HIGHLIGHTS: December 2024 DIVERSITY Festival

Showcase of the best FILMS in the world today.

Audience Awards:
Short Film: ZAFI
Animation: An Unexpected Friendship
Black & White Film: The Dream That Sets Us Free
Cinematography: THE VISIT
Comedy/Drama Film: THE ARTIST’S HAPPINESS
Crime Film: I WOULD BE WITH YOU
Documentary: ARITHAARAM (Facial Makeover)
Drama Film: SUNA
Experimental Film: MONKEY ENTERS LANKA
Family Film: THE FATHER
Friendship Film: I’M DEAD, YOU’RE WELCOME
Human Nature Film: AGOGO
LGBTQ+ Film: CHEMSEX
Micro-Short: THE PEACE GIRL
Music Video: I Am a Very Special Being
Nature Film: LISA THE GYPSY
Performances: DE NADA
Quest Film: NICE TO MEET YOU, MOM!
Story: HOLESTEPPER
Thriller Film: CYPRESS SLEEP
Society Film: The Big Change
Sound & Music: The Cry of the Earth
Student Film: The ocean belongs to everyone
Twist Film: GOOD BEHAVIOR

See the Full Lineup of Films:

THE PEACE GIRL, 4min., Portugal Directed by 4ºA class – EB1Pe Ladeira/CENA
A GIRL LIVES HAPPY IN HER SMALL HOUSE. ONE DAY, WHEN WATCHING TELEVISION, SHE REALIZES THE SUFFERING CAUSED BY THE WAR AND DECIDES TO GO HELP!

I Am a Very Special Being, 4min., Denmark
Directed by Marcus Mandal
40-year-old Christian is diagnosed with autism.
He wrote the lyrics for this song about who he is – and he sings it himself.

CLARA, 3min., Portugal
Directed by 4ºB class – EB1Pe Ladeira/CENA
Clara was a cheerful and sweet girl. At her school, a group of students teased her all the time. Still, she was not an unhappy child!

The Dream That Sets Us Free, 3min., Portugal
Directed by 3.ºA Colégio do Marítimo / CENA
Limited by his health, an elderly man feels trapped and unable to fulfill his dream of traveling the world. Unexpectedly, freedom arrives in a moment of sharing.

An Unexpected Friendship, 3min., Portugal
Directed 4ºB Class EB1PE Cª Lobos/CENA
An unexpected friendship between two animals will create a great hustle in the forest. Who knows how this adventure will end!

The Big Change, 3min., Portugal
Directed by 3ºA EB1Pe Câmara de Lobos / CENA
Jayden Pereira; João Sousa; Liane Aranjuren; Margarida Sousa; Soraia Santos; Matilde Correia; Nancy Paixão; Santiago Gonçalves; Simon Freitas; Tomás Teles; Vitória Ferreira
In a not too distant time, freedom of choice and expression were not acquired rights of a people. A big change needed to happen.

The Cry of the Earth, 3min., Portugal
Directed by Handy Pereira; Letícia Barbosa EBS Calheta / CENA
Two planets meet in space and talk about their concerns. One of them is sick and they don’t know if he will get better.

The ocean belongs to everyone, 3min., Portugal
Directed by EBS Santa Cruz /CENA
The normal day of a family turns out to show that many of the actions we take can have serious consequences for the environment.

DE NADA, 14min., USA
Directed by Sheridan Philipp
“De Nada” is a short film that explores how important a strong family dynamic and bond can be. A poor single Latina mother and her daughter test the limits of their bond with each other ultimately proving that regardless of how difficult life can be, they will always support each other.

https://www.facebook.com/De-Nada-107375891509065

NICE TO MEET YOU, MOM!, 10min., USA
Directed by Isaul Beltran
An imaginative eleven year old boy travels from Mexico to the U.S. to meet his mom for the first time. However, he starts to wonder what kind of a person she is, and becomes reluctant to meet her.

CHEMSEX, 7min., Brazil
Directed by Daniel Porto
A group of unknown gay men connect via a dating app for casual encounters. The starting point is a chemsex party, where drug use intensifies sexual experiences, but also reveals the depths of human emotions. The film explores both the fascination and liberating energy of these encounters and the emptiness and loneliness that can haunt a gay man’s life.

https://www.instagram.com/nielporto

GOOD BEHAVIOR, 19min., Brazil
Directed by Mathews Silva
Ana, a woman whose life was marked by the tragedy of losing her sister to an unknown killer, decides to introduce her girlfriend, Julia, to her family during a dinner. As the night progresses, dark secrets about her sister’s murder come to light. Confronted with the shocking truth, Ana and Julia must find strength in each other to face the past.

