Discovering new talents and voices that renew our perspective remains at the core of the Festival. This year, at the 66th Thessaloniki International Film Festival (30 October - 9 November 2025), movies from all over the world, screened at TIFF’s competition sections, International Competition, Meet the Neighbors+ and >>Film Forward, incite us to embark on exciting and deeply humane film journeys.
International Competition
The International Competition section showcases 12 films by upcoming film directors from all over the world, among which three Greek films.
The International Competition Jury is composed of:
Elegance Bratton (director, screenwriter, producer, and actor)
Thania Dimitrakopoulou (Head of Sales at The Match Factory)
Fred Elmes (cinematographer)
The movies of the International Competition section have their eyes set on the following awards:
- Golden Alexander “Theo Angelopoulos” - Best Feature Film, accompanied by a 10,000-euro cash prize.
- Silver Alexander - Best Direction Award, accompanied by a 5,000-euro cash prize, sponsored by COSMOTE TELEKOM.
- Best Actor & Actress Awards.
- Best Sceenplay or Best Artistic Achievement Award.
In addition, the jury can opt to bestow up to two special mentions.
Let’s take a glance at the International Competition films:
Beachcomber
Aristotelis Maragkos
Greece, 2025, 92΄
Elias dreams of building a boat from scrap metal, chasing the shadow of his sailor father's legacy. But as his creation crumbles, so does the myth he’s built around himself – forcing him to confront the fragile truth of who he really is.
Bearcave
Krysianna B. Papadakis & Stergios Dinopoulos
Greece-UK, 2025, 127΄
Argyro and Anneta are two best friends living in the Greek mountain village of Tirna. Once Anneta reveals that she’s pregnant and planning to skip town with her cop boyfriend, Argyro, devastated, dares her to embark on a hike into the legendary Bearcave.
Gorgonà
Evi Kalogiropoulou
Greece-France, 2025, 96΄
In a timeless dystopian future, in a patriarchal city-state plagued by violence and environmental pollution, two women rebel and fight for their freedom and identity, transforming themselves into symbols of resistance and transformation.
A Light That Never Goes Out
Lauri-Matti Parppei
Finland-Norway, 2025, 111΄
In the aftermath of a personal crisis, unable to manage the weight of expectations placed upon him, 29-years-old Pauli, a talented and successful flutist, returns to his family home in a small town in Finland. There, almost unwillingly, he connects with a group of young musicians, pariahs in the suffocating, provincial environment, who, fueled by wonderful madness, compose experimental music through improvisation. The debut of Finnish filmmaker Lauri-Matti Parppei, as well as according to The Guardian “one of the most interesting films in this year’s Cannes Film Festival,” A Light That Never Goes Out unfolds an exquisite, liberating parable on the necessity of rejecting the false self and embracing weakness, fragility, and our authentic nature. Balancing delicately between drama and bizarre roundabout humor, the film leads both its main character and the audience into the inextinguishable, comforting glow of a purifying fire, from which one is reborn different, young, and open to embracing life.
Cotton Queen
Suzannah Mirghani
Germany-France-Palestine-Qatar-Saudi Arabia-Sudan, 2025, 94’
Young Nafisa lives in a village in Sudan, on the banks of the Nile. The granddaughter of the so-called “Cotton Queen”, an elderly woman – seemingly centuries old – who has taken on legendary dimensions due to her resistance against the British and her alleged ability to see the future, is of marriage age. Currently, Nafisa works in her grandmother’s fields picking cotton, diving into the river, and falling in love with a young man. But the arrival of a wealthy entrepreneur from London upends everything, and everyone (including her parents and her grandmother) makes plans for her, without her knowledge. Somewhere between a critique of colonialism and an Oriental fable, between realism and magical realism, the film unfolds as a commentary on the juxtaposition of tradition and modernity, but first and foremost, as a story about the stifling of women’s wants in Africa – before building up to a fiery, cleansing climax. Subdued, slow-burning, and aptly elliptical, Suzannah Mirghani’s Cotton Queen, which left quite an impression at this year’s Venice Film Festival, is one of the finest film debuts of the year.
