Category: BEST MUSIC VIDEO – ARFF Amsterdam 2026

Original Film Title: Ek kyk na jou

Director’s Name: Anna Elizabeth Verloren van Themaat

Writer’s Name: Anna Elizabeth Verloren van Themaat

Producer: Tristan McCarthy

Country of Origin: South Africa

Country of Filming: South Africa

Language: Afrikaans

Runtime: 3 minutes 25 seconds

Film Description:

The video concept is inspired by Wim Wenders’ 1987 film Wings of Desire. The musicians, who appear in the video as angel-like figures, are woven into the narrative in an unexpected and captivating way.

‘Ek kyk na jou’ explores how we care for one another during times of hardship – and how, even in our darkest moments, we’re never truly alone. There’s a soft, almost invisible presence that watches over us, a quiet calm that surrounds and steadies. The musicians embody that feeling – that protective spirit that’s always there, quietly watching over you.

The video dives into the intricate and complex emotions of grief within a relationship on the brink of ending. Love and longing still linger, yet they intertwine with frustration and the craving for solitude. We strive to create moving visuals that capture the beauty, passion, and tenderness of connection—set against the stark contrast of isolation, vulnerability, and detachment. All the while, ever-present angels watch over, bearing witness to both joy and sorrow.

Original Film Title: I Want Him You Got Him, Music Video

Director’s Name: Glenn Carbol

Writer’s Name: Glenn Carbol

Producer: Glenn Carbol

Country of Origin: Canada

Country of Filming: Canada

Language: English

Runtime: 3 minutes 28 seconds

Film Description:

A music video in the genre of steampunk for the song (available of most streaming platforms) I Want Him You Got Him. The song and the music video were created by one person: the director: Glenn Carbol. Yes, AI was used for the instruments and the video creation but all lyrics, prompting, script, and editing were done by a human. AI was simply the tool that allowed the project to come to life.

Original Film Title: Birds of Amsterdam

Director’s Name: Bruno Sãnto

Writer’s Name: Bruno Sãnto

Producer: Marcos Souza

Country of Origin: Brazil

Country of Filming: Brazil

Language:

Runtime: 4 minutes 1 second

Film Description:

Through the sounds of a city, we discover and reveal a different side of a metropolis. By interpreting the music hidden within these urban sounds, you experience the city in a completely new way. When Brazilian musician Marcos Souza lived in Amsterdam, he began listening closely to the sounds of the canal city. Inspired by the years he spent producing the Festival Instrumental SESC Rio (2000–2009)—where he collaborated with artists such as Hermeto Pascoal, Sivuca, and Naná Vasconcellos—Marcos learned to hear the wind, the birds, the traffic lights, the opening bridges, the trams, the bicycles…

From this soundscape emerged the music for a new project, born from rehearsals with Kurdish dancer Badeen Pedawi, who lives in the Netherlands. The project was called Winds of Amsterdam and resulted in an album.

With Brazilian music as its foundation, and baião as its rhythmic base, the project took shape as a live piano-and-dance duet in Amsterdam, performed in 2009 at the Engelenbak Theatre.

Now, Marcos releases a new music video directed by Bruno Sãnto to celebrate the success of the track “Birds of Amsterdam”, which has already been streamed nearly 100,000 times on Spotify!

Original Film Title: SVTEUNG MVLI: The Land of the Living

Director’s Name: Qianhui Huang

Writer’s Name: Qianhui Huang, Yonghua Chen

Producer: Yan Xiao

Country of Origin: China

Country of Filming: China

Language: Chinese

Runtime: 25 minutes 12 seconds

Film Description:

The film is for Derung people, one of the smallest ethnic minorities in China, and the primary spoken language in this film is Derung language. We vibrantly expressed their energetic and poetic temperament, strong ethnic identity, as well as profound and mysterious cultural heritage.

This was my initial attempt to depict people with fundamentally different tradition, culture, art and the way of life from us. With rich sensitivity and thoughtfulness, we approached and walked in Derung people, who live for generations along the Derung River Valley in the northwestern region of Yunnan Province, bordering Tibet Autonomous Region to the north and Myanmar to the south.

In making this film, I combined poetic artistic expression with cultural research depth and documentary sincerity. I adopted anthropological fieldwork methodology to live with the Derung people, without disturbing or consciously influencing them. We gave one camera to local people and we used several portable cameras to politely capture meaningful and vivid moments. The distinction between the photographer and the photographed vanished, as they were not acting but simply living in front of our cameras. Additionally, with unique visual composition and color scheme, the film blurred the boundaries between present and past, reality and illusion, thus opened up abundant possibilities and inspiration for LIFE itself.

Derung cultural treasures such as epic, folk songs, group dances, rituals, and daily life of the Derung were powerfully depicted in this film. For instance, we filmed a 92-year-old woman singing the epic The Birth of the World, which is about to be lost, new-year folk songs and group dances, animal deity worship ritual and so on. We integrated unique cultural symbols into the film, such as the hearth (symbolizing the life of the tribe and the entrance to celestial realm), butterfly (symbolizing the soul), rainbow, cave and so on.

