New Directors/New Films 2025

Lurker and Kyuka Before Summer's End
The Assistant (Czlowiek do wszystkiego) (Country: Poland, UK; Year: 2025; Director: Anna Sasnal, Wilhelm Sasnal; Writer: Wilhelm Sasnal; Stars: Andrzej Konopka, Piotr Trojan, Agnieszka Zulewska)
An engineer's live-in assistant finds himself trapped in a world that doesn't want him.
Blue Sun Palace (Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Constance Tsang; Writer: Constance Tsang; Stars: Ke-Xi Wu, Kang-sheng Lee, Haipeng Xu)
A sudden loss catalyses an unlikely bond between two migrants in the Chinese community of Queens. Navigating lives far from home and the painstaking labor that supports them, they journey through grief together in hopes of finding family.
Drowning Dry (Seses) (Country: Lithuania, Latvia; Year: 2024; Director: Laurynas Bareisa; Writer: Laurynas Bareisa; Stars: Gelmine Glemzaite, Karolis Kasperavicius, Paulius Markevicius, Giedrius Kiela, Agne Kaktaite)
Two familes try to cope with trauma after a weekend getaway turns sour.
Familiar Touch (Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Sarah Friedland; Writer: Sarah Friedland; Stars: Kathleen Chalfant, Andy McQueen, Carolyn Michelle, H Jon Benjamin, Katelyn Nacon, Alison Martin, London Garcia, Joahn Webb, Sandy Velasco)
Follows an octogenarian woman’s transition to life in assisted living as she contends with her conflicting relationship to herself and her caregivers amidst her shifting memory, age identity, and desires.
Opening night
Holy Electricity (Country: Georgia, Netherlands; Year: 2024; Director: Tato Kotetishvili; Writer: Tato Kotetishvili; Stars: Nika Gongadze, Nikolo Ghviniashvili, Angela Delisenko, Ineza Tsomaia)
When young Gonga and his uncle Bart stumble upon a case of rusty crosses in a scrapyard, they repurpose them into neon crucifixes and start selling them in their neighbourhood.

Familiar Touch and Holy Electricity
Invention (Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Courtney Stephens; Writer: Callie Hernandez, Courtney Stephens; Stars: Callie Hernandez, James N. Kienitz Wilkins, Lucy Kaminsky, Sahm McGlynn, Joe Swanberg, Tony Torn, Caveh Zahedi)
In the aftermath of a conspiracy-minded father’s unexpected death, his daughter receives his patent for an experimental healing device.
Kyuka Before Summer's End (Country: Greece; Year: 2024; Director: Kostis Charamountanis; Writer: Kostis Charamountanis; Stars: Simeon Tsakiris, Konstantinos Georgakopoulos, Elsa Lekakou, Elena Topalidou, Stathis Apostolou