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Karlovy Vary International Film Festival · 2025

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2025

Horizons

Programme

52 films · 23 reviews

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2000 Meters To Andriivka

Review preview for 2000 Meters To Andriivka

The smoke, the blasts, the spinning of ejecting shell casings, yells that become cries, the front-line as it becomes frantic.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
Amid the failing counteroffensive, a journalist follows a Ukrainian platoon on their mission to traverse one mile of heavily fortified forest and liberate a strategic village from Russian occupation. But the farther they advance through their destroyed homeland, the more they realise that this war may never end.

(Country: Ukraine; Year: 2025; Director: Mstyslav Chernov)

Full review

About A Hero

Reflection on authorship and the limits of human expression in an age of algorithms, featuring interviews with various artists, philosophers, and scientists.

(Country: Denmark, USA; Year: 2024; Director: Piotr Winiewicz)

April

Review preview for April

It’s not unusual to say that something cuts through the silence but in Dea Kulumbegashvili’s April it’s the silence that cuts through us.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
After a newborn dies during delivery, the morals and professionalism of an ob-gyn, Nina, come under scrutiny amid rumors that she performs illegal abortions for those in need.

(Country: Georgia, Italy, France; Year: 2024; Director: Dea Kulumbegashvili; Writer: Dea Kulumbegashvili; Stars: Merab Ninidze, Ia Sukhitashvili, Kakha Kintsurashvili)

Full review

Ariel

A postmodern adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, set in the tropical volcanic landscape of the Azores.

(Country: Spain, Portugal; Year: 2025; Director: Lois Patiño; Writer: Lois Patiño; Stars: Agustina Muñoz, Irene Escolar, José Díaz, Hugo Torres, Marta Pazos)

The Baltimorons

Review preview for The Baltimorons

The connection that forms between them feels more real because it’s so unlikely. Duplass, co-writing with Strassner, has the skill to pull it off, and both lead actors are up to the task.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Christmas Eve, a broken tooth, and just one dentist on call – thus begins the strange odyssey of the newly sober Cliff and the lonely Didi through the streets of Baltimore.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Jay Duplass; Writer: Jay Duplass, Michael Strassner; Stars: Michael Strassner, Liz Larsen, Olivia Luccardi, Chris Strassner, Lewis Peterson, Rob Phoenix, Jessie Cohen)

Full review

The Blue Trail (O Ultimo Azul)

Review preview for The Blue Trail

When you get old, hope you find someone who looks at you the way Mascaro looks at Tereza and Roberta.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
To maximise economic productivity, the government orders the elderly to relocate to distant housing colonies. Tereza, 77, refuses – and instead embarks on a journey through the Amazon that will change her destiny forever.

(Country: Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Chile; Year: 2025; Director: Gabriel Mascaro; Writer: Tibério Azul, Murilo Hauser, Heitor Lorega, Gabriel Mascaro; Stars: Denise Weinberg, Rodrigo Santoro, Miriam Socarras, Adanilo)

Full review See: Interview with Gabriel Mascaro about The Blue Trail

Christy

Review preview for Christy

Touching, compelling and full of humanity.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
Two estranged brothers with chequered childhoods in the care system suddenly find themselves living under the same roof.

(Country: Ireland; Year: 2025; Director: Brendan Canty; Writer: Alan O'Gorman; Stars: Danny Power, Diarmuid Noyes, Emma Willis, Alison Oliver, Helen Behan, Chris Walley, Cormac De Bhál)

Full review See: Ireland’s debut filmmaker Brendan Canty picks up plethora of prizes

Deaf (Sorda)

The arrival of a baby to a Deaf woman and her hearing partner causes a crisis in their relationship.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2025; Director: Eva Libertad; Writer: Eva Libertad; Stars: Álvaro Cervantes, Elena Irureta, Miriam Garlo, Joaquín Notario)

Dreams

Believing his lover will support him, a young Mexican ballet dancer crosses the border to pursue his dreams in San Francisco. But as ambition and love clash with harsh realities, he must face the true nature of their relationship.

(Country: Mexico, US; Year: 2025; Director: Michel Franco; Writer: Michel Franco; Stars: Jessica Chastain, Rupert Friend, Marshall Bell, Isaac Hernández, Lee Braithwaite, Jim Anderson, Tracy Todd, Tatiana Ronderos, Sedrick Cabrera, Scott Jordan, Jayden Leavitt, Nicholas Gould, Nessa Dougherty, Bobby August Jr., Phillip Caires)

Dreams

Review preview for Dreams

Øverbye makes a compelling lead, taking on the chunks of voiceover without any problem but also excelling in terms of conveying her character’s moods via body language

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Johanne’s intimate writings about her crush on her teacher ignite both tension and self-reflection within her family, as her mother and grandmother confront their own unfulfilled dreams and desires.