Karla
Christina Tournatzès
Germany, 2025, 105’
Munich, 1962. In a society bound by silence and shame, 12-year-old Karla makes a remarkable yet unusual decision: she brings her abusive father to court. Refusing to be silenced, she insists on telling her story in her own way, choosing what to reveal and what to leave unsaid. Based on a true story, the film lays bare both the courage of a child seeking justice and the societal taboos that conspire to keep her quiet. Christina Tournatzès’ film portrays this landmark court case with restraint and emotional precision, transforming it into a deeply human exploration of trauma, truth, and agency. In the leading role, Elise Krieps, daughter of international star Vicky Krieps, leaves a lasting impression, embodying Karla’s quiet defiance with extraordinary depth.
Maysoon
Nancy Biniadaki
Germany-Greece, 2025, 122΄
A relationship falls apart, a passport expires – and suddenly everything is at stake: Egyptian archaeologist Maysoon lives in Berlin with her partner Tobi and their two children when her past catches up with her: once politically active before the Arab Spring, returning to Egypt could cost her her freedom. As she fears the loss of her home, her family, and her sense of control, Maysoon begins a battle.
Milk Teeth
Mihai Mincan
Romania-France-Denmark-Greece-Bulgaria, 2025, 104΄
Romania, 1989. During the last days of Ceaușescu's dictatorship, in a small, isolated town, ten-year-old Maria becomes the last witness to her sister’s mysterious disappearance. Torn apart by the loss, she is trying to make sense of a new, terrifying reality. She withdraws into herself and refuses to speak. Has she lost her voice – or is it that she can't find the right words? An atmospheric portrait of childhood on the threshold of historical change, but also a personal transformation. Through the gaze of a child caught in the ruins of a waning regime, the film captures the terrifying beauty of growing up as the edges of her world seem to shift. A coming-of-age story etched in darkness and hope, as well as a loud confirmation that the personal can’t be other than political.
On the Sea
Helen Walsh
UK, 2025, 111΄
In a village on the mist-shrouded coast of Wales, where life is dictated by the same centuries-old conservative, patriarchal values, a man abruptly finds himself at odds with a small-minded community and, most importantly, himself: at 48, married, and a father to a defiant teen, Jack, a mussel farmer upholding the family legacy, will connect with an attractive young man arriving in the region as a seasonal worker. Whatever follows will unearth unuttered, suppressed desires, thus changing himself and his family forever. Set against the backdrop of the frosty and damp landscape of Wales, the second feature of filmmaker and novelist Helen Walsh, On the Sea, unfolds as a heavy, charged, and poignant drama, skillfully shifting between social drama and a profoundly human love story. Suggestive yet subtle, with the narrative fully exploiting looks, gestures, nods, and the imposing nature of Wales, On the Sea touches the audience in the same manner that humidity caresses the skin: imperceptibly, and discreetly.
Pillion
Harry Lighton
UK, 2025, 106΄
Harry Lighton adapts Adam Mars-Jones’s novella Box Hill into a film, delivering a queer coming-of-age story as unexpected as it is disarmingly romantic. Colin (Harry Melling), a timid young man in the British countryside, leads an almost insignificant life up until he meets Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), a mysterious biker who introduces him to a relationship of dominance and submission. The film follows this relationship without moralizing, offering a clear-eyed gaze and tender understanding, blending humor with truth. It transforms what some might see as a “shocking” dynamic into a catalyst for a profound exploration of desire, loneliness, trust, the rejection of certainty, and the need for belonging. Constructing a seemingly asymmetrical love affair free of stereotypes, Pillion unearths, above all, an intimate love story, while portraying with striking honesty a side of the queer experience that we rarely encounter on the big screen.
Satisfaction
Alex Burunova
USA-Greece-Ukraine-Italy, 2025, 97΄
The relationship between Lola and Philip, two young British composers, is falling apart. While spending their holiday on Antiparos, the two struggle to regain their footing as a couple, and revive their lost creativity. However, despite the enchanting Cycladic landscape and the idleness of summer, something imperceptible yet heavy looms in the horizon. And when Lola meets a mysterious, dark, and beguiling Greek woman, the equilibrium is thrown off, bringing to light repressed trauma – and the hope of overcoming it. Masterfully utilizing the Aegean light, as well as the contours and geometry of Cycladic architecture, Alex Burunova’s impressive debut is a psychological thriller boldly braving the darkness behind the photogenic surface. Starring three of the most capable actors of the younger generation -Emma Laird, Fionn Whitehead, Zar Amir Ebrahimi,- the film addresses a series of crucial issues - spanning from the toxicity of an abusive relationship to the acceptance of grief, the fluidity of sexual identity, and the promise of love as a path to liberation, - until the heroine uncovers the true light, hidden within herself.
