Official Selection 2025
Take me to: Animation 1 Animation 2 Change Comedy Documentary Drama Music Video Student Film
Animation 1
Return, reshape, and let go. Profound voyages and altered states take centre stage in this set of extraordinarily imaginative and masterful animations. Taking us to techno clubs, coastal villages, and fantasy cruises, the films in Animation 1 invite us to lose - and sometimes find - ourselves in enchanting moments of connection, collapse, and reinvention.
COMO SI LA TIERRA SE LAS HUBIERA TRAGADO (AS IF THE EARTH HAD SWALLOWED THEM UP)
Dir: Natalia León
Olivia, a young woman living abroad, returns to her hometown in Mexico in the hope of reconnecting with her past, reviving memories that are impossible to reconcile with.
KAMINHU
Dir: Marie Vieillevie
Joanna, a young European traveller, wanders Cape Verde, sketchbook in hand. In the village of Esperança, she meets Lito, a fisherman whose presence persuades her to linger a little longer.
SANS VOIX
Dir: Samuel Patthey
Dan is a young man who spends most of his time in his flat, always listening to electronic music. Outside, he feels disconnected and only finds solace in nightclubs, where techno music and drugs make him feel free. One day, a baby's gaze changes his world perception.
THIS IS NOT AN EMERGENCY
Dir: Sydney Agans
Alex and Christy's night off goes horribly wrong when Christy's baby brother goes missing. After a long night of searching, all hope is lost - until they hear a familiar sound.
PETER HAIR
Dir: Uncle Shortbread
Peter, a hair living on the head of a balding man named Tim, has decided to hand in his notice.
THE SUNSET SPECIAL 2
Dir: Nicolas Gebbe
Sold as the perfect holiday and exclusive family utopia, a luxury cruise unravels into a psychedelic dream world, where artificial facades dissolve, illusions break, and crude realities are unveiled.
LUZ DIABLA
Dir: Paula Boffo, Gervasio Canda & Patricio Plaza
Martín, a flamboyant urban raver, is involved in a strange car accident on his way to a party in the middle of the Argentine countryside.
Animation 2
From Prague’s chaotic streets to a sweltering motel at the end of the world, the remarkable shorts in Animation 2 crackle with offbeat humour, strange metamorphoses, and daring inner journeys. Experience a visionary mix of cosmic cravings, cursed dates, balding brothers and bottled-up longing - all told through the limitless shape-shifting power of animation.
BEAUTIFUL MEN
Dir: Nicolas Keppens
Three balding brothers travel to Istanbul to get a hair transplant. Stuck with each other in a hotel far from home, their insecurities grow faster than their hair.
S THE WOLF
Dir: Sameh Alaa
A middle-aged man reflects back on his tumultuous adolescent phase while sitting in his childhood bedroom. Through intricate and deeply personal musings somehow all tied to his hair, we accumulate meaning into the larger journey of his life.
LARVAL
Dir: Alice Bloomfield
A lonely girl fantasises about possessing the looks of her celebrity idol and winning the heart of her unrequited love. In a surreal, dreamlike turn of events, featuring a moth-like spirit, she discovers that perhaps she should have been more careful what she wished for.
SOLEIL GRIS
Dir: Camille Monnier
Under a scorching sun, two bickering teenagers swelter at a seedy motel while a voice on the radio warns of the world’s end. As the heat intensifies, the ecological apocalypse suddenly arrives.
SISOWATH QUAY
Dir: Stephanie Lansaque & François Leroy
Nakry and Sothear meet on Phnom Penh's Sisowath Quay for their first date. At nightfall, the romance turns into a nightmare when the young girl transforms into a strange creature.
CRAB DIANE
Dir: Ryan McCown
A young woman, tired of working at a seaside diner, reaches out to cosmic forces.