(Country: Norway; Year: 2024; Director: Dag Johan Haugerud; Writer: Dag Johan Haugerud; Stars: Ane Dahl Torp, Selome Emnetu, Anne Marit Jacobsen, Ingrid Giæver, Valdemar Dørmænen Irgens, Ella Øverbye, Silje Breivik, Karina Sjøen, Lars Jacob Holm, Andrine Sæther, Nora Hagstrøm, Ammar Banewais, Brynjar Åbel Bandlien, Marja Folde, Sari Kader)

Full review See: Dag Johan Haugerud: 'When you fall in love, you get very self-obsessed'

Feeling Better (Nonostante)

Review preview for Feeling Better

While the end result doesn’t fully deliver on its excellent premise, being a little too light of touch, heavy on montage and spare in its scripting, this is nevertheless one of the more accessible cinematic takes on existentialism.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A hospitalised man finds his life shifting after the arrival of a new patient.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2024; Director: Valerio Mastandrea; Writer: Enrico Audenino, Valerio Mastandrea; Stars: Valerio Mastandrea, Justin Korovkin, Dolores Fonzi, Lino Musella, Claudia Della Seta)

Full review

The Forbidden City (La città proibita)

A woman leaves China for Rome in search of her missing sister.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2024; Director: Gabriele Mainetti; Writer: Stefano Bises, Gabriele Mainetti, Davide Serino; Stars: Yaxi Liu, Enrico Borello, Sabrina Ferilli, Marco Giallini, Shansan Chunyu)

GEN_

At Milan’s Niguarda public hospital, the unconventional Dr Bini leads a bold mission overseeing aspiring parents undergoing in vitro fertilization and the journeys of individuals reconciling their bodies with their gender identities. He navigates the constraints set by a conservative government and an aggressive market eager to commodify bodies.

(Country: France, Switzerland, Italy; Year: 2025; Director: Gianluca Matarrese; Writer: Gianluca Matarrese, Donatella Della Ratta)

Girls On Wire (Xiang fei de nv hai)

Tian Tian, the single mother of a five-year-old daughter, kills a drug dealer and is then pursued for vengeance. The only person she can turn to for help is her female cousin, Fang Di.

(Country: China; Year: 2025; Director: Vivian Qu; Writer: Vivian Qu; Stars: Haocun Liu, Vicky Chen, Youhao Zhang, Yitie Liu, Jing Peng, Jiankang, Haoyu Yang, You Zhou, Le Geng)

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

Review preview for If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

Rose Byrne anchors the whole damn thing with a performance that gives the sense of wobbling for eternity on a tightrope without ever quite falling off.

Jeremy Mathews · 4 out of 5
With her life crashing down around her, Linda attempts to navigate her child’s mysterious illness, her absent husband, a missing person, and an increasingly hostile relationship with her therapist.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Mary Bronstein; Writer: Mary Bronstein; Stars: Rose Byrne, Danielle Macdonald, Josh Pais, Daniel Zolghadri, Ivy Wolk, Conan O'Brien, A$AP Rocky, Helen Hong, Ella Beatty, Delaney Quinn, Mark Stolzenberg, Lark White, Eva Kornet)

Full review

It Was Just an Accident (Un Simple Accident)

Review preview for It Was Just an Accident

The takes are usually long and static, but every cut and move is justified for the purpose of dramaturgy.

Marko Stojiljkovic · 4 out of 5
What begins as a minor accident sets in motion a series of escalating consequences.

(Country: Iran, France, Luxembourg; Year: 2025; Director: Jafar Panahi; Writer: Jafar Panahi; Stars: Madjid Panahi, Ebrahim Azizi, Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari)

Full review See: Jafar Panahi on inspiration for It Was Just An Accident

Kika

Review preview for Kika

So much is happening at once in Kika’s life that the viewer has a hard time grasping the supposedly long lasting emotional challenges she is facing.

Alex Petrescu · 2.5 out of 5
A grieving new mother, while struggling to make ends meet for her family, uncovers an unexpected passion within herself.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2025; Director: Alexe Poukine; Writer: Alexe Poukine, Thomas van Zuylen; Stars: Manon Clavel, Suzanne Elbaz, Makita Samba, Thomas Coumand)

Full review

Kill The Jockey (El Jockey)

A jockey embarks on a new identity after an accident but a mobster is on his tail.

