2020 Arpa International Film Festival to Showcase Inspiring & Dynamic Lineup of Films from Around the World Online powered by Seed&Spark
The 23rd Annual Arpa International Film Festival (Arpa IFF) proudly announces its full lineup of selected films for this year.
The Arpa IFF, which in the past has originally taken place at historic theaters around Hollywood, will take place online this year. The Festival will run for an 11-day span in order to accommodate all of its planned screenings as a streaming virtual event November 12 – 22, 2020 powered by Seed&Spark. This year’s Arpa IFF will once again highlight a diverse range of world cinema, 69 films from 20 countries that explore many contemporary issues.
For the last 23 years, we have come together to celebrate the art of film. During the selection process, our diligent team of festival programmers set aside time to meticulously select the finalists for this year’s official selection from a large pool of films received this year.
Official Selection 2020 Film Lineup at the 23rd Annual Arpa International Film Festival
ALEKSI / Feature, Drama, Comedy, Coming of Age 2019 directed by Barbara Vekaric, Croatia
BACK UP! / Feature, Drama 2019 directed by Christophe Gros-Dubois, France
LONE WOLVES / Feature, Thriller, Crime, Drama 2019 directed by Sergi Arnau, Spain
MIN ALESH? / Feature, Drama 2019 directed by Amleset Muchie, Ethiopia
OMAR AND US / Feature, Drama 2019 directed by Maryna Er Gorbach & Mehmet Bahadir Er, Turkey
ONCE UPON A JUDGMENT DAY / Feature, Drama 2020 directed by Mehmet Tanrisever, Turkey
RESPITE / Feature, Action, Crime, Drama 2019 directed by Saro Varjabedian, USA
SCENT OF MY DAUGHTER / Feature, Drama 2019 directed by Olgun Özdemir, USA, France, Turkey
UNTIMELY / Feature, Drama 2020 directed by Pouya Eshtehardi, Iran
AN ARMENIAN TRILOGY / Feature Doc, Armenian History, Music 2019 by Dan Yessian, USA
BLOODLESS: THE PATH TO DEMOCRACY / Feature Doc, History, Politics, Human Rights 2020 by Bared Maronian & Silva Basmajian, USA
BORN JUST NOW / Feature Doc, Performance Art, Women 2018 by Robert Adanto, USA
MIRACLE IN THE DESERT: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SALTON SEA / Feature Doc, Environmentalism 2019 by Greg Bassenian, USA
QUO VADIS 2020 / Feature Doc 2019 by Gabriele Fabbro, USA
WHAT WILL BECOME OF US / Feature Doc, Armenian History, Diaspora 2020 by Stephanie Ayanian & Joseph Myers, USA
CONFESSIONS OF A RUNNER / Short Doc, Sports, Addiction, Recovery 2020 by Bachar Khattar, Lebanon
FINISH LINE / Short Doc, Sport, Human Rights 2019 by Saeed Mayahy, Iran
FROM KURILS WITH LOVE / Short Doc, Adventure, Wildlife 2020 by Taylor Reese., USA
IN THE SAME DIRECTION: JEFF PIFHER & SOCRATES’ TRIAL / Short Music Doc, Jazz 2020 by Alexander Craven, USA
JO & KESSY: ARTISTS WITH DISABILITIES / Short Doc, Artists, Disability 2019 by Nwaye Zar Che Soe, France
LIGHT IN THE MIST / Short UCI Student Doc, 2020 by Ryan Wang, USA
THE SPORT OF INCHES / Short UCI Student Doc, 2020 by Larry Tang, USA
38 MINUTES / Short, Action, Drama 2020 directed by Paul Lacovara, USA
ALINA / Short, Drama, Thriller, Holocaust 2019 directed by Rami Kodeih, USA
ANEMONE / Short, Drama, Sci-Fi, Action 2019 directed by Alessandro Marcon, Italy
BABU / Short, Drama, Family 2019 directed by Eelum Dixit, Nepal