Strange River
Jaume Claret Muxart
Spain-Germany, 2025, 105΄
Two boys and their parents start off their summer vacation by cycling along the Danube River. The eldest, already a teenager for some time, unexpectedly meets a mysterious boy in an encounter that will prove decisive for the trip’s outcome, whilst the youngest merely observes from the sidelines. Jaume Claret Muxart’s debut stands out from the rest of the coming-of-age dramas for its “subtlety” and the careful evasion of the pitfall that is saccharine didacticism. Quiet, filled with autobiographical elements, pauses, and saturated colors, this Strange River takes the form of an allegory about the end of innocence, the (dreamlike) fantasies of adolescence, and the darkness of psychological highs and lows. As it crosses paths with Call Me by Your Name and David Lynch’s cinema, as well as with Close and Love, Simon, it flows into a stunning final sequence that will take you back to that summer when you were 16, when you wanted nothing more than to be elsewhere.
Meet the Neighbors+
The Meet the Neighbors+ competition section consists of debut or sophomore films of upcoming film directors that intend to offer us a deeper understanding on life, the human condition and the state of things in our wider geographical region or cast a glance at the world “beyond our neighborhood” through a unique and innovative artistic prism. The section includes 12 films, among which three Greek films.
The Meet the Neighbors+ jury is composed of:
Ali Abbasi (filmmaker)
Sofia Kokkali (actress)
Kirsten Niehuus (film funding expert)
The Golden Alexander - Michel Dimopoulos is accompanied by a 10,000-euro cash prize, while the Silver Alexander - Best Direction Award is accompanied by a 5,000-euro cash prize. The jury will also bestow the Best Actor Award, the Best Actress Award and the Best Screenplay Award or Best Artistic Achievement Award.
Let’s take a glance at the Meet the Neighbors+ competition section films:
Life in a Beat
Amerissa Basta
Greece-Cyprus-Bulgaria-North Macedonia-Montenegro-France, 2025, 93΄
Lena is a 20 year old woman who lives in Athens, works at a local supermarket and lives with her family. As their home is poor, always messy and full of tension, she wants to move out and start a life of her own. Everything changes for Lena when she gets fired from her job and at the same time she finds out that she is pregnant.
Novak
Harry Lagoussis
Greece-Switzerland, 2025, 110΄
Dr. Novak, a former Croatian neuroscientist, lives closed off from the world in the heart of Athens, haunted by a mysterious past. When a group of idealistic young scientists revive his forgotten work, he is drawn into their collective, driven by a bold mission to live in a world shielded from the unseen forces of electromagnetic pollution.
Smaragda – I Got Thick Skin and I Can’t Jump
Emilios Avraam
Cyprus, 2024, 99΄
Smaragda is broke, lovelorn, and stuck in the past—with only a guide dog for company. Desperate for change, she dives into the chaotic world of social media while reluctantly working as a children's entertainer at a tourist resort, encountering both fame and backlash as she embarks on a journey of self-discovery.
Another Man
David Moragas
Spain, 2025, 100΄
They are young, handsome, in love, and living together in a bustling neighborhood in Barcelona, while considering moving to a bigger house since their toilet is constantly leaking and it refuses to be fixed. When their sexy new neighbor appears on the balcony across the street, the delicate balance between them will shatter with a resounding crash. Queer cinema rarely delivers such a poised and honest depiction of homonormativity and the elements that define the modern urban queer identity, through the lens of a relationship between two men – literally your next-door neighbors – who are going through incredibly familiar and relatable experiences. Light-hearted without being overly sentimental, pressing and surprisingly hopeful, even when touching upon difficult issues such as parental trauma, suicide, monogamy in a manner we have yet to become accustomed to (especially in gay love stories), this small Catalan gem reminds us, in the best possible way, that life is filled with bittersweet moments.
