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!

The Dark Radio

Director/Writer: Everaldo Carvalho Gomes
Producer: João Rodrigues Dias
Country of Origin: Brazil

Synopsis:
In a world devastated by war, young Ravi survives constant dangers. A reality where silence is his only defense, he discovers that any trace of his presence could become his ultimate sentence.

I SAW GOD

Director/Writer: Yuniar Diansyah
Director/Producer: Rizki Kurnia D
Country of Origin: Indonesia

Synopsis:
Naomi and her husband are devout followers of a rain-worshipping cult, living a life of total isolation driven by their faith. The nightmare begins when her husband is found dead in the bathroom under bizarre, unsettling circumstances—as if the water itself had executed him.

THE PROMISE

Director/Writer/Producer: Boran Baykul
Country of Origin: Germany

Synopsis:
A man carries a case across a desolate landscape, guided only by time.
As the seconds slip away, it becomes clear that reaching the right place at the right moment is everything — though the true cost of his mission remains unknown.

The Spirit of New Orleans

Director/Writer/Producer: Mitchell Teitelbaum
Country of Origin: United States

Synopsis:
Travel the streets of New Orleans with Award Winning TV Host Joanna Petriccione

Last Breakfast

Director/Writer/Producer: BRIAN SZETO
Country of Origin: China, Hong Kong

Synopsis:
Last Breakfast is a heartfelt drama about guilt, loss, and the courage to heal. Chris in his thirties living with Dissociative Identity Disorder, is haunted by the death of his wife Jane, caused by one of his darker alters. Lost and broken, he longs for the warmth she once brought to his mornings.

The Anguished Girl

Director/Writer/Producer: Rémy Broussard
Writer: Corentin Nonennmacher
Producers: Gabriel Boiron, Mathis Dekockelocre
Country of Origin: France

Synopsis:
Set in the 1950s, a young painter attempts to create the ultimate work of art: a canvas capable of containing her soul and embodying an unreachable form of perfection.
Haunted by a traumatic past under the guidance of her former painting teacher—an obsessive figure who believed in perfection and saw her as its potential vessel—she remains deeply affected by his influence and expectations.

Embers

Director: Xuan Ye
Writer: Le Yu
Producer: Haojia Zeng
Country of Origin: China

Synopsis:
Embers follows two dance students, Chen He and Lin Wan, during their graduation season. They work part-time jobs, share a small apartment, practice dancing, and dream of saving enough money to open their own dance training studio. One night, while dancing beside a bonfire under a bridge, Lin Wan suddenly collapses. From that moment on, her condition begins to deteriorate, and their once hopeful everyday life is slowly thrown out of balance. As Lin Wan’s physical state worsens, Chen He finds herself caught between caregiving, emotional exhaustion, and growing pressure from her family, especially her controlling mother. The intimacy and warmth they once shared gradually give way to silence, helplessness, and despair.

35mm

Director/Writer/Producer: David Adam Ettedgui
Producers: Samantha Salamoff, Kendall Pasley
Country of Origin: United States

Synopsis:
An out-of-work actress takes a job as a projectionist and discovers a mysterious 35mm film that eerily mirrors her life. Her reality begins to unravel as she starts becoming part of the film itself.

Perfect Strangers

Director/Writer: Phillip Xia
Producer: Stephan Rumphorst
Country of Origin: France, United Kingdom

Synopsis:
Over the course of a single day, a long-term couple quietly unravel as they celebrate their 16th anniversary. When a stranger enters their lives, suppressed desires, unspoken resentments and the fear of change surface. Perfect Strangers is an intimate, mumblecore-style drama about love, connection and the fragile stories we tell ourselves to stay together.

It's just a movie

Director/Writer: Phillip Xia
Producer: Stephan Rumphorst
Country of Origin: Spain

Synopsis:
Year 2065. Jesús Jerez is the director of ‘Plástico’, a film that has been identified as the origin of a terrorist movement that has been operating worldwide for years. For many, ‘Plástico’ is the cause of a global outbreak of violence. For others, ‘Plástico’ is just a movie.
Year 2025. Jesús Jerez is a 12-year-old boy who has grown up within a criminal organization, where his only apparent future is to be a hitman. However, Jesús has other plans. He wants to make a movie.

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.