Category: BEST DOCUMENTARY – ARFF Amsterdam 2026

Original Film Title: Glock ’45 the Movie

Director’s Name: Lisa Hukker

Writer’s Name: Lisa Hukker, Pieter Tensen, Jade Welling, Huub Sijm, Jesper Huisman, Eg de Jong

Producer: Lisa Hukker

Country of Origin: Netherlands

Country of Filming: Netherlands

Language: Dutch

Runtime: 32 minutes 32 seconds

Film Description:

Glock ’45: The Movie is a music documentary about a local but steadily growing Dutch band that blends country, rock ’n’ roll and satire into a flamboyant stage spectacle. Behind the exaggerated American characters lies a close group of friends. The film follows their everyday realities: how they share good and bad times, gain friends, lose friends, write songs, do shows and live their life together on the road. All while exploring how satire, identity and performance collide in a polarized world. As the band searches for unity on stage and in the audience, the documentary asks what it means to build a family through music.

Original Film Title: SEED SATYAGRAHA: THE ADIVASI LEGACY

Director’s Name: Reynaldo Morales

Writer’s Name: Reynaldo Morales

Producer: Reynaldo Morales

Country of Origin: Peru, United States

Country of Filming: India

Language: English, Hindi

Runtime: 1 hour 59 seconds

Film Description:

The film tells the stories and interviews of seed heroes and the emergence of community seed banks in India, connected to the struggles of farmers and researchers for the conservation of ancestral genetic resources with associated traditional knowledge. The testimonies from globally recognized seed savers, such as Vandana Shiva and Cheruyaval Raman, connect across marvelous scenarios in Southern, Northern India and Indian HImalayas to the rights, knowledge systems and relations that all Indigenous Peoples sustain as survivors of different forms of colonization, displacement and migration. The stories that this film brings recall traumatic and meaningful experiences of seed heroes in the context of India’s deep histories and social movements, calling for the viewer’s understanding of how important is that India Adivasi Peoples along with all World Indigenous Peoples reestablish the management of key biological species that are critical for our as well as the planet’s survival.

Original Film Title: PIZZA UNDER FIRE

Director’s Name: ADRIAN PENNINK

Writer’s Name: ADRIAN PENNINK

Producer: HARRY STOURTON

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Country of Filming: Ukraine

Language: English

Runtime: 1 hour 13 minutes

Film Description:

The film goes on the road with a brave group of volunteers who take their converted truck into Ukraine’s Eastern frontline villages to cook and hand out free pizzas. It is a brief moment of respite and joy for brutalised people in these forgotten places. It is also the story of the cumulative psychological stress the villagers….and volunteers are under. And it all takes place against the reminders of a war that is ever present as the Russian offensive closes in.

Original Film Title: The Grand Feast: The Art School at Aintree

Director’s Name: Harry Machray

Writer’s Name: Harry Machray

Producer: Harry Machray, Colin McKeown, Heather Chestnutt

Country of Origin:

Country of Filming:

Language:

Runtime: 56 minutes

Film Description:

Every year, 150,000 members of the public descend upon Liverpool for the three day duration of The Grand National

Festival.

It’s one of our world’s great sporting spectacles as Aintree explodes with excitement, fortune and some of the most glamorous outfits you could

ever hope to see.

Top class horse racing isn’tthe only thing on the menu though…

To coincide with the festival, pioneering chef Paul Askew takes on the challenge ofrecreating the intricate gastronomy of his Art School Restaurant within the

confines of Aintree Racecourse.

Join us, as Paul and his devoted team race to deliver a high end dining experience unlike any other amidst the chaotic backdrop of The Grand National.

As the doors open to the public, can the Art School avoid the many hurdles that stand in the way of them delivering their grand feast?

With revealing access, we follow the sheer amount of hard work and planning that goes into bringing these two disparate worlds together in a pressure cooker

atmosphere.

This is one dash to the finish line that no race, norfood lover can afford to miss!

Original Film Title: FROZEN DAYS

Director’s Name: 青 夏

Writer’s Name: 青 夏

Producer: 青 夏

Country of Origin: China

Country of Filming: China

Language: Chinese

Runtime: 1 hour 46 minutes 46 seconds

Film Description:

The documentary 《FROZEN DAYS》 began filming in 2018 and took six years to complete. It fully records the life and death journey of a patient with motor neuron disease (MND), documenting their physical and psychological changes right up to their passing. The film details the immense pain and helplessness caused by MND, providing the medical community with comprehensive visual data on the pathological progression of the disease. It also serves as a life narrative and a reflection of humanity in a documentary about MND patients. May the medical communities at home and abroad overcome this global terminal illness at an early date!

Original Film Title: ROAD TO 42: A MARATHON STORY

Director’s Name: Darryl A. Aljo

Writer’s Name: Darryl A. Aljo

Producer: Darryl A. Aljo

Country of Origin: Canada

Country of Filming: Canada

Language: English, French

Runtime: 50 minutes 30 seconds

Film Description:

Filmmaker Darryl A. Aljo takes on one of the toughest physical challenges he can think of… A Marathon. This documentary brings us with him in his journey to becoming a marathoner, while showcasing similar experiences from different levels of runners. A running influencer, a pro athlete, and the director of Montreal’s Beneva marathon himself.

Original Film Title: A TROUT AND THE LASTWALTZ

Director’s Name: Asato Sakamoto

Writer’s Name: Asato Sakamoto

Producer: Asato Sakamoto

Country of Origin: Japan

Country of Filming: Japan

Language: Japanese

Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes

Film Description:

── The Masu Salmon’s vital cycle—river to sea and back—is violently interrupted by the pressures of modernization. Through the lens of the masu salmon’s struggle, this documentary questions the natural and cultural losses exacted by our relentless economic development.

Original Film Title: Autism: The Gift in the Curse

Director’s Name: Jonathan Clarke, Robin Andrews

Writer’s Name: Jonathan Clarke, Robin Andrews

Producer: Jonathan Clarke, Robin Andrews, Dez Loveartpix

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Country of Filming: United Kingdom

Language: English

Runtime: 17 minutes 23 seconds

Film Description:

Following award-winning neurodivergent artist and activist Dez (Loveartpix), this raw yet hopeful documentary charts his journey through diagnosis, creativity, and burnout, exposing the unbearable cost of survival in a world without support, and calling for urgent change

Original Film Title: The Poetry Café in Meaux

Director’s Name: Claudine JOLY

Writer’s Name: Claudine JOLY

Producer: Claudine JOLY

Country of Origin: France

Country of Filming: France

Language: French

Runtime: 52 minutes

Film Description:

The Poetry Café in Meaux is an association chaired by Pascal Mora. It is held monthly and takes the form of an open stage for all, regardless of age, gender, religion, poetic or literary tendency.
This documentary, filmed during the spring of 2025, reveals the motivations, creative work and connection with poetry of several authors interviewed. It also allows viewers to listen to their poems being read, recited or sung during the sessions.

Original Film Title: From Sicily to Santo Domingo

Director’s Name: Pablo Lozano

Writer’s Name: Pablo Lozano

Producer: Pedro Garcia, Rafael Llaneza

Country of Origin: Cuba

Country of Filming: Cuba

Language: Spanish

Runtime: 1 hour 16 minutes 10 seconds

Film Description:

Fifty years ago, a timeless classic, The Godfather Part II, was partially filmed in the Dominican Republic. But what global and local forces aligned to make it possible?