Category: BEST FEATURE FILM – ARFF PARIS 2026

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Kalisa Meray Aagay

Director’s Name: Rubina Faisal

Writer’s Name: Rubina Faisal

Producer: Faisal Mahmood, Abdullah Mahmood

Country of Origin: Canada

Country of Filming: Canada

Language: Hindi, Urdu

Runtime: 1 hour 1 minute 16 seconds

Film Description:

A gripping cross-cultural drama that delves into the moral conflicts and familial tensions
within the South Asian diaspora. Through interwoven stories, Kalisa Meray Aagay explores themes of
faith, guilt, and redemption, capturing the emotional struggles and self-discovery challenges faced by
Pakistanis living in Western societies, and how they become vulnerable to the so-called community and
religious leaders or brokers.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: SEEK II: The Unsung Scars

Director’s Name: Shane Kosugi

Writer’s Name: Kenji Qurata,

Producer: Shane Kosugi, Kane Kosugi, Kansuke Asano, Misaki Ayano

Country of Origin: Japan

Country of Filming: Japan

Language: Japanese

Runtime: 1 hour 48 minutes

Film Description:

This is the second installment of the SEEK Ninja Action Series. The world is now on the brink of collapse. When a ruthless terrorist group orchestrates World War III by posing as Russian extremists to destroy Japan.
Kyohei Aizawa—an elite agent for the covert organization SEEK—must emerge from the shadows to stop them, proving that the ancient art of the ninja is still Japan’s ultimate shield. Only SEEK can stop them!

(WINNER)

Original Film Title: Bone Keeper

Director’s Name: Howard J Ford

Writer’s Name: Howard J Ford

Producer: Howard J Ford

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Country of Filming: United Kingdom

Language: English

Runtime: 1 hour 38 minutes 30 seconds

Film Description:

Six young friends enter a remote cave system to investigating missing persons and find themselves being gradually picked off by a mysterious creature that may have inhabited the cave for thousands of years.

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: DISTORSION

Director’s Name: Bryan Tourville

Writer’s Name: Bryan Tourville

Producer: Bryan Tourville

Country of Origin: France

Country of Filming: France

Language: French

Runtime: 1 hour 22 minutes 1 second

Film Description:

Charlie, released from prison two years ago and now a fully integrated member of society, has a job and a girlfriend. He will have to confront his old acquaintances and choose between his current life, his integrity, and his previous life…

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Speritium

Director’s Name: Mohamed Mdahoma

Writer’s Name: Mohamed Mdahoma

Producer: Vibration dancing océan Indien

Country of Origin: Réunion

Country of Filming: Réunion

Language: French

Runtime: 1 hour 33 minutes 45 seconds

Film Description:

Laetitia is a contemporary dancer. She receives a call from the kidnappers who have allegedly held her father captive.

Unfortunately, some revelations will be devastating.

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: Grave Aigüe

Director’s Name: Martin Baucher

Writer’s Name: Martin Baucher

Producer: Martin Baucher

Country of Origin: France

Country of Filming: France

Language: French

Runtime: 1 hour 27 minutes 57 seconds

Film Description:

Summer 1969. In a quiet Norman village, Louise and her gang have a plan — a simple one: to steal apples from the famous neighboring orchards, for producing their own cider, the finest around. And while the devious local policeman, known as Big Moustache, still struggles to catch them, Louise knows that this time, something is different.
Meanwhile, in present-day Paris, young Alto is so drunk after a funeral party that he is taken in, half-conscious, by his two friends, Marc and Tules. Being good mates, they decide to help him recover, but as Alto regains his strength, the situation slowly slips out of their hands.
Grave Aigüe: two opposites playing the same melody. The story of an old woman whose mind is failing more and more, and of a newborn whose mind is failing less and

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: Radio Sky

Director’s Name: Carlitos Do Souto

Writer’s Name: Carlitos Do Souto

Producer: Carlitos Do Souto, Dennis Haysbert

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes

Film Description:

As Mac chews on a chicken leg in his rundown one-bedroom, with ankle monitors on his legs, breaking news erupts from the television that NASA has lost contact with astronauts in space. The notorious hacker, under house arrest, springs into action, hacking the ISS and discovering one astronaut alive, first-time astronaut Rose Finley, terrified and alone, held hostage by a ruthless Russian billionaire claiming the U.S. stole proof of his alien life. Risking everything, Mac secretly contacts her father, Joseph Finley (Dennis Haysbert), NASA’s Director of Communications, and together they must quietly plot her escape without alerting NASA, so Mac won’t violate his probation or lose her forever. NO AI USED IN THE FILM

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: THE MUSLIM

Director’s Name: ILIR HARXHI

Writer’s Name: ENVER PETROVCI

Producer: ILIR HARXHI, ENVER PETROVCI

Country of Origin: Albania, Kosovo

Country of Filming: Albania, Kosovo

Language: Albanian

Runtime: 1 hour 36 minutes 58 seconds

Film Description:

In a small ground floor house, Dini, a devout Muslim, lives alone in the city of Prizeren, in Kosovo. His only activity is religious rituals and drinking tea.
One day, the doorbell rings, and thinking he is being attacked by thieves, he mobilizes for defense. When he opens the door, he sees a beautiful woman who introduces herself as his caretaker, sent by the ministry.
Looking at Nita, Dini begins to understand his loneliness and the lost feeling of being a man. Word by word, action by action, they get to know each other.
Nita comes and goes from his house and every time she visits, she brings something for Dini’s needs.
He finds more joy in her visiting than in the things she brings him. Although, sometimes their conversations have moments of misunderstanding, they still speak, exchange meaningful glances and build a relationship with attraction and flirtation.
As their connection deepens, Dini realizes that Nita was sent by his daughter, Hana, who had married an American Catholic against his will and that Nita had separated from her husband due to infertility.
Though their life stories and inner dialogues, they touch each other’s emotions, building a relationship that grows into love. In a pivotal moment, Nita reveals to Dini that she is Catholic. It seems like everything is about to end. After an internal struggle with himself, Dini begins a new life. Despite their religious differences, his being Muslim and her Catholic, they find the true meaning of love as a level of enlightenment that surpasses age, gender, faith and political beliefs.