Don’t Let Me Die
Andrei Epure
Romania-Bulgaria-France, 2025, 108΄
A woman wanders through the city’s desolate streets at night. We know neither where she comes from nor where she goes. She ends up at the entrance of an apartment building, rings a bell, and utters some indecipherable sounds. The following morning, she is found dead on the threshold by the tenants. None of them has any time to spare investigating; they all have work to do. It falls to Maria, the reclusive neighbor of the deceased, to undertake funeral procedures. This is only the beginning of a Kafkaesque nightmare, filled with bursts of awkward humor, characters who seem to have leapt out of Kiarostami’s cinema and a haunting cameo from Hal Hartley’s muse, Elina Löwensohn, in the feature film debut of Romanian filmmaker Andrei Epure, who aspires to find the point of convergence between Romanian New Wave and Greek Weird Wave, a movement that directly influences his work. Selected for the Competition Section at Locarno.
Fantasy
Kukla
Slovenia-North Macedonia, 2025, 98΄
Three best friends in their 20s living in Slovenia, tomboys who refuse to conform to the conservative system they are surrounded by, meet Fantasy, a transgender woman, and their world is turned upside down. Together, they embark on a journey that explores the complexities of gender, desire, and self-discovery. The film is based on her acclaimed short film Sisters, thus expanding the filmmaker’s exploration of female friendship and identity. In Fantasy, where the roles are mostly portrayed by first-time actors, the filmmaker crafts a vibrant, empathetic portrait of queer self-discovery and solidarity.
Feels Like Home
Gábor Holtai
Hungary, 2025, 124΄
A woman is kidnapped by a family who claim that she is their missing daughter. She must impersonate this other woman in order to survive while she tries to find a way out of this nightmare. Hungarian director Gábor Holtai builds a taut psychological thriller from this unsettling premise. With slow-burning tension and claustrophobic precision, Feels Like Home shifts between domestic intimacy and menace, holding viewers in a state of unease. At once a survival story and a chilling allegory about belonging, it is a meticulous, devoted study of how families, and the roles they impose, can both provide shelter and lead to suffocation.
God Will Not Help
Hana Jušić
Croatia-Italy-Romania-Greece-France-Slovenia, 2025, 137΄
In her second feature, Croatian writer-director Hana Jušić crafts a brooding period drama set in the early 20th-century highlands of Croatia. A Chilean woman, Teresa, suddenly arrives in a remote shepherding family, claiming to be the widow of their eldest son, Marko, who emigrated years before. Speaking only Spanish, she faces suspicion and silence while trying to integrate into the family’s daily rhythms, where buried traumas, and visions of the dead quietly surface. Premiering in Competition at the 78th Locarno Film Festival, the film earned the Pardo for Best Performance. It went on to receive the Special Award for Promoting Gender Equality at the Sarajevo Film Festival 2025. With its rigorous pacing and evocative atmosphere, Jušić’s film is a striking exploration of grief, belonging, and the uneasy encounter between tradition and otherness.
In the Land of Arto
Tamara Stepanyan
France-Armenia, 2025, 105΄
Céline travels to rural Armenia in search of her late husband’s paper trail in his native village, after his suicide, so that their children who live with her in France may obtain his Armenian citizenship. Her journey will lead her to the heart of a country amidst an ongoing armed conflict, where she will be confronted by well-kept secrets, long buried in the past. Tamara Stepanyan’s film, screened at Piazza Grande for the opening ceremony of this year’s Locarno Film Festival, employs the familiar trope of the clueless Westerner thrust outside their comfort zone and to the transference from personal trauma to collective wound, only to unveil, in a very subtle and cinematically eloquent manner, the truths of the too recent conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Camille Cottin and Zar Amir Ebrahimi reaffirm their status as two of the most compelling actresses in global arthouse at present, while Denis Lavant features in one of this year’s most unexpected cameos.
