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Leeds International Film Festival · 2025

Leeds International Film Festival 2025

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Programme

26 films · 19 reviews

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All You Need Is Kill

Caught in a time loop during an alien plant invasion, Rita relives the same day repeatedly, becoming a skilled warrior. Exhausted by endless deaths, she discovers Keiji, another person trapped in the loop.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2025; Director: Ken'ichirô Akimoto; Writer: Yûichirô Kido, Hiroshi Sakurazaka; Stars: Ai Mikami, Natsuki Hanae)

Alpha

Review preview for Alpha

Alpha exists in the intersection of the probable and the parable.

Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
Alpha, a troubled 13-year-old, lives with her single mother. Their world collapses the day she returns from school with a tattoo on her arm.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2025; Director: Julia Ducournau; Writer: Julia Ducournau; Stars: Emma Mackey, Golshifteh Farahani, Tahar Rahim, Finnegan Oldfield, Jean-Charles Clichet, Christophe Perez, Ambrine Trigo Ouaked, Louai El Amrousy, Mélissa Boros, Fabien Giameluca)

Full review

Anything That Moves

Review preview for Anything That Moves

Setting two sets of narrative expectations against each other is an interesting way of presenting disordered thinking, and puts the viewer in a pleasingly uncomfortable position.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
An innocent Chicago food delivery boy, after having sex for money, finds himself involved in a series of murders that can be traced back to someone who was in his bed.

(Year: 2025; Director: Alex Phillips; Writer: Alex Phillips; Stars: Nina Hartley, Ginger Lynn Allen)

Full review See: Interview with Alex Phillips about Anything That Moves

The Book Of Sijjin & Illiyyin (Kitab Sijjin & Illiyyin)

A woman uses black magic to cast a curse on a family. As a result, the family members experience scary events one by one that threaten their safety.

(Country: Indonesia; Year: 2025; Director: Hadrah Daeng Ratu; Writer: Lele Laila, Ersan Özer; Stars: Yunita Siregar, Dinda Kanyadewi, Tarra Budiman, Djenar Maesa Ayu)

Bugonia

Review preview for Bugonia

While some directors spend their lives crafting love letters to the worlds they create, Yorgos Lanthimos has developed a fine line in cinematic hate mail to humanity.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.

(Country: Ireland, South Korea, Canada, United States; Year: 2025; Director: Yorgos Lanthimos; Writer: Jang Joon-hwan, Will Tracy; Stars: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Alicia Silverstone, Stavros Halkios)

Full review

ChaO

A junior designer at the leading shipbuilding company might have the key to peaceful relations between humans and merfolk. His role in achieving detente, however, suddenly becomes a lot stranger when the mermaid princess announces her intention to marry him.

(Country: Japan; Year: 2025; Director: Yasuhiro Aoki; Stars: Oji Suzuka, Anna Yamada)

Dandelion's Odyssey (Planètes)

Review preview for Dandelion's Odyssey

Animator Momoko Seto primarily deserves praise for imbuing each seed with a distinctive personality so that although the film is without dialogue we always know which of our adventurers we’re observing.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Dendelion, Baraban, Léonto and Taraxa - four dandelion achenes that survive from a series of nuclear explosions destroying Earth - are propelled into the cosmos. After crash-landing on an unknown planet, they set out in search of soil where their species might survive.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2025; Director: Momoko Seto; Writer: Mariette Désert, Alain Layrac, Momoko Seto)

Full review

Dead Lover

Review preview for Dead Lover

The expressionist feeling of early 20th century cinema is further enhanced by the specific colour scheme, resembling a very early version of Technicolor, while the sound recalls that of the early sound films.

Marko Stojiljkovic · 3.5 out of 5
A lonely gravedigger who stinks of corpses finally meets her dream man, but their whirlwind affair is cut short when he tragically drowns at sea. Grief-stricken, she goes to morbid lengths to resurrect him through madcap scientific experiments, resulting in grave consequences and unlikely love.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Grace Glowicki; Writer: Grace Glowicki, Ben Petrie; Stars: Grace Glowicki, Leah Doz, Ben Petrie, Lowen Morrow)

Full review

Deathstalker

Review preview for Deathstalker

Cinema in its most metal form.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
When a ruthless warrior named Deathstalker steals a mysterious amulet from a dying man, he’s unwillingly thrust into a quest to stop the dark sorcerer Necromemnon and save the world from destruction.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Steven Kostanski; Writer: Steven Kostanski; Stars: Daniel Bernhardt, Christina Orjalo, Nina Bergman, Paul Lazenby, John Ambrose, Conor Sweeney, Laurie Field, John Clifford Talbot)

Full review See: Interview with Daniel Bernhardt about Deathstalker

Dog Of God

Review preview for Dog Of God

Sin, heresy and sexual ecstasy intertwine in a story which lacks theological depth but probably approximates fairly well the understanding of most peasants and low status clergy at the time.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Rotoscope animation sets the stage for this 17th century look at a woman accused of witchcraft whose trial reveals the presence of a werewolf.