(Country: Argentina, Spain, United States, Mexico, Denmark; Year: 2024; Director: Luis Ortega; Writer: Fabian Casas, Luis Ortega, Rodolfo Palacios; Stars: Úrsula Corberó, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Mariana Di Girólamo, Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Roly Serrano, Luis Ziembrowski, Daniel Fanego, Roberto Carnaghi, Osmar Núñez, Adriana Aguirre)

Kontinental '25

Orsolya is a bailiff in Cluj, the main city in Transylvania. One day she has to evict a homeless man from a cellar, an action with tragic consequences that triggers a moral crisis which Orsolya must weather as best she can.

(Country: Romania; Year: 2025; Director: Radu Jude; Writer: Radu Jude; Stars: Serban Pavlu, Eszter Tompa, Gabriel Spahiu, Adonis Tanta, Mardare Oana)

Lesbian Space Princess

Review preview for Lesbian Space Princess

There’s an anarchic silliness about it which suits the science fiction setting, an openness to having fun and delivering a story unselfconsciously, on its own terms.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
An introverted space princess is forced to leave her planet to rescue her ex.

(Country: Australia; Year: 2025; Director: Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese; Writer: Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese; Stars: Shabana Azeez, Richard Roxburgh, Madeleine Sami, Mark Samual Bonanno, Gemma Chua-Tran, Jordan Raskopoulos, Aunty Donna, Bernie Van Tiel, Demi Lardner, Kween Kong, Reuben Kaye)

Full review See: Interview with Leela Varghese and Emma Hough Hobbs about Lesbian Space Princess

A Letter To David (Michtav Le'David)

Ten years ago, David Cunio starred in Tom Shoval’s debut feature film Youth, which revolved around a kidnapping. On October 7, 2023, Cunio was taken from the Nir Oz kibbutz and has been held hostage in Gaza ever since. Now, Shoval sends him a cinematic letter.

(Country: Israel, US; Year: 2025; Director: Tom Shoval; Writer: Tom Shoval; Stars: David Cunio, Eitan Cunio, Silvia Cunio, Luis Cunio, Sharon Aloni)

Little Trouble Girls (Kaj ti je deklica)

Review preview for Little Trouble Girls

Along with Vladimir Gojun’s progressively rhythmic editing and Julij Zornik’s subjective sound design, the filmmaker takes us right into the protagonist’s, and therefore any and every teenager’s head.

Marko Stojiljkovic · 4 out of 5
During a weekend of rehearsals with the school choir at a convent, an introverted teenager begins to view the world from a new perspective.

(Country: Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Serbia; Year: 2025; Director: Urska Djukic; Writer: Urska Djukic, Marina Gumzi; Stars: Jara Sofija Ostan, Mina Svajger, Sasa Tabakovic, Natasa Burger, Marko Mandic, Lotos Sparovec, Sasa Pavcek, Branko Zavrsan, Casson Matia, Popovic Stasa, Frlic Spela, Tomazin Irena, Strle Mateja)

Full review See: Interview with Urška Djukić about Little Trouble Girls

The Love That Remains

A year in the life of a family as the parents navigate their separation. Through both playful and heartfelt moments, the film portrays the bittersweet essence of faded love and shared memories amidst the changing seasons.

(Country: Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, France; Year: 2025; Director: Hlynur Pálmason; Writer: Hlynur Pálmason; Stars: Ingvar Sigurdsson, Sverrir Gudnason, Anders Mossling, Ída Mekkín Hlynsdóttir, Katla M. Þorgeirsdóttir, Saga Garðarsdóttir, Halldór Laxness Halldórsson, Grímur Hlynsson, Þorgils Hlynsson, Kristinn Guðmundsson)

Madly

Consideration of a couple's first date.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2025; Director: Paolo Genovese)

Mad Bills To Pay (or Destiny, Dile Que No Soy Malo)

Rico’s summer is a mix of chasing girls and hustling homemade cocktails out of a cooler on Orchard Beach, the Bronx. But when Destiny, his teenage girlfriend, crashes at his place with his family, it’s only a matter of time before his carefree days come spiraling down.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2025; Director: Joel Alfonso Vargas; Writer: Joel Alfonso Vargas; Stars: Juan Collado, Destiny Checo, Yohanna Florentino, Nathaly Navarro)

Materialists

A matchmaker finds herself torn between two potential partners.

