Category: AUDIENCE AWARDS – ARFF BERLIN 2026

Original Film Title: Todd & The Toad

Director’s Name: Julia Mücke

Writer’s Name: Julia Mücke

Producer: Katharina Kümmel

Country of Origin: Germany

Country of Filming: Germany

Language: English

Runtime: 12 minutes 6 seconds

Film Description:

Anxious, awkward, and terminally avoidant, Todd is a man paralyzed by social anxiety. When pressure mounts from Polly—a girl he’s been messaging online—to finally meet in person, Todd spirals into neurotic panic. To cope with this, he find’s a hint in the darknet, that takes him to lick a mysterious toad… only to awaken in a bizarre therapy session with Juan Carlos (aka JC)—a charismatic, hallucination-induced psychologist claiming to be part of Todd’s “corrective experience.”
What unfolds is a surreal, fast-paced inner journey where JC challenges Todd’s deep-seated fears and avoidance tactics, pushing him toward emotional truth, self-awareness, and connection. From psychedelic lessons on vulnerability to hilarious miscommunications, Todd must face the terrifying possibility that love is worth the risk—just before everything nearly goes off the rails.
With quirky humor, sharp dialogue, and an unexpected dose of heart, Todd & The Toad is a comedy about mental health, romantic anxiety, and the ridiculous but real steps we take toward becoming braver versions of ourselves.

Original Film Title: Boy Forgotten

Director’s Name: Sofia Botero Saffon

Writer’s Name: Sofia Botero Saffon

Producer: Alejandro Ogaz Rodriguez

Country of Origin: Canada

Country of Filming: Canada

Language: English

Runtime: 14 minutes 40 seconds

Film Description:

A twelve year old forgotten by his mother, battles between chasing after the woman who abandoned him, or accepting the family of outcasts he gained after.

Original Film Title: I N T U I T I O N

Director’s Name: Joshua Longfellow Wright

Writer’s Name: Joshua Longfellow Wright

Producer: Joshua Longfellow Wright

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 22 minutes 26 seconds

Film Description:

Exhausted after a long shift, an emergency room doctor dismisses a growing sense of unease and enters a massage parlor on her drive home. As subtle warning signs give way to a frightening reality, she must trust her instincts to escape a dangerous situation. Intuition is a tense psychological thriller that explores intuition, vulnerability, and the hidden dangers that can exist in ordinary places.

Original Film Title: The Assassin’s Apprentice 2: Silbadores of the Canary Islands

Director’s Name: Russ Emanuel

Writer’s Name: Paul Hickman

Producer: Paul Hickman, Ryan T. Husk, Howard Nash

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: Spain, United States

Language: English

Runtime: 25 minutes 23 seconds

Film Description:

Kaylee, an apprentice assassin for TAA Corp., is taking a long-deserved vacation in the Canary Islands, when her Freerunner drone arrives to project a holographic image of Rick, her handler. Rick explains to Kaylee that her vacation has been cut short, and that she is being urgently summoned by Roy, the head of TAA Corp.’s Canary Island Bureau headquarters, for a new mission. Kaylee follows the Freerunner drone to the TAA Corp.’s Canary Island headquarters, where Roy explains that F.A.D., a rival group of counter-assassins, are on the island to eliminate TAA Corp.’s drone trainers, known as “Silbadores.” Kaylee drives her ninja motorcycle at breakneck speeds along beautiful coastal roads to TAA Corp.’s drone training grounds where she saves the Silbadores from deadly Swarmbots unleashed by the F.A.D. counter-assassins. A final showdown with the F.A.D. counter-assassins Sork and Karla ends with a surprising result.

Original Film Title: The Contract

Director’s Name: Milan Smith

Writer’s Name: Milan Smith

Producer: Milan Smith, John R. Mistrot, Tanner Palamides, Tommy Ryan

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 10 minutes 19 seconds

Film Description:

Davis and Burr stake out a quiet house, their focus slipping as petty arguments and dark humor take over. Inside waits their target—a mysterious, disabled killer known only as The Trash Man—who proves far more dangerous than expected. When their plan unravels in a sudden burst of violence, the hunters quickly become the hunted. What follows is a tense, close-quarters game of survival where nothing goes as planned. By the end, the lines of power shift in ways neither man could have anticipated.