Thank you to all the filmmakers who participated in the First-Time Filmmaker Sessions Volume 2!

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!

Loop

Director/Writer: Seda Salcı
Producer: Ayşe Uzun
Country of Origin: Turkey

Synopsis:
We witness one ordinary day in the repetitive routine of a white-collar woman who, due to the decision not to turn the clocks back in her country, leaves for work before daylight and returns home after dark.

Alex and Owen's Big Adventure

Director/Writer: Fynn Thomas
Country of Origin: United States

Synopsis:
When Alex finds out she has only a month to live, her best friend Owen takes her on a life-changing road trip to fulfill her final wish. During the trip they encounter goofy strangers and create unforgettable memories.

the 96'

Director/Producer/Writer: JOSHUA Corey TYREE
Country of Origin: United States

The Lord's Vineyards

Director: Renaud FELY
Writers: Renaud FELY, François CELERIER
Producer: François CELERIER
Country of Origin: France

Synopsis:

From Provence to Burgundy via the Gard, Paris and Languedoc, we are going to discover the last monastic communities producing wine in France.
This film thus confronts the profane and material character of wine with its sacred character through the mysteries of transubstantiation.

Homage To Sergei Parajanov

Director: Nairy Shahinian
Country of Origin: Armenia, Germany

Synopsis:
Shot entirely on mobile phones, this highly experimental film emerges from years of displacement, loss, and survival following the war in Syria, where my family once lived, and beyond. The film begins with footage captured in 2019 in a new family apartment in Yerevan, Armenia—where the family originates from—after more than six years of rupture marked by the looting of the family home in Damascus and the death of my father.

Hells Hollow

Director: Connor A Botts
Writers: Connor A Botts, Jake Daniels
Producer: Jake Daniels
Country of Origin: United States

Synopsis:
In this chilling horror short film for the Jacob Owens Horror Film Contest, we uncover the terrifying secrets of a government operation gone wrong. In 1998, a classified group discovered a portal to a new world. A place they now call Hell’s Hollow. Six missions were sent inside. No one ever returned… until two days ago.

Monday, the day after tomorrow

Director/Writer/Producer: Maxim Bocharov
Country of Origin: Russian Federation

Synopsis:
Ivan lives a simple life in a quite industrial town suffering from apathy. Everything changes when he meets his brother who left their hometown long years ago: Strange things and absurd situations start happening. Ivan has to solve the snowballing problems.

Below

Director/Writer/Producer: Alex Bokov
Country of Origin: Germany

Synopsis:
Below is a short, atmospheric film set in wintertime Leipzig, in front of the monumental Völkerschlachtdenkmal. A lonely young girl skates across a frozen surface, surrounded by silence and vast stone architecture. She appears completely alone—until a subtle, unsettling sensation draws her attention beneath the ice.

The Crown

Director/Writer: Sandro Ablotia
Producer: Aliona Fedorova

Synopsis:
Bound by a marriage dictated by duty rather than love, Princess Selma and the peasant Narsou flee after the fall of the kingdom and find refuge in an old house on the edge of the forest. Narsou is willing to sacrifice everything for her love, while Selma clings to the ghost of lost power and refuses to accept her new reality. When Narsou decides to turn to magic, Selma must let go of the past and make a choice that will determine her fate.

You Are Not Alone

Director: Alex Moon
Writer: Alena Sheuchyk
Producer: ALIAKSANDR ZHARNASEKAU

Synopsis:
A short film about a teenage girl struggling with bullying and anxiety, who finds strength and connection by sharing her story online. Through social media, she discovers support, friendship, and the power of being seen.

HAPPIN

Director/Writer/Producer: Inna Kudryavtseva
Country of Origin: Russian Federation

Synopsis:
A portrait essay about a farm managed by Darya Fedotova, whose husband volunteered for the front. This resilient woman raises two children, oversees a demanding household, and waits with hope for her husband’s safe return.

Sonechka

Director/Writer: Maksim Makeev
Producers: Maksim Makeev, Nikita Pulikov
Country of Origin: Russian Federation

Synopsis:
Seventeen-year-old Sonya tries to escape from the grim reality with the help of an imaginary friend and finds fleeting hope for her first love, but finds herself crushed by a monstrous tragedy in her own family.

PUT ME IN A MOVIE

Director/Writer/Producer: Morgan Ann Joaquim
Country of Origin: United States

Synopsis:
A young woman reconciling past and present identities grapples with a body that no longer serves her.

Accepted

Directors: Joseph Mandarino, Julia Medina
Writer: Joseph Mandarino
Producers: Joseph Mandarino, Maria Arreola, Julia Medina
Country of Origin: United States

Synopsis:
A socially reclusive young man makes a friend in this short film.

Afterglow

Director: Patricia Olivia
Country of Origin: Australia, Indonesia

Synopsis:
Afterglow is a music video exploring a woman’s journey through memory, love, and time through dreamlike visuals. She drifts through scattered memories, and though time has blurred the edges of her mind, love, even when forgotten, still remains.

System Message: Rerouted

Director/Writer/Producer: Natasha Last-Bernal
Country of Origin: United States

Synopsis:
This short experimental film uses found footage, archival slides, public maps, and prints of Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada to illuminate the human cost of U.S. “prevention through deterrence” border strategy. Through a fragmented, montage-driven visual design that incorporates gamelike elements and layered works of art, the work immerses viewers in the dual realities of the desert landscape, exposing the systemic violence and deliberate deaths enacted by border enforcement policies.

WHY...

Directors: Yorre Snyers, Sibe Verbinnen
Producers: Yorre Snyers, Sibe Verbinnen
Country of Origin: Belgium

Synopsis:
A young boy who has just committed a murder realizes what he has done. When he tries to erase his tracks the voices in his head drive him completely insane, pushing him over the edge until he becomes his own second and final victim… leaving only one last question: “Why...”

Never lose

Director/Writer: Jacopo ukmar
Country of Origin: Italy

Synopsis:
In this short film, a great lesson is taught: never give up.

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.