BLACK HEART, RED HANDS / Short, Crime, Thriller, Drama 2019 directed by Russell Southam, Australia
CARNE / Short UCI Student film, 2020 directed by Dylan Quintero, USA
DABUR / Short, Drama 2019 directed by Saeid Nejati, Iran
DANDELION / Short, Romance, Drama 2020 directed by Jörg Viktor Steins-Lauss, USA
DARK SENSES / Short, Romance, Thriller, Mystery 2019 directed by Vaz Andreas, USA
EMME / Short, Drama, Thriller, Neo Noir 2019 directed by Toshiki Yashiro, USA
FENCED / Short, Drama 2019 directed by Rodrigo Zan, USA
FURTHEST FROM / Short, Drama, Family, Coming of Age 2019 directed by Kyung Sok Kim, USA
GIFTED / Short, Romantic Comedy, Fantasy 2020 directed by Karina Weeks, USA
HAPPY BIRTHDAY / Short, Comedy, Drama, Thriller 2018 directed by Mustafa Toby Eck, USA
HEARTBEAT / Short, Drama 2020 directed by Chi Wang, USA
I’LL BE SEEING YOU / Short UCI Student film, Drama, 2020 directed by Xueshi Li, USA
LIFELESS / Short, Drama 2020 directed by Elvira Sinelnik and Alex Fedosov, USA
LOOSE THREAD / Short UCI Student film, Sci-Fi, 2020 directed by Angel David Ochoa, USA
MORA & CHENCHI / Short, Drama, LGBTQ, Romance 2020 directed by Diego Toussaint, USA
ODD DRAWS / Short UCI Student film, 2020 directed by Lloyd Ea, USA
PARADISE PROGRAM / Short, Sci-Fi, LGBTQ, Romance 2019 directed by Shanshan Zhang, USA
RETURN (VEGER) / Short, Drama 2019 directed by Selman Deniz, Armenia & Turkey
SERVED (NIÁW!) / Short, Comedy 2020 directed by Kamal Moummad, Morocco
SKITOZ / Short, Drama 2020 directed by Alexis & Diego Perrotte, France
THAT STUPID ARMENIAN’S MOTION PICTURE SHOW OR GAREN / Short, Comedy 2019 directed by Hrag Meguerditchian, Lebanon
THE ABJURANTS / Short, Sci-Fi, Drama 2019 directed by Antonio De Palo, Italy
THE BLUE BED / Short, Drama 2020 directed by Alireza Kazemipour, Canada
THE CRITIC / Short, Drama, Psychological, Thriller 2018 directed by Stella Velon, USA
THE FAVOR Short, Drama 2019 directed by Henry Bruno, France
THIS LAND / Short, Crime, Drama 2019 directed by Michael Aloyan, Armenia
THROWAWAY BOY / Short, Drama 2019 directed by Michael A. Pickeney, USA
TWENTY EIGHTY / Short, Drama, Fantasy, Human 2020 directed by Eunjoo Na, Korea
WEEKEND / Short, Drama 2019 directed by Ario Motevaghe, Iran
10000 UGLY INKBLOTS / Animation, Short 2020 by Dmitry Geller, China
ECHO / Animation, Short, Drama, Environment 2020 by Barzan Rostami, Iran
GON, THE LITTLE FOX / Stop-Motion Animation, Drama, Fantasy 2019 by Takeshi Yashiro, Japan
HARVEST / Animation, Short 2018 by Sun Lijun, China
MALAKOUT / Animation, Fantasy 2019 by Farnoosh Abedi, Iran
THE ABANDONED BLOCK / Animation, Drama, Historic, Art 2020 by James Bourne, Canada
THE ROTATION / Animation, Student 2020 by Hazhir As’adi, Iran
THE WINTER / Animation, Student 2020 Xin Li, by Australia
UNFRAMED / Experimental Animation, Multimedia 2018 by Sona Yeghiazaryan, USA
SMASH AGAIN / Artists: CATALYST BARS & ALEXI / Music Video, Dance, Pop, Rap 2019 directed by Alexi Papalexopoulos, USA
COVID BACH / Artist: ANDRAS SCHIFF / Music Video, Animation, Classical 2020 directed by Elizabeth Lewis, Canada
MANOUG ME (A CHILD) / Artist: HAMO ARZOUMANIAN / Music Video, Armenian 2020 directed by Armen Poladian, Canada
ONLY LOVE / Artist: MANU HVALA / Music Video, Pop 2020 directed by Manu Hvala, USA
GETAWAY TO KAOHSIUNG / Artist: NAMEWEE / Music Video, Pop 2020 directed by Namewee, Taiwan