Roqia
Yanis Koussim
France-Algeria-Qatar-Saudi Arabia, 2025, 94΄
After a car crash, a man returns home to his family with his face covered in bandages and suffering from amnesia. His youngest son fears him and cannot recognize him any longer, while a voice in his head haunts him, repeating words in an unknown tongue. As mysterious and threatening events accumulate, the man begins to suspect he is possessed. Adopting an unexpected approach to the exorcism-themed horror subgenre, this captivating, intensely evocative debut with its intricate storytelling reminds us that Evil is often shrouded where we rarely look; within our innermost selves. Maintaining an impressive balance between psychological thriller and family drama in tone, Roqia develops its eerie allegory about the daemons of – religious and ideological – fanaticism, who devour defenseless souls, in order to address one of the darkest pages in the history of contemporary Algeria. Simultaneously, the question arises; what carries greater weight in shaping our sense of self, actions, or memories?
Sweetheart
Margherita Spampinato
Italy, 2025, 93΄
Young Nico leaves the big city for a short while, along with the comforts afforded to him by technology, and goes to Sicily for the summer, to stay at his aunt’s house: a devout woman, who lives in an old house, spending her days with friends her own age and their insignificant yet sweet everyday life. Adapting is, at first, quite difficult and fraught with tension, akin to a case study on the so-called “generation gap.” But gradually, shared experiences and budding emotions bridge the disconnect, showcasing the singular beauty of each unforeseen bond. A delicate debut, brimming with pure emotion, that masterfully intertwines vast and inexhaustible themes such as family, a child’s psyche, and the transition to different cultures. The aunt’s traditional, nearly mythical world collides with the fast and cynical rhythm of a child growing up in contemporary times, creating fertile ground for comparison and emotional connection. Claudio Cofrancesco’s cinematography enhances the film’s otherworldly and almost spiritual atmosphere, illuminating the exquisite performances of a fresh cast in the warm Mediterranean light, while the editing -done by the director herself- maintains a balance between meditative and vibrant, with the characters’ interactions adding depth and momentum to the narrative.
The Last One for the Road
Francesco Sossai
Italy-Germany, 2025, 100΄
A soulful, bittersweet fable that drifts through the foggy landscapes of Veneto soaked in retro warmth, quiet melancholy, wry humor, and nostalgic charm. The Last One for the Road follows two middle-aged men, Carlobianchi and Doriano, bound by the ritual of a final drink. Their days unfold bar to bar, glass to glass, story to story until they pick up Giulio, a shy architecture student, and take him along on their wandering, woozy pilgrimage. Daringly shot on film stock with a “back seat” state of mind, this homage to the golden years of Commedia all’italiana introduces us to a larger-than-life holy trinity. As it lingers on small and fleeting moments, the film offers a tender reflection on life’s ephemeral joys and the comforting repetition of familiar routines amid subtle disenchantment. Enjoy it responsibly, sip by sip, and with an eye for what wrongly seems still half-empty.
>>Film Forward
The boundary-breaking competition section >>Film Forward hosts 12 films, among which three Greek daring films, from bold film directors who question the conventions of filmmaking.
The >>Film Forward jury is composed of:
Constanza Macras (choreographer)
Christos Massalas (filmmaker)
Valeria Wagner (film programmer)
The section’s films are competing for the Golden Alexander >>Film Forward - Best Feature Film Award, accompanied by an 8,000-euro cash prize, and the Silver Alexander - Best Direction Award, accompanied by a 4,000-euro cash prize.
Let’s take a glance at the >>Film Forward competition section films:
Female
Konstantinos Menelaou
Greece, 2025, 81΄
Alice was an iconic figure in Greek film and theater, an enigmatic pop culture phenomenon, a woman trapped between her public image and her personal reality. Through a multifaceted approach, the film unveils the truth behind her meticulously constructed persona, while exploring the contradictions and social dynamics that shaped her journey.
Regan
Panos Katsimperis
Greece, 2025, 84΄
A troubled young woman, an artist and a painter, gives birth to a deformed infant, following an unwanted pregnancy forced upon her. She now has to come in terms with herself, living in two parallel realities.
Zealotis
Stelios Repanis
Greece, 2025, 83΄
Iosif and Vicky go to his parents' house to clean it. He meets Antonis, a wanderer, with whom he develops a strange relationship. Vicky discovers signs of his dead mother in the house. After a conflict, Iosif lets Antonis fall off a cliff. The ending leaves doubt between memory and imagination.