(Country: Latvia, US; Year: 2025; Director: Lauris Abele, Raitis Abele; Writer: Lauris Abele, Raitis Abele, Ivo Briedis, Harijs Grundmanis; Stars: Armands Bergis, Einars Repse, Regnars Vaivars, Agate Krista, Kristians Karelins, Jurgis Spulenieks)

Full review

Flush

Review preview for Flush

Set almost entirely within a single toilet stall, this is low budget filmmaking par excellence.

Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
Finding his ex in the nightclub where she works and convincing her to come back and live with him should be doable, correct? Losing the dealer and the bar owner who left him for dead in the restroom for trying to steal their stash is still within his capabilities. However, removing his head stuck in the toilet bowl is not a given.

(Country: France; Year: 2025; Director: Grégory Morin; Stars: Jonathan Lambert, ​Élodie Navarre, Elliot Jenicot, Rémy Adriaens)

Full review

Fucktoys

Review preview for Fucktoys

Any number of films try to sell themselves on inviting us to ogle outsiders like these. The difference with Fucktoys is that it’s made by people who actually get it.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
A bubblegum grindhouse adventure through sunny and romantic Trashtown, USA.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Annapurna Sriram; Writer: Annapurna Sriram; Stars: Annapurna Sriram, Sadie Scott, Francois Arnaud, Damian Young, Big Freedia, Brandon Flynn, Lorrie Odom, Jowin Batoon, Tamika Lawrence, Arianna Ortiz)

Full review See: Interview with Annapurna Sriram about Fucktoys

The Girl Who Stole Time

A cheerful girl from a fishing village, obtains a mysterious pendant, the Time Dial, which gives her the power to control time. But her new ability attracts danger, including an assassin.

(Country: China; Year: 2025; Director: Yu Ao, Zhou Tienan; Stars: Liu Xiaoyu, Wang Junkai, Zhou Shen, Huang Bo)

Hellcat

Review preview for Hellcat

Hellcat is an unforgettable ride.

Jennie Kermode · 5 out of 5
A woman wakes in the back of a moving camper trailer with a badly infected wound. A voice from the truck towing it tells her they must reach a doctor within the hour or she'll suffer a horrific fate.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Brock Bodell; Writer: Brock Bodell; Stars: Dakota Gorman, Todd Terry, Jordan Mullins, Elise Horn, Liz Atwater)

Full review See: Interview with Dakota Gorman about Hellcat

The Holy Boy (La Valle Dei Sorrisi)

Review preview for The Holy Boy

Likely to put a smile on the faces of horror fans who favour the dissection of ideas over dismemberment.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
In Italy's happiest town, a haunted teacher discovers dark secret behind weekly gatherings where locals seek healing from a teenage boy's embrace. His quest to save the youth reveals the sinister nature of a community hiding behind joy.

(Country: Italy, Slovenia; Year: 2025; Director: Paolo Strippoli; Writer: Jacopo Del Giudice, Paolo Strippoli, Milo Tissone; Stars: Michele Riondino, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Giulio Feltri, Roberto Citran, Paolo Pierobon)

Full review See: Paolo Strippoli on his coming-of-age horror The Holy Boy

Honey Bunch

Review preview for Honey Bunch

There’s a genuine unpredictability to Honey Bunch, both structurally and thematically.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Diana’s husband is taking her to an experimental trauma facility deep in the wilderness, but she cannot remember why ... As her memories begin to creep back in, so do some unwelcome sinister truths about her marriage.

(Country: Canada, UK; Year: 2025; Director: Dusty Mancinelli, Madeleine Sims-Fewer; Writer: Dusty Mancinelli, Madeleine Sims-Fewer; Stars: Jason Isaacs, Kate Dickie, Julian Richings, Grace Glowicki, India Brown, Ben Petrie, Jimi Shlag)

Full review See: Interview with Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer about Honey Bunch

Queens Of The Dead

Review preview for Queens Of The Dead

Tina Romero is in her element.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
On what should be a fun night at a Brooklyn warehouse party, an outbreak of flesh-eating zombies forces a ragtag group of drag queens, partygoers and party-throwers to band together and somehow survive the night.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Tina Romero; Writer: Erin Judge, Tina Romero; Stars: Katy O'Brian, Riki Lindhome, Margaret Cho, Jack Haven, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Cheyenne Jackson, Tom Savini, Eve Lindley, Danielle Vasinova, Dominique Jackson, Quincy Dunn-Baker, Kimball Farley, Becca Blackwell, Quentin Nguyen-Duy, Jaquel Spivey)

Full review See: Interview with Tina Romero about Queens Of The Dead

Rains Over Babel (Llueve sobre Babel)

A group of misfits converges at Babel, a legendary dive bar that doubles as purgatory, where La Flaca - the city’s Grim Reaper - presides. Here, souls gamble years of their lives with her, daring to outwit Death herself.