(Year: 2025; Director: Celine Song; Stars: Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal)

Merckx

Documentary about the cyclist.

(Country: Belgium, France; Year: 2025; Director: Boris Tilquin, Christophe Hermans)

The Mysterious Gaze Of The Flamingo

1982. Eleven-year-old Lidia lives with her beloved queer family in a desert mining town in northern Chile. As an unknown and deadly disease begins to spread, legend has it that it is transmitted between two men, through a simple glance, when they fall in love. While people are accusing her family, Lidia must find out whether this myth is real or not.

(Country: Chile; Year: 2025; Director: Diego Céspedes; Writer: Diego Céspedes; Stars: Tamara Cortes, Matías Catalán, Paula Dinamarca)

My Father's Shadow

Set over the course of a single day in the Nigerian capital Lagos during the 1993 Nigerian election crisis, it follows a father, estranged from his two young sons, as they travel through the city.

(Country: UK, Nigeria; Year: 2025; Director: Akinola Davies; Writer: Akinola Davies, Wale Davies; Stars: Sope Dirisu, Efon Wini, Chibuike Marvelous Egbo, Godwin Egbo)

My Undesirable Friends: Part I - Last Air in Moscow

Documentary on the persistence of independent journalism in Putin’s Russia.

(Year: 2024; Director: Julia Loktev)

Perla

Austria in the early 1980s. Perla, a refugee from socialist Czechoslovakia, tries to make art and raise her daughter in a free world far from political oppression. But one day she hears a voice from the past...

(Country: Austria, Slovak Republic; Year: 2025; Director: Alexandra Makarová)

Peter Hujar's Day

Review preview for Peter Hujar's Day

Wishaw is an absolute wonder, delivering the conversational, sometimes stream-of-consciousness dialogue with a constantly engaging, almost hypnotic cadence.

Jeremy Mathews · 4 out of 5
A recently discovered conversation between photographer Peter Hujar and his friend Linda Rosenkrantz in 1974 reveals a glimpse into New York City’s downtown art scene and the personal struggles and epiphanies that define an artist’s life.

(Country: US, Germany; Year: 2025; Director: Ira Sachs; Writer: Ira Sachs; Stars: Ben Whishaw, Rebecca Hall)

Full review

Promised Sky (Promis le ciel)

Marie, an Ivorian pastor and former journalist, has lived in Tunisia for ten years. Her home becomes a refuge for Naney, a young mother seeking a better future, and Jolie, a strong-willed student carrying her family’s hopes. The arrival of a little orphan girl challenges their sense of solidarity in a tense social climate, revealing both their fragility and strength.

(Country: Tunisia, Qatar, France; Year: 2025; Director: Erige Sehiri; Writer: Anna Ciennik, Malika Cécile Louati, Erige Sehiri; Stars: Aïssa Maïga, Mohamed Grayaâ, Laetitia Ky)

Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Walk

Review preview for Put Your Soul On Your Hand And Walk

The film doesn’t answer every common question that people have in this situation, but it does provide some context.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
A glimpse of everyday reality for people living in Gaza in 2024.

(Country: Iran, France, Palestine; Year: 2025; Director: Sepideh Farsi)

Full review

Renoir

Suburban Tokyo, 1987. Eleven-year-old Fuki’s father, Keiji, is battling a terminal illness, and in and out of hospital. Her mother, Utako, is constantly stressed out from caring for Keiji while holding down a full-time job. Left alone with her rich imagination, Fuki becomes fascinated by telepathy and falls ever deeper into her own fantasy world…

(Country: Japan, France; Year: 2025; Director: Chie Hayakawa; Writer: Chie Hayakawa; Stars: Yumi Kawai, Lily Franky, Ryôta Bandô, Charlie St. Cyr, Hikari Ishida, Ayumu Nakajima, Yui Suzuki)

Siblings (La Vita da Grandi)

Thirty-something Irene is trying to make it in the Italian capital when she is forced to briefly return to her native Rimini. Her parents will be out of town, and Irene’s older brother has autism and can’t be left alone. But the lively forty-something has made up his mind that, once the parents are gone for good, he is not going to live with his sister.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2025; Director: Greta Scarano)

Sirât (Sirat)

Review preview for Sirât

The film looks amazing, but it sounds even more incredible.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
A father arrives at a rave deep in the mountains of southern Morocco with his son, looking for his daughter who has been missing for months.