1001 Frames
Mehrnoush Alia,
USA-Iran, 2025, 87΄
An acclaimed Iranian filmmaker holds a casting call for the role of Scheherazade in a new film adaptation of One Thousand and One Nights – the most renowned Arabian collection in the Western world. The actresses auditioning for the role parade in front of the camera lens, along with his ex-wife, whose career went up in flames after the divorce. As time goes by, the filmmaker, a figure we never get to see, becomes increasingly coercive, gradually unveiling his true intentions. Filmed without a permit in Iran and with a non-professional cast, the feature debut of the Iranian-American filmmaker Mehrnoush Alia is an innovative mockumentary of experimental form, emerging in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement and the recent plagiarism accusations against some of the country’s most illustrious male directors. Serving as an excellent commentary on the inherently authoritarian relationship between a filmmaker and an actor, the recurring roles Iranian women are forced to play, and the oppression they endure even within artistic circles that are, theoretically, more progressive, the film delivers an emotional crescendo and a cathartic plot twist that will stay with you long after the end credits.
Agon
Giulio Bertelli
Italy-USA-France, 2025, 100΄
How do athletes construct and present themselves under the gaze of coaches, institutions, and imagined spectators? Agon tracks three women athletes, specialists in judo, fencing, and shooting, as they prepare for the fictional Ludoj 2024 Games. The director combines the immediacy of documentary observation with stylized, digitally enhanced sequences that he defines as “techno realism”. Thus, he creates an unsettling yet captivating portrait of competition, where physical discipline collides with doubt, sacrifice, and fragile identity.
Balearic
Ion De Sosa
Spain-France, 2025, 74΄
No shooting location in the history of cinema has ever been so idyllic yet simultaneously so menacing, or so laden with symbolism and subtle social critique, as a swimming pool. This is the inexhaustible reservoir from which Balearic’s unique energy springs forth, propelled by a sequence straight out of a horror film: a group of photogenic teens from working-class families slip into an abandoned villa, swim in the pool, and descend into delirium when rabid hunting dogs attack them and maul an unsuspecting young girl. A violent cut transports us to a water-themed cocktail party of a wealthy Spanish family, unfolding with a subdued yet inexplicable metaphysical tension, while a forest a few miles away is engulfed in flames. Casting a sideways glance at Ruben Östlund’s cinema, Lucrecia Martel’s debut, and Luis Buñuel’s The Exterminating Angel, this remarkable film invites us to dive into a narrative world that at first seems strictly defined – given that the time (summer solstice), the setting (dismal Mediterranean suburbia), the genre (teen horror), and even the shooting format (a gritty 16 mm) are specified–, yet gradually reveals itself as boundless, akin to a portal leading to another dimension. Transcending the confines of a parable, a class critique, and pure entertainment, Balearic welcomes us into its own cinematic universe.
Barrio Triste
Stillz
Colombia-USA, 2025, 89΄
Stillz, the enigmatic figure behind the music videos of some of the biggest artists in the music industry, such as Bad Bunny and Rosalía, makes a powerful transition to cinema with a DIY-textured feature debut of hallucinatory intensity that uniquely blends found footage with sci-fi elements and a (doomed from the very start) coming-of-age theme. Set in Medellín in the late 1980s, a group of teen outcasts snatches a camera from a news reporter as he relays residents’ testimonies about the appearance of some peculiar flashes of light in the sky. From that moment on, they relentlessly document their lives in the favela, and the violent predicaments they become entangled in. In brief interludes, we see them struggling to find the words to articulate their feelings or their experiences in one-on-one moments with the camera, which feel more like confessions than interrogations. Enhanced by Arca‘s psychedelic musical touch and produced by Harmony Korine, the psychotropic and profoundly evocative Barrio Triste insists on searching for hope in the most unexpected of places. And it transmits its signal from the VHS analog era straight into the heart of the digital age.