HURIKÁN
Dir: Jan Saska
Hurikán rushes out to save his favourite beer stand from closure by fetching a new keg to impress the bartender he has a crush on. In a wild Prague district, he faces robbers, cops, and his own thirst.
Change
Spanning oil spills in Mauritius, choices faced by lost youth, and the profound cost of war, the momentous films in this year's Change programme bear witness to urgent issues affecting the world today. From expanding cities to political protest, these stories ask what a better future should look like, testament to our enduring hope for repair, return, and resistance.
ALSO RESISTERS
Dir: Christina Danielle Bartson
Solidarity across generations and geography. Adapted from a 1968 essay by the queer socialist David E. McReynolds, this archival film takes the images and sounds of the American war in Vietnam to reflect on the feedback loop between militarism abroad and at home - and the people who resisted it.
BLACK TIDE
Dir: Kim Yip Tong
On July 25, 2020, the bulk carrier MV Wakashio ran aground on the reef on the east coast of Mauritius. 12 days later, oil began to spill, causing the worst ecological disaster ever to occur in the region.
SANDCASTLES
Dir: Carin Jin-Yi Leong
As Singapore reclaims land to expand urban development, a town bearing its name on the other side of the world lies buried under sand.
NO WAY BACK
Dir: Tom Turner
Sacked from the British military and unaccustomed to civilian life, Fraser finds that being back on home soil poses significant challenges. Documenting his choice to stay in the UK or return to combat, this film questions the role that global conflict can play when a young man loses his purpose and is determined to get it back.
DEADLOCK
Dir: Lucien Beucher & Mahdi Boucif
Sifou and Mahrez are childhood friends. Both are seventeen, both grew up in the district of Sidi Lekbir, in Algiers, and both have an older brother who fled to Europe. Lost between the bleak destiny promised by their neighborhood and the uncertainty lurking on the horizon, they ask themselves: Can they break the deadlock?
THE RETURN
Dir: Jeremy S. Levine
After being apprehended at the US border and separated from his father for six months, 12-year-old Geovanny returns home to Guatemala. But he’s not the same. An intimate portrait of boyhood interrupted, the bonds of a family across borders, and a celebration of the resilience of a father and son who dream of returning home.
Comedy
Through oddball encounters, digital delusions, and awkward romances, this year's Comedy programme revels in the art of getting it gloriously, hilariously wrong. Whether it's angry telemarketers, unsolicited choirs, or having to reclaim your identity from a viral Vegas doppelgänger, these films find humour in the strange ways humans combine, clash, and try to make sense of each other.
YEAH THE BOYS
Dir: Stefan Hunt
An observation of Australian masculine identity and drinking culture, this choreographic film scored by The Avalanches invites us to join six young Aussie men sinking beers over an afternoon and well into the night. Emoting only through movement, they somehow say everything without uttering a single word.
CALLER NUMBER NINE
Dir: Sandy Honig
A telemarketer with a severe anger problem accidentally calls into a radio show. He wins a radio contest and enters a standoff with the unhinged host, played by Patti Harrison.
BELAY ON
Dir: Johnny Frohman
Travis and Allie are an insecure couple whose awkward public displays of affection and petty feelings of jealousy come at the expense of those around them.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIEL
Dir: Bonnie MacRae
What happens when we attach feelings, memories - and faces - to inanimate objects? A novelty birthday present given between a young couple haunts them both post break-up.
HI FROM A MAYFLY
Dir: Myles Wheeler
A mayfly meet cute; when a woman befriends a wide-eyed insect and introduces him to the world, their fleeting bond becomes a bittersweet ode to joy, wonder, and saying goodbye.
TEA
Dir: Blake Rice
While rehearsing asking out the girl of his dreams, a lonely and highly allergic Circuit-Shack employee gets stung in the throat by a hornet. Starring Michael Gandolfini and Olivia Nikkanen.