(Country: Spain, France; Year: 2025; Director: Óliver Laxe; Writer: Santiago Fillol, Óliver Laxe; Stars: Sergi López, Bruno Núñez)

Full review See: Interview with Kangding Ray about Sirât

Sorry, Baby

Review preview for Sorry, Baby

Writer/director/star Eva Victor has created a poem about the pain and absurdity of entering and continuing adulthood, even when things feel heavy and hopeless.

Jeremy Mathews · 4.5 out of 5
Something bad happened to Agnes. But life goes on… for everyone around her, at least.

(Country: US, Spain, France; Year: 2025; Director: Eva Victor; Writer: Eva Victor; Stars: Eva Victor, Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges, John Carroll Lynch, Louis Cancelmi, Kelly McCormack)

Full review

Sound Of Falling (In Die Sonne Schauen)

Review preview for Sound Of Falling

The lives mirror each other, build on each other, contradict each other, haunt each other.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
Four girls, Alma, Erika, Angelika, and Lenka, each spend their youth on the same farm in northern Germany. As the home evolves over a century, echoes of the past linger in its walls. Though separated by time, their lives begin to mirror each other.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2025; Director: Mascha Schilinski; Writer: Louise Peter, Mascha Schilinski; Stars: Luise Heyer, Filip Schnack, Lea Drinda, Susanne Wuest, Lena Urzendowsky, Luzia Oppermann, Lucas Prisor, Konstantin Lindhorst, Gode Benedix, Martin Rother, Hanna Heckt, Bärbel Schwarz, Florian Geißelmann)

Full review

Splitsville

Review preview for Splitsville

It’s hard to care about a film when those involved don’t appear to have done so themselves.

Jennie Kermode · 2 out of 5
Splitsville picks up with Ashley asking for a divorce, watching as the good-natured Carey runs to his friends, Julie and Paul, for support. He’s shocked to discover that the secret to their happiness is an open marriage; that is, until Carey crosses the line and throws all of their relationships into chaos.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Michael Angelo Covino; Writer: Michael Angelo Covino, Kyle Marvin; Stars: Adria Arjona, Dakota Johnson, O-T Fagbenle, Nicholas Braun, David Castañeda, Charlie Gillespie, Simon Webster, Michael Angelo Covino, Kyle Marvin, Tyrone Benskin, Stephen Adekolu, Jessika Mathurin, Letitia Brookes, Robin Guillen, Marc Assiniwi)

Full review

Tales From The Magic Garden (Geschichten aus dem Zaubergarten)

Review preview for Tales From The Magic Garden

Serves as a teaching tool of sorts that bridges the gap between the generations and opens up a communication regarding some unpleasant topics that are very present in everyday life.

Marko Stojiljkovic · 3.5 out of 5
Three children spend the night with their grandfather after losing their grandmother and discover the power of imagination.

(Country: Czechia, Slovakia, Slovenia, France; Year: 2025; Director: David Sukup, Leon Vidmar, Patrik Pass Jr., Jean-Claude Rozec; Writer: Kaja Balog, Arnost Goldflam, Blandine Jet, Petr Krajícek, Maja Kriznik, Marek Král, Patrik Pass Jr.)

Full review

The Things You Kill

Haunted by the suspicious death of his ailing mother, a university professor coerces his enigmatic gardener to execute a cold-blooded act of vengeance.

(Country: Turkey, Poland, Canada, France; Year: 2025; Director: Alireza Khatami; Writer: Alireza Khatami; Stars: Hazar Ergüçlü, Erkan Kolçak Köstendil, Ekin Koç, Ercan Kesal)

The Thing With Feathers

Review preview for The Thing With Feathers

A sometimes compelling, often baffling work that doesn’t really solve the inherent problem of its subject matter, but swings for the fences trying.

Jeremy Mathews · 2.5 out of 5
Struggling to process the sudden and unexpected death of his wife, a young father loses his hold on reality as a seemingly malign presence begins to stalk him from the shadowy recesses of the apartment he shares with his two young sons.

(Country: UK; Year: 2025; Director: Dylan Southern; Writer: Dylan Southern; Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, David Thewlis, Sam Spruell, Jessie Cave, Leo Bill, Vinette Robinson, Tim Plester, Adam Basil, Garry Cooper, Pierre Bergman, Eric Lampaert, Claire Cartwright, Lesley Molony, Joakim Skarli, Max Porter)

Full review

Timestamp (Strichka Chasu)

Despite the war, school life continues in Ukraine, with pupils and teachers striving to carry on learning even under constant threat. The film is a mosaic of the everyday lives of teachers and students from different corners of Ukraine.