(Country: Colombia, Spain, US; Year: 2025; Director: Gala del Sol; Writer: Gala del Sol; Stars: Jhon Narváez, Sofia Buenaventura, John Alex Castillo, Saray Rebolledo, Felipe Aguilar Rodríguez, Celina Biurrun, Jose Mojica, Jhon Bayron Quintero Valencia, Mairen Valoyes, William Hurtado, Jacobo Velez, Johan Zapata, Román Escobar, Santiago Ortiz, Christian Calles)

Redux Redux

Review preview for Redux Redux

It’s refreshing to encounter a multiverse film that doesn’t mess about.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Irene Kelly travels through parallel universes, repeatedly killing her daughter's murderer. As she becomes consumed by vengeance, her humanity hangs in the balance.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Kevin McManus, Matthew McManus; Writer: Kevin McManus, Matthew McManus; Stars: Derick Alexander, Raphael Chestang, Debra Christofferson, Jim Cummings, Minita Gandhi, London Garcia, Jeremy Holm)

Full review See: Interview with Matthew McManus and Kevin McManus about Redux Redux

Roqia

Review preview for Roqia

Supernatural possession is closely intertwined with the idea of radicalisation, evil jinn with distorted ideology.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
After a car crash, a man returns home to his family with his face covered in bandages, suffering from amnesia. As mysterious and threatening events accumulate, he fears that he is possessed.

(Country: France, Algeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia; Year: 2025; Director: Yanis Koussim)

Full review

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

Space Cadet (Robot, Celeste & das All)

Review preview for Space Cadet

A film that gently tackles adult themes including grief, being an empty nester and memory but in ways that make it accessible to all ages.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Robot’s sole purpose has always been to nurture Celeste into the brilliant scientist she has now become. But as the young astronaut sets off on her first interstellar mission, Robot is left behind.

(Director: Eric San (aka Kid Koala); Writer: Mylène Chollet)

Full review See: Eric San - aka Kid Koala - on minimalism and cherishing the moment in Space Cadet

The True Beauty Of Being Bitten By A Tick

A woman reeling from a tragedy takes some much needed time away with a group of friends at their home in the countryside. After a walk through the woods, what seems like an innocuous tick bite has grotesquely unexpected consequences.

(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Pete Ohs; Writer: Zoë Chao, James Cusati-Moyer, Jeremy O Harris; Stars: Zoë Chao, Callie Hernandez, Jeremy O Harris, James Cusati-Moyer)

A Useful Ghost (Pee Chai Dai Ka)

Review preview for A Useful Ghost

Not only ambitious – a term often used to damn films with faint praise – but successfully so.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
March is mourning his wife Nat who has recently passed away due to dust pollution. He discovers her spirit has returned by possessing the vacuum cleaner. But to become a useful ghost, she first needs to get rid of the useless ones.

(Country: Thailand; Year: 2025; Director: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke; Writer: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke; Stars: Wanlop Rungkumjad, Wisarut Himmarat, Apasiri Nitibhon, Wisarut Homhuan)

Full review See: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke on mixing things up in A Useful Ghost

Vampire Zombies... From Space!

In 1957, the small town of Marlow is under attack by: see title.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2024; Director: Michael Stasko; Writer: Jakob Skrzypa, Alex Forman, Michael Stasko; Stars: Lloyd Kaufman, Judith O'Dea, Michael C Gwynne, Simon Reynolds, Gavin Michael Booth, David Liebe Hart)

The Virgin Of The Quarry Lake

Review preview for The Virgin Of The Quarry Lake

The heat of summer pulses beneath the action and we can virtually smell the sweat and decay as the sound of flies or a gathering storm punctuate the soundtrack.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
In 2001, three teenagers from the outskirts of Buenos Aires all fall in love with Diego. Natalia has always had the most chemistry with him, but when it seems inevitable that their friendship will turn into something more, the older and more experienced Silvia appears and soon captures Diego’s attention.

(Country: Argentina, Spain, Mexico; Year: 2025; Director: Laura Casabe; Writer: Benjamín Naishtat; Stars: Fernanda Echevarría, Dady Brieva, Dolores Oliverio, Luisa Merelas, Agustín Sosa)

Full review See: Director Laura Casabé on bringing The Virgin Of The Quarry Lake to the screen