THE ARTIST’S HAPPINESS, 22min., Argentina
Directed by Blas Zanella
Farah, a young artist who aims for motivation in sadness, looks for dreadful situations in order to attain inspired works. Her obsession will turn into a nightmare and a family tragedy, though it may not bring the expected results.

https://facebook.com/blaszanella
https://instagram.com/blaszanella

THE VISIT, 22min., Brazil
Directed by Mathews Silva
Mabel is a cheerful elderly woman who waits in her remote home for the arrival of her son, who is coming to take her to live in the city. However, it’s Teresa, a photographer, who ends up appearing and becomes Mabel’s guest. As they spend time together, the two women get to know each other, unexpectedly growing closer.

I’M DEAD, YOU’RE WELCOME, 15min., USA
Directed by Roderick Fenske
Four friends reminisce about their legacy after the wake of their friend’s passing. Revelatory private affairs force them to deal with life choices that tangle them closer together in a way they never expected.

http://www.imdeadyourewelcome.com/
https://facebook.com/imdeadyourewelcome
https://instagram.com/imdeadyourewelcome

THE FATHER, 12min., UK
Directed by Doug Rollins
After 18 years, an estranged father returns to Wales to confront the sudden death of his son. Reuniting with his ex-partner, they grapple with a shocking discovery that challenges their past and present.

https://www.instagram.com/the_father_short_film

ARITHAARAM (Facial Makeover), 13min., India
Directed by B Suresh Kumar
Due to the advanced technological developments in Social media, the future of Therukoothu (Therukoothu in Tamil, is an ancient art, where artists play songs with dance and music in storytelling the epics. It is a folk art originated from the early Tamil country.) slowly started diminishing and the survival of the Therukoothu artists became a question mark? This film captures one such artiste and his mental agony.

https://www.facebook.com/babusureshkumar
https://www.twitter.com/sureshkumardft
https://www.instagram.com/sureshkumar_1971/

CYPRESS SLEEP, 15min., Turkey
Directed by Leila Norouzi Hasanbarough, Eren U?ur
PhD student Zechariah sets off to a historical cemetery in the countryside with his lover Seda for his thesis research. On the way, they bump into something they are not aware of. This creates an enigma between the two characters. Seda will make an important decision on this journey

https://www.instagram.com/cypress_sleep

I WOULD BE WITH YOU, 15min., Spain
Directed by Miguel Ángel Mengó
Ana, an aging drag queen, spends her nights performing in the same old cabaret, navigating between lost, sordid and violent loves.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29257997/?ref_=nm_flmg_unrel_3_edt

HOLESTEPPER, 17min., Peru
Directed by Sergio Fernández Muñoz
Angel (Oswaldo Salas), an enthusiastic high school teacher, discovers a website where his students make fun of him and his disability through some strange videos. Mixing the reality and the digital universe adolescent, Angel will be involved in a world hitherto unknown.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisahueco
https://www.instagram.com/oswaldosalaswilliams/

ZAFI, 24min., Nigeria
Directed by Chloe Coko
Two childhood friends Sakinah (14years) and Binta (15years) were married off to older men (45years and 64years respectively) to settle debts owed by their fathers.

https://www.facebook.com/CHLOECOKO
https://www.twitter.com/CHLOECOKOFILMS
https://www.instagram.com/CHLOECOKOFILMS

MONKEY ENTERS LANKA, 30min., China
Directed by Sale Surendra
The ancient city of Lanka suffers under a tyrant. Concubines are being abducted from all over the world. One special princess disappears and that’s when a legendary folk hero is called for once again, his name, feared throughout the heavens and hells.. the Monkey King.

http://www.hanumovies.com/
https://facebook.com/Hanumovies
https://twitter.com/Hanumovies
https://instagram.com/hanumovies/

AGOGO, 30min., Nigeria Directed by Chloe Coko
In an era, where having only girl children or educating girl children was frowned upon by the community, a father defiles culture and religious doctrines to home school his daughters.

https://www.facebook.com/CHLOECOKO
https://www.twitter.com/CHLOECOKOFILMS
https://www.instagram.com/CHLOECOKOFILMS

SUNA, 9min., Turkey
Directed by Irfan Kayas
While Ali is returning home after releasing his cows to the pasture, he hears that foreigners have come to the village for hunting and feels disturbed by this situation.

LISA THE GYPSY, 9min., Turkey
Directed by Irfan Kayas
Ercan is a twenty-two-year-old person who earns his living collecting rubbish to be recycled, sorting them out in the garbage bins.One day, when he’s out working with his handcart, he comes across a reproduction of Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. He brings it home and hangs it on the wall. However, her mother doesn’t like it at all and angry.