SORRY I'M LATE (BUT I BROUGHT A CHOIR)
Dir: Håkon Anton
Nina isn't exactly thrilled when Stian shows up late to her housewarming party - with an entire choir he picked up on the tram. Boisterous, drunk, and silly, the motley troupe in the stairwell quickly tests the hostess's patience.
HELLO BEAUTIFUL PLEASE FOLLOW BACK
Dir: Amandine Thomas
Her grandmother's relationship with an online romance scammer leads to a filmmaker's exploration into the ways in which we strive to connect through the internet.
COREYS
Dir: Dan Streit
Corey’s identity is hijacked by a viral party-animal doppelgänger in Vegas. He tries to take it back, but the lines between them blur faster than he expects.
Documentary
This year’s Documentary programme tunes into intimate reckonings and astonishing revelations through global perspectives and singular encounters. Featuring distant workers training self-driving cars, influencers raised on camera, and challenges in a Tokyo classroom, these films ask what it really means to be seen, heard, and understood in an increasingly mediated world.
THEIR EYES
Dir: Nicolas Gourault
How does a machine learn to read the world? Testimonies and screen recordings introduce the experience of online micro-workers from the Global South: their job is to teach the AI of self-driving cars to navigate the streets of the Global North.
CHRISTMAS EVERY DAY
Dir: Faye Tsakas
Preteen influencers Peyton and Lyla perform for online fans under their mother’s guidance. Between rural life and the virtual world, performance and the realities of late stage capitalism, ideas of self-presentation as empowerment, female confidence, and self-branding come to the fore.
INSTRUMENTS OF A BEATING HEART
Dir: Ema Ryan Yamazaki
First graders in a Tokyo elementary school are presented with a challenge for the final semester: to form an orchestra and perform ‘Ode to Joy’ at a school ceremony. An Oscar-nominated examination of the Japanese educational system’s tenuous balance between self-sacrifice and personal growth as it teaches the next generation to become part of society.
HELLO STRANGER
Dir: Amélie Hardy
At the laundromat, Cooper, a young trans woman, shares her gender transition story and seeks peace with the last male imprint remaining on her body: a lingering deep voice.
IRELAND
Dir: Daniel Jaffe
A Californian filmmaker travels across Ireland and Scotland in the summer of 2023, and documents his experience while thinking of friends back home.
BEEPS
Dir: Kirk Johnson
Two young men embark on a quirky mission to silence a mysterious dying smoke alarm beeping somewhere in their L.A. neighbourhood. As they knock on strangers’ doors, the search turns into an unexpected journey of awkward encounters and community connection.
Drama
Ruptures of the personal and political ripple through this year’s Drama programme, revealing stolen childhoods, fleeting romances, and acts of moral courage. Amid mysterious natural disasters and intoxicating World Cup fever, characters face turning points that can't be undone. An exploration of our seismic inner and outer worlds, with raw emotion and monumental stakes.
SAIGON KISS
Dir: Hong Anh Nguyen
Mo roams through the rush hour traffic to avoid an unwanted phone call. When she meets Vicky by the side of the street with her broken motorbike, a visceral chance encounter unfolds between the two young queer women on the loud streets of Saigon.
AMARELA
Dir: André Hayato Saito
On the day of the World Cup final between Brazil and France, Erika, a Japanese-Brazilian teenager, navigates a storm of tradition, violence, and how to belong when you feel like a foreigner in your own country.
VOX HUMANA
Dir: Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan
In the aftermath of an earthquake, the police find a man in the woods. A zoologist, a sound recorder, and a news team grapple with the truth that he may be the cause of all the natural disasters that devastated this small mountain town.
THE MAN WHO COULD NOT REMAIN SILENT
Dir: Nebojša Slijepčević
The true story of a man who could not remain silent; when a passenger train is stopped by paramilitary forces and they arrest innocent civilians, one man dares to stand up to them.
