that divine truth can be found through perfect harmony.

Yet, as he immerses himself deeper into music, he approaches an unexpected realization:
God may be heard not in sound, but in perfect silence.

Original Film Title: Isn’t It Called True Love?

Director’s Name: Sean (Seaning) Collins

Director of Photography: Sean (Seaning) Collins

Writer’s Name: Sean (Seaning) Collins

Producer: Ben Munk

Country of Origin: Australia

Country of Filming: Australia

Language: English

Runtime: 10 minutes 10 seconds

Film Description:

A young man relives fractured memories of love and loss, confronting the question of what someone would do for love?

Isn’t It Called True Love? explores love, loss, miscommunication and what happens when you realise too late what someone really meant to you.

Original Film Title: Colour Me Blue

Director’s Name: Saeed Vahidi

Director of Photography : Jimmy Wu

Writer’s Name: Saeed Vahidi

Producer: Saeed Vahidi, Sina Nazarian, Panta Mosleh

Country of Origin: Canada

Country of Filming: Canada

Language: English

Runtime: 18 minutes

Film Description:

Can Emma be brave enough to accept the truth? And what’s actually going to happen with her followers after they find out about the secret in her life?
Colour Me Blue is the story of Emma, a life coach influencer whose unexpected phone call on her husband’s birthday night forces her to finally face the truth. Right as they’re locked together in a 14-day quarantine.