Before / After
Manoël Dupont
Belgium, 2025, 79΄
Two thirty-year-old loners discover, following a chance encounter, their shared desire to see their reflections in the mirror differently and decide to embark on a journey together from Belgium to Istanbul (in the days after Erdogan’s recent re-election) to undergo hair transplant procedures. Medical tourism meets reincarnation, and ultimately the need for communication and connection between two young men who simply wish to feel good about themselves again. On the way, they develop a fleeting yet tender (b)romance, in Manoël Dupont’s original, unclassified feature debut. Imbued with a strange beauty through its simplicity and its premise, which is entirely unsuitable for cinema, the film tests, among others, the line between fiction and its documentary-like texture as it puts its two amateur protagonists through the actual aesthetic procedure. Winner of a Special Mention at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
Don’t Let the Sun
Jacqueline Zünd
Switzerland-Italy, 2025, 98΄
A hauntingly intimate story set in a desolate, futuristic city with no name. As the sun’s relentless heat drives people to live only by night, isolation deepens, echoing both the solitude of pandemic lockdowns and the climate catastrophes saturating today’s headlines. Within this uncanny world, Jonah works for an agency that provides surrogate relationships, offering comfort to strangers who crave human connection. When he is asked to act as a father for nine-year-old Nika, his carefully maintained life begins to unravel. Through sparse dialogue, luminous nightscapes, and a delicate balance of realism and allegory, Zünd explores the fragility of human bonds and the possibility of hope in an otherwise downbeat world.
Kingdom
Michał Ciechomski
Poland, 2025, 112΄
“Now what’s going to happen to us without barbarians? / Those people were a kind of solution.”: The final verses of C. P. Cavafy’s emblematic poem launch the cinematic debut of a sensational new talent from Central Europe. In the melancholic territory of the Kingdom, the ties between two brothers are put to the test, as the noose of war tightens around their family. The eldest son is fired by one of the few remaining corporations in the deserted land, while the youngest joins the ranks of a paramilitary organization dedicated to protecting the territory from the enemy - whoever that may be. But the younger brother is injured, and as such, the firstborn takes his place within this small, radicalized society that abides by the rule of a charismatic leader, and ends up experiencing an unfamiliar sense of purpose, even though he claims “there is no future.” Akin to a cyberpunk rendition of a painting by Hieronymus Bosch, or a biblical tale we learn to read anew with a different alphabet, or an addictive, explosive industrial song we dance to until the end of History; this remarkable thriller seeks new visual and narrative ways to address fanaticism, violence, masculinity, bigotry, and the sense of futility experienced by an entire generation. A brave dystopian vision of a world balancing on the precipice, sometimes intoxicated by the lure of the void, and at other times unwavering, like an ancient rock awaiting the mightiest wave.
Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes
Gabriel Azorín
Spain-Portugal, 2025, 111΄
Once submerged beneath a reservoir, the Roman baths of Bande have reappeared, drawing visitors eager to witness this rare revelation of history. By day the site is crowded with onlookers, but by night it becomes a threshold where longing, affection, and the traces of the past converge. A group of Portuguese friends crosses the border into Spain to wander through the ruins. As they trek across fields and marshes, their conversation drifts from playful banter to the war games they play online, where ancient battles unfold across digital landscapes. Later, António and Jota slip into the hot waters beneath the stars, carried by the visceral intimacy of late-night talk. The boundary between past and present erodes, and Roman soldiers Aurelius and Pompey drift into view. In the steam and twilight, the voices of the living mingle with the echoes of the dead, gestures stretch into confessions, fears long held in silence are spoken aloud and attraction hovers at the edge of touch. A nocturnal lyrical poem, a meditation on male intimacy, vulnerability and desire, tender and unguarded, where myth and memory entwine, and time seems to dissolve.
The Chronology of Water
Kristen Stewart
France-Latvia-USA, 2025, 128΄
In The Chronology of Water, Kristen Stewart steps behind the camera to bring to life -in every sense of the word- Lidia Yuknavitch’s eponymous memoirs. In the books, the American writer spoke out about her abusive father, her trauma and all that it eclipsed, but above all, how she managed to navigate life despite everything. The film’s integral component, water - both timeless and fleeting - is loaded with symbolic connotations by everything Yuknavitch saw reflected in its surface ever since she was a child and a promising swimmer. Propelled by Imogen Poots’s pivotal appearance in the lead role and by a narrative approach serving as a series of associations that give tone and form to the heroine’s experience, everything culminates here in a subjective dimension of truth spouting from the screen. A mature and relevant directorial debut, a cinematic experience about the body and its violated autonomy, about the essence of a fractured self that never loses faith and always finds a way to strike back, while casting a universal gaze upon women and the feminine at large, irrespective of age.