ALMOST CERTAINLY FALSE
Dir: Cansu Baydar
Having fled the war in Syria, Hanna dreams of Europe while raising her brother in Istanbul. When she meets a Turkish guy on a night out, she finds herself trying to balance her identity and desires with the needs of her young brother.
DISSOLUTION
Dir: Anthony Saxe
Featuring real archival home videos, an aging couple - played by the filmmaker’s parents - meet to sign divorce papers and grapple with physical deterioration, alcoholism, and decades of shared history.
Music Video
Aliens fall in love, sculptors lose control, and talking bugs go noir in this mind-melting Music Video programme. A dazzling collision of sound and story, the emotional and the experimental, expect a maximalist, mischievous lineup of genre-defying artists who push pulsating visuals, extraordinary performances and breathtaking style to the outer edges - then leap past them.
NICK LENG - BEETLEBUGS
Dir: Josh Sondock
A young beetle hires Nick, a Private Investigator For Creatures, to find her missing love. As their strange search deepens, reality blurs - until a surreal twist upends everything.
CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH - THE SKIN OF MY YELLOW COUNTRY TEETH
Dir: David Helman & Daniel Henry
A strip mall computer tech juggles glitchy gadgets, oddball clients, and a budding online romance - hoping that love, like tech, can be fixed with the right code.
BRICKNASTY - VINLAND
Dir: Hugh Mulhern
What begins as a quiet creative process turns uncanny when the clay starts pushing back, dragging a sculptor into a strange and grotesque world of stop motion.
MARIBOU STATE - ALL I NEED
Dir: Giordano Maestrelli
Two timelines intertwine inside a handmade zoetrope as echoes of a fractured relationship play out; one forever looping in memory, the other unfolding in the present.
REMI FOX - AU COEUR DE SON
Dir: Marie Larrivé & Lucas Malbrun
During a classroom screening, time slips. Cesare falls into a vivid dreamscape of sound and spirit, pursued by the echoes of a ghost and a mesmerising melody he can’t forget.
MURA MASA - JUMP
Dir: The Reids
In a vibrant blend of candid moments and charismatic performances, nonprofit NYC dance group Showdem spread pure feel-good energy through the joys of Double Dutch skipping.
GLASS ANIMALS - SHOW PONY
Dir: Eoin Glaister
When aliens crash in the countryside, one finds an unexpected bond with a cow, setting off a chain of odd, tender, and unexpectedly fiery events. Love, snacks, and tragedy collide.
INHALER - A QUESTION OF YOU
Dir: WAXXWORK
When a man tries to buy back an engagement ring from a pawnbroker, what can go wrong? Tension, humour, and chaos ensue, in this sharp, heist-like drama starring James Keating.
ALABASTER DEPLUME - INVINCIBILITY
Dir: Niall Trask
This is grief with a stunning twist; a dog’s final moments, a family's sorrow, and a jazz artist’s face in the middle of it all. Funny, jarring, and utterly devastating.
HMLTD - LAY ME DOWN
Dir: Emmanuelle Mohnblatt, Marie Deboissy & Sébastien Kirszenblat
Henry meanders through Wyrmlands, the remains of England consumed by the giant worm of capitalism. Perhaps salvation is possible if he can reconnect with his inner child?
FORTUNO - WANNA BELIEVE U
Dir: Ja'Lisa Arnold
From one black square to a mosaic of memories, this thoughtful video unfolds through a unique grid concept that traces how closeness can fall apart, square by square.
SAM SMITH - LOVE IS A STILLNESS
Dir: Haya Waseem
In grayscale New York, quiet moments of love, regret, and hope unfold in fleeting, heartfelt gestures and lingering, shared glances. A tender tribute to love’s intimate power.
A.G. COOK - SOULBREAKER
Dir: Gustaf Holtenäs
From enchanted knights to digital destruction, this dizzying animation reimagines Britain’s past and future in three epic, soul-shattering acts. Myth, magic, gaming, and ruin.