Derung language is ancient and structurally distinct from the languages familiar with. Fortunately, two Derung cultural figures supported us entering Derung subtitles.

The film not only addressed the monologue and biography of a single ethnic group, but also offered a universal orientation: how one can consciously and meaningfully shape self-existence in the here and now amidst the chaotic while transcendentally beautiful currents of life.

Original Film Title: MADS & The Freak Factory

Director’s Name: Yda Neves

Writer’s Name: Yda Neves

Producer: Sherin Jonker

Country of Origin: Netherlands

Country of Filming: Netherlands

Language: English

Runtime: 7 minutes 21 seconds

Film Description:

MADS & the Freak Factory is a narrative fashion and music film that transforms the themes of the original song Stereotype into a surreal allegory about identity, categorization, and the systems through which people are understood and evaluated.
Set within a surreal and darkly whimsical factory world, the film follows a young girl as she enters the mysterious MADS Factory, where extraordinary figures move through an enigmatic system of observation, judgment, and transformation. As she ventures deeper into this meticulously controlled world, the line between individuality and classification begins to dissolve, revealing a haunting reflection on the labels that define us—and those who define them.
Blending original music (by Halle Day), handcrafted origami-inspired fashion (by Y.N.Y), and AI-assisted visual worldbuilding, MADS & the Freak Factory is a darkly whimsical allegory Blending original music, handcrafted origami-inspired fashion, and AI-assisted visual worldbuilding, MADS & the Freak Factory is a darkly whimsical allegory about identity, judgment, and the consequences of reducing human beings to predefined roles. The film does not offer answers, but invites reflection on the systems through which we see and define one another.

Original Film Title: Dollar

Director’s Name: Prijomas Pojebleskus

Writer’s Name: Prijomas Pojebleskus

Producer: Prijomas Pojebleskus

Country of Origin:

Country of Filming:

Language: Russian

Runtime: 2 minutes 24 seconds

Film Description:

“DOLLAR” by Prijomas Pojebleskus is an intellectual rap manifesto from his conceptual album “Move Money,” exploring the psychology of wealth, power, and identity preservation. Stepping away from superficial rap tropes, the track examines currency as the universal language of modern urban survival while asserting that money must remain a tool, never the master of the human soul. Blending punchy trap percussion with expansive, score-like synthesizers and dramatic basslines, “DOLLAR” delivers an immersive backdrop reminiscent of a high-stakes psychological thriller.

Original Film Title: Oui! Club Mix

Director’s Name: David Alwin Glenn

Writer’s Name: David Alwin Glenn

Producer: David Alwin Glenn

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English, French

Runtime: 3 minutes 27 seconds

Film Description:

Oui! Club Mix is a slimmed down version of my original pop song called “Oui!” The song was inspired by a family vacation I went on in my youth from America to La Riviera Beach in Southern France. I can tell you that as a 12-year-old, seeing topless woman walking and swimming at the beach was a pleasant eye-opener. The storyline follows a gal’s day trip to La Riviera. I used AI to bring a 75-year-old photograph of my mother posing sweetly on a sailboat to life and she becomes the star of the video. She is currently 95 and hanging in there. For the club mix version, I added an underlying electro beat that meshed well with my electro keys and signature guitar riff. I cut out my male vocals from the original and simply went with the female vocals. The song casts an energy that draws the listener to the dancefloor. And the video projects a fun throwback day at the beach. This song is my most played on radio with around 500 spins worldwide by January 2026

Original Film Title: Chaton – We Are Invincible

Director’s Name: Marcus CB Soori

Writer’s Name: Marcus CB Soori

Producer: Marcus CB Soori

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 3 minutes 8 seconds

Film Description:

The multi-award-winning melodic techno artist Chaton returns with his second-ever single, We Are Invincible.

Set in a futuristic beach city on another planet in the galaxy, the music video follows Chaton on a day in his life as he travels to and performs in a beachside nighttime concert with his band mates.

The visuals in We Are Invincible assert that as technology progresses, it brings us closer by breaking down artificial communication barriers and allowing us to learn and understand others, while also allowing each of us to express our individuality and value our culture.

Together, we are stronger. Together, we are invincible.

Original Film Title: Art Defenders We Do Not Forget

Director’s Name: Akiko Matsumoto

Writer’s Name: Akiko Matsumoto

Producer: Akiko Matsumoto

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language:

Runtime: 5 minutes 40 seconds

Film Description:

A frustrated young ping pong player gets angry and makes fun of ballet and opera outside Lincoln Center. Someone records him, and the video quickly becomes famous online. Back at the sports club, his coach sees the video and gets very upset. Suddenly, the lights flash, and a scary ghost drops down from the night sky holding a ping pong paddle.

Original Film Title: Caress The Moon

Director’s Name: Alexis Evelyn

Writer’s Name: Elishar Sharon

Producer: Addison Jones

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 3 minutes

Film Description:

Caress the Moon written by Sharon Eliashar