Category: BEST SHORT FILM – ARFF PARIS 2026

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: Fences

Director’s Name: Jacinda Barker

Writer’s Name: Jacinda Barker, Werner Breedt

Producer: Jacinda Barker

Country of Origin: South Africa

Country of Filming: South Africa

Language: Afrikaans, Zulu

Runtime: 30 minutes

Film Description:

This film is a poetic exploration of fences, as both a symbolic social division between the working and middle classes in South Africa and as a symptom of post-apartheid society. It tackles the pervasive perception and feeling of unsafety present in contemporary South Africa. Fences (2025) is partly inspired by Vittorio De Sica’s Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thieves (1948). A South African folkloric figure, the tokoloshe, is used to personify the sense of psychological unsafety of the film’s characters. Fences (2025) touches on current social issues in South Africa, such as load shedding and crime. The film attempts to draw a parallel between working-class conditions in post-war Italy to those of the working-class in post-apartheid South Africa. It follows a South African security guard travelling far distances to work on his bicycle, which gets stolen, and the aftermath this has on his life and psychological state.

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: Pieces of a Life

Director’s Name: Zanifa Darville

Writer’s Name: Tabitha Ritchie

Producer: Zanifa Darville, Tabitha Ritchie, Donovan Lynch, Shanaye Smith

Country of Origin: Bahamas

Country of Filming: Bahamas

Language: English

Runtime: 12 minutes 35 seconds

Film Description:

Pieces of a Life follows Richard, an elderly Bahamian man coping with the recent loss of his beloved wife, Marion. Clinging to their shared home and her belongings, he maintains every detail just as she left it.

When news of a powerful hurricane threatens the island, Richard dismisses the warnings. He’s weathered storms before. Through flashbacks, we glimpse the life and love he shared with Marion, even as his neighbor urges him to seek safer shelter. Richard refuses, determined to stay.

As the hurricane arrives, his efforts to protect the house are quickly overwhelmed. The film becomes a quiet meditation on grief, memory, and the uncontrollable forces like love and loss that shape our lives.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: The Road Ahead

Director’s Name: Job Lucet

Writer’s Name: Job Lucet

Producer: Job Lucet

Country of Origin: Haiti

Country of Filming: Haiti

Language: French, Louisiana Creole French

Runtime: 7 minutes 1 second

Film Description:

In a country where opportunities are scarce, two young Haitians are abandoned during their attempt to leave. Faced with uncertainty, they make a bold choice: to stay and build their future from nothing, proving that success is not found abroad, but created at home.

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: Mise en place

Director’s Name: Emil Emilov Mladenov

Writer’s Name: Emil Emilov Mladenov

Producer: Anastasiya Artyomova

Country of Origin: Bulgaria

Country of Filming: Bulgaria

Language: Bulgarian

Runtime: 14 minutes 5 seconds

Film Description:

A man goes to a gourmet tasting experience to find more than he expected.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: The Journal

Director’s Name: Jarritt Joseph Negri II

Writer’s Name: Jarritt Joseph Negri II

Producer: Jarritt Joseph Negri II

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 5 minutes 57 seconds

Film Description:

Two friends meet up for the first time in years, and one shows up with a new, controversial look.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: The Journal

Director’s Name: Hafiz Hassan

Writer’s Name: Hafiz Hassan

Producer: Hafiz Hassan, ACE Production

Country of Origin: Pakistan

Country of Filming: Czechia, Pakistan

Language: English, Urdu

Runtime: 19 Minutes

Film Description:

A reflective short film exploring identity, memory, and the invisible forces that shape our choices. The Journal follows Sultan (a poet) as he drifts between dreams and reality, searching for meaning in the fragments of his reality; the people he meets, and the inner dialogue that refuses to stay silent.

(WINNER)

Original Film Title: Une minute

Director’s Name: Fabrice Tavars

Writer’s Name: Fabrice Tavars

Producer: Léa Barbacani

Country of Origin: France

Country of Filming: France

Language: French

Runtime: 17 minutes 5 seconds

Film Description:

Cinq femmes.
Cinq vies.
Cinq réalités qui, en apparence, ne se croisent jamais.

Une étudiante pressée.
Une mère irréprochable.
Une cadre accomplie.
Une adolescente silencieuse.
Une femme âgée, invisible aux yeux du monde.

En une minute de leur quotidien, chacune traverse un moment banal, presque anodin. Une minute qui ne dit rien. Une minute qui cache tout.

Derrière les murs, dans les regards évités, dans les gestes retenus, une même violence se manifeste — psychologique, physique, sexuelle, institutionnelle. Une violence diffuse, banalisée, parfois niée, mais toujours présente.

Ces femmes ne se connaissent pas. Elles ne se rencontreront jamais.
Pourtant, un lien invisible les unit : la violence faite aux femmes, transmise, tolérée, tue, génération après génération.

Une minute est un court-métrage choral qui interroge le silence, la normalisation de l’inacceptable et l’urgence de regarder en face ce que l’on choisit trop souvent d’ignorer.
Parce qu’en une minute, une vie peut basculer.
Parce qu’en une minute, le silence peut être brisé.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Sunrise, Ha’ii’ah

Director’s Name: Edsel Pete

Writer’s Name: Edsel Pete

Producer: Navajo Nation TV and Film

Country of Origin:

Country of Filming:

Language: English

Runtime: 26 minutes 29 seconds

Film Description:

Sunrise is about a teenage Navajo boy who had been adopted at a young age through the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and has been living off the reservation with an adopted family. The Navajo boy begins to conflict with his surroundings and soon discovers he is of Native American heritage and begins this long awaited journey of self-discovery and self-identity.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: My Protection, My Teacher, My Garden

Director’s Name: Betty Bennett

Writer’s Name: Betty Bennett

Producer: Carlos J. Pappe

Country of Origin: United States

Country of Filming: United States

Language: English

Runtime: 8 minutes 32 seconds

Film Description:

The greatest of teachers, a garden and with the help of flowers, trees, animals, fruits and more provides perceptible wisdom.

(FINALIST)

Original Film Title: Curious (The Story of Pie)

Director’s Name: JEONG JIN KIM

Writer’s Name: JEONG JIN KIM

Producer: JEONG JIN KIM

Country of Origin:

Country of Filming:

Language: English

Runtime: 11 minutes 40 seconds

Film Description:

In the fantastical Figure Universe, pies create the feeling of love and peace. But one pie, Qupa, begins to wonder if perfection is truly enough. When Qupa meets Bupu, a blue apple who delivers curiosity, and Dewnie, a baby dragon of hope, they tumble into the human world where comfort and instant solutions have replaced curiosity. Curious: The Story of Pie is an animated short that blends whimsical adventure with emotional depth, reminding us that imperfection, imagination, and the courage to wonder are what keep us human.