(Country: France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ukraine; Year: 2025; Director: Kateryna Gornostai; Writer: Kateryna Gornostai; Stars: Olha Bryhynets, Borys Khovriak, Mykola Kolomiiets, Valeriia Hukova, Yelyzaveta Loza, Svitlana Popova, Mykola Shpak)

Trains

Archival documentary charting the cyclical nature of war.

(Country: Poland, Lithuania; Year: 2024; Director: Maciej J Drygas)

Two Prosecutors

Review preview for Two Prosecutors

Chillingly restrained and quietly devastating

Stephen Dalton · 4 out of 5
Soviet Union, 1937. Thousands of letters from detainees falsely accused by the regime are burned in a prison cell. Against all odds, one of them reaches its destination... the desk of a newly appointed local prosecutor, who embarks on a quest for justice.

(Country: France, Germany, Romania, Latvia, Netherlands, Lithuania; Year: 2025; Director: Sergey Loznitsa; Writer: Sergey Loznitsa; Stars: Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Aleksandr Filippenko, Anatoliy Beliy, Andris Keišs)

Full review

Two Times João Liberada (Duas vezes João Liberada)

João stars in a biopic about the gender-nonconforming Liberada, who was persecuted by the Inquisition. When the film’s director is struck down by a mysterious paralysis, João navigates the chaos, determined to honour Liberada’s story and finish the film.

(Country: Portugal; Year: 2025; Director: Paula Tomás Marques; Writer: João Abreu, Paula Tomás Marques; Stars: João Abreu, André Tecedeiro, Jenny Larrue, Caio Amado Soares, Eloísa d'Ancensão, Tiago Aires Lêdo)

Urchin

Mike, a rough sleeper in London, trapped in a cycle of self-destruction, attempts to turn his life around.

(Country: UK; Year: 2025; Director: Harris Dickinson; Writer: Harris Dickinson; Stars: Frank Dillane, Amr Waked, Murat Erkek, Megan Northam, Shonagh Marie, Falco Flow, Karyna Khymchuk)

Vermiglio

Review preview for Vermiglio

Maura Delpero’s multi-layered drama sees its heroine growing up and coming to understand the world in new ways at the same time as the village itself shifts, not altogether willingly, into the modern era.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
1944, Vermiglio, a remote mountain village. The arrival of Pietro, a deserter, into the family of the local teacher, and his love for the teacher's eldest daughter, will change the course of everyone's life.

(Country: Italy, France, Belgium; Year: 2024; Director: Maura Delpero; Writer: Maura Delpero; Stars: Tommaso Ragno, Giuseppe De Domenico, Roberta Rovelli, Martina Scrinzi, Orietta Notari, Carlotta Gamba, Santiago Fondevila Sancet, Rachele Potrich, Anna Thaler, Patrick Gardner, Enrico Panizza, Luis Thaler, Simone Bendetti, Sara Serraiocco)

Full review

We Believe You (On vous croit)

Review preview for We Believe You

We Believe You works to perfection thanks to the dedication and stellar directing, acting and technical work.

Marko Stojiljkovic · 3.5 out of 5
A mother does everything she can to protect her children from their father at a custody hearing.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2025; Director: Charlotte Deville, Arnaud Dufeys; Writer: Charlotte Deville, Arnaud Dufeys; Stars: Myriem Akheddiou, Ulysse Goffin, Adele Pickaers, Alisa Laub, Laurent Capelluto, Marion de Nanteuil, Natali Broods, Mounir Bennaouim)

Full review

What Does that Nature Say to You (Geu jayeoni nege mworago hani)

A young poet drops his girlfriend off at her parents’ house and is amazed by its size. He bumps into her father, meets her mother and sister, and they all end up spending a long day together; fuelled by conversation, food and libations.

(Country: South Korea; Year: 2025; Director: Hong Sang-soo; Stars: Kwon Hae-hyo, Ha Seong-guk, Yunhee Cho, Mi-so Park, Kang Soyi)

Yes (Ken)

Musician Y. divides his time between everyday family life and wild parties at which he and his wife earn a living performing degrading acts for Israel’s rich elite. One day, however, Y. is asked to compose a new national anthem. All this against the backdrop of the shocking events of October 7, 2023. Nadav Lapid knows no compromise.

(Country: France, Israel, Cyprus, Germany; Year: 2025; Director: Nadav Lapid)