Thank you to all the filmmakers who participated in the First-Time Filmmaker Sessions Volume 6!
The festival platformed hundreds of films, each project worthy of recognition and celebration. We want to extend a giant thank you to everyone who took part and a special congratulations to all the incredible talent that went into making these projects.
First-Time Filmmaker Sessions is designed to be the entry into the Lift-Off Global Network. A platform for the avant-garde, FT Sessions isn't about selecting the 'best' or most 'commercial' projects; it is about providing a screening opportunity for everyone, connecting these new and emerging voices with new audiences. An option we hope highlights and educates each month!
Jury's Overall Winner
When it rains outside
Director/Writer: Luca Mallardo
Country of Origin: Italy
Synopsis:
Two girls in a modern art gallery sit at a table during a thunderstorm. In front of them a cassette player capable of reviving, through two young voices (theirs), a dormant and foggy memory made up of dreams, ambitions and hopes. Friendship, love and fear mix to comply with what their parents had planned for their young lives, but with one great regret: is doing the right thing always the right thing?
Season Award #16 Shortlist: Best First-Time Filmmaker
Audience Choice Winners
Footsteps
Director/Writer: Abraham Tadesse
Producer: Bezawit Hailemariyam Tesfaye
Country of Origin: Ethiopia
Synopsis:
When a selfless act turns tragic, a devoted husband is forced to choose between love and legacy.
Fistume and Blene are an inspiring couple—he, a passionate entrepreneur partnering with Azeb to combat youth unemployment; she, a nurturing soul who raises orphans with unconditional love. Though childless, their bond is unwavering—until one fateful day changes everything. Blene saves a young girl from falling, only to tumble down the stairs herself. As she fights for her life, Fistume’s world begins to unravel. Caught between his mission to uplift others and his desperate quest to save his wife, he must confront what truly matters.
A tender, emotionally charged drama about sacrifice, resilience, and the fragile threads that hold a life together.
Gaza: A stolen Childhood
Director/Writer: Moamen Ghonem
Producer: Dina Demrdash
Country of Origin: Qatar
Synopsis:
Mohammad, Farah, and Sabri... three among thousands of stories of Gaza's children who have been living through the war on the Strip since October 7, 2023. Over approximately one year, we followed their life paths during the aggression. We documented their suffering to answer the question, What is war like in the eyes of Gaza's young children?"
Say Goodbye To The Lovely World!
Director/Writer/Producer: Stephen Jang
Country of Origin: Hong Kong
Synopsis:
Stephen Jang was a Youtube influencer several years ago. His recent updates arouse followers' curiosity. They wonder what happened to him, during this period of time...
SCARY ROAD
Director/Writer/Producer: JOHN HO YOUNG SONG
Country of Origin:Republic of Korea
Synopsis:
A young man who has taken a vacation to Canada, where his relatives live. This young man is offered a high-paying job by his cousin. He does a strange delivery job, delivering unidentified loads only through a set route. The young man is horrified to the point of suffering nightmares while walking down a creepy dark road, but soon becomes addicted to the fear and thrill of traveling down that terrifying road. At the same time, the young man wants to explore himself and many of the fears around him.
Scarf
Director:Mohsin Rabiei
Writer: Aykut Çavdar
Producers:Bekir ayar, Deniz Şaman
Country of Origin: Turkey
Synopsis:
Kadir, a teenager who is just learning about life; He is about to connect with a scarf to the truths he should never know about his oppressive father.
Mehmet is a family man who lives a double life and also has a second persona named Mami. Mehmet, who is extremely oppressive and conservative at home, lives the feeling of dancing that he has had since his youth in a different life, away from his family and the environment he lives in, as a choreographer, under the character of Mami. Mehmet has a scarf from his youth and has lost it.
Architecture of Hope - for the ruins of the present
Director/Writer/Producer: Jan Lewandowski
Writer/Producer: Hédi Bouden
Country of Origin: Germany
Synopsis:
In a theatre project, Arab, Jewish and Muslim students want to search for the architecture of hope in Córdoba. Unfortunately, on the day of their departure, 7 October, the reality of war destroys this project in a terrible way. The present comes to a standstill. While the Israeli students fear for their lives, the German group decides to express their powerlessness through a visual poem to send a quiet sign of hope.
Fetch!
Director/Writer/Producer: Thomas West
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Synopsis:
In a quiet field, a young man's afternoon of fetch with his unusual companion spirals into a slapstick adventure where the stakes (and the sticks) keep getting higher.
Breaking Free - A Tale of Light vs Darkness Through Music, Dance and Film
Directors: Gabrielle M. Thomas, Raquel Leal Davies
Producer: Raquel Leal Davies
Country of Origin: United States
Synopsis:
This passion-driven project blends the visual language of a music video with the emotional depth of narrative storytelling. Shot in a short film style, it showcases Brazilian and American talent both in front of and behind the camera—featuring Brazilian lead actors, with post-production completed between Los Angeles and Brazil.
A COMUNIDADE ANARQUISTA DE EREBANGO
Director/Producer: Glauber Tiago Dal Paz
Country of Origin: Brazil
Synopsis:
A comunidade anarquista de Erebango foi formada por famílias russas oriundas da região da atual Ucrânia no início do século XX, e que se estabeleceram no Rio Grande do Sul.
Belong to You
Director/Producer: Ísak Magnússon
Director/Writer/Producer: Óliver Sólberg
Country of Origin: Iceland
Synopsis:
Belong to you follows a swimming pool employee who thinks about his relationship with his coworker on a quiet night.
Ink and Echoes
Director/Writer/Producer: Mohammed Ayeel Ayeel
Country of Origin: United States
Synopsis:
Haunted by grief and regret, a young man discovers a letter from his late father. In a dreamlike encounter, he’s given one final chance to confront the past, find forgiveness, and begin to heal.
Ink and Echoes
Director/Writer/Producer: Mohammed Ayeel Ayeel
Country of Origin: United States
Synopsis:
Haunted by grief and regret, a young man discovers a letter from his late father. In a dreamlike encounter, he’s given one final chance to confront the past, find forgiveness, and begin to heal.
SLAUGHTER
Director: Chris Psonis
Country of Origin: Greece
Synopsis:
This film serves as a reflection of our collective consciousness. The slaughter of the lamb is a ritual deeply rooted in the Greek Easter tradition, that has remained alive from ancient times to this day. But how paradoxical is it to celebrate life through death?
catharsis
Director: Chris Psonis
Country of Origin: France, Slovenia
Synopsis:
A day in a lifetime, lifetime in a day. Mother earth mothers us, we try and smother her. She gives, we take more than we need. Abundance at all costs, short seen future, pleasure for today and oblivion for tomorrow. She should be our companion, we should be their friend.
Complex relation is really so simple. We are but a blink of an eye in the foreverness of the earth, but have managed to take advantage over her, and passed the Rubicon.
Now, it is too late to mend the situation, and the retrograde letter, full of remorse and heartfelt regret, is like a farewell letter, a tombstone engraving for the loved passed away.
ZOMBIE ZOMBIE
Director: Adam Winship
Country of Origin: United States
Synopsis:
It's the zombie apocalypse. A boy and a man are making their way through the city to find "the safehouse", completely unaware of the horrors that await them.
Lift-Off Season Awards #16
The Lift-Off Season Awards is an annual event that celebrates the very best of indie film. Following each Lift-Off film festival, films that have excelled in their respective category are short listed for a Season Awards Nomination. At the end of the year, once all the 12 city-based festival have taken place, the shortlisted nominated films are reviewed again by the jury and Official Nominations are designated. Click here for more information about the Lift-Off Season Awards.