DONGURIZU - LET’S GO
Dir: Yuma Takeda
Let's goooooo!!!!!!! Trance-like and turbo-charged, this fever dream of dance blends acid-house heat with robotic sensuality, surreal humour, and unstoppable sweaty delirium.
TOMOAKI BABA - PRIME
Dir: Hoji Tsuchiya
A gas station, a chess game, a quiet drift. In this handcrafted world of paper and jazz, life slowly glitches and unravels, guided by rhythm, texture, and surreal beauty.
PARIS TEXAS - THEY LEFT ME WITH THE SWORD / THEY LEFT ME WITH A GUN
Dir: Dan Streit
A magical sword binds Paris Texas to their fate in this two-part, fantasy-tinged odyssey. Full of unmatched swagger, absurd storytelling, dark humour, and old school effects.
Student Film
Future, identity, memory and myth collide in these daring shorts from the next generation of filmmakers, who find extraordinary meaning in the everyday and the uncanny. From storm-chasing inventors and glacial pilgrimages to professional mourners and sisterly bonds, this year’s Student Film programme brims with emotional depth, award-winning talent, and fresh cinematic vision.
THREE KEENINGS
Dir: Oliver McGoldrick
Ian is a struggling actor who finds himself in the unconventional role of a professional mourner. As he tours the Northern Irish countryside, his practised mask of apathy begins to slip amongst the humour and heartache of the local funeral circuit.
FAWN
Dir: Molly Mayhew
Following the sudden passing of her parents, Fawn is forced to return to a house she hasn’t called home in a very long time. As painful memories begin to seep through, Fawn is thrown onto the difficult path of reconnecting with a past she thought she had left behind.
LIFE IS LIKE THAT AND NOT OTHERWISE
Dir: Lenia Friedrich
An escargotic exploration of the spaces lived and lost throughout the life of Mrs. Miko, now very old. Her story intertwines with Lenia Friedrich’s own musings on ageing and loss, as well as the imprints and the fractures that are left behind when objects, memories, or names disappear.
MIND THE GAP
Dir: Gwenola Heck
When a city resident vanishes into the earth, a supposed ambulance rushes to the rescue.
CURA SANA
Dir: Lucía G. Romero
On the night of the Spanish festival of San Juan, a routine visit to the food stamp office becomes a turning point for two sisters facing domestic violence at home, as they begin to choose love over harm.
THE SELF AND THE OTHER
Dir: Chen Ma
An experimental film inspired by Sartre's No Exit, where abstract shapes - a square, a triangle, and a circle - explore identity and manipulate audience perception in a surreal, shifting game between Self and Other.
I WALK WHILE GLACIERS MELT
Dir: Lucia Lambarri Barberis
A ritual walk through the Andean mountains and snowy peaks of Cusco, Peru, becomes a personal reflection on transformation and pilgrimage, questioning modernity and our place in a time of melting glaciers, while celebrating the shared journey with others.
AWAITING THE LIGHTNING BOLT
Dir: Marco Russo
In Renaissance Italy, inventor Renato dares to trap lightning in a jar, facing thrilling storms, skeptical peers, and the power of love in an ambitious race against time.
TEA FOR TWO
Dir: Aidana Kuanova
Invited to tea, a woman tumbles through time and memory to rediscover her own voice. Will she emerge with a newfound sense of self, or remain lost in the echoes of the past?
THREE
Dir: Amie Song
At a home gathering, a Chinese woman who has recently moved to the United States to live with her daughter tries to keep her daughter's secrets from her new friends.
THE SHYNESS OF TREES
Dir: Bingqing Shu, Jiaxin Huang, Lina Han, Loïck Du Plessis D’Argentré, Maud Le Bras, Simin He & Sofiia Chuikovska
Hélène visits her ageing mother in the French countryside, only to find that she isn't being her usual self; she seems to have formed a strange bond with the plants, insects, and the old oak tree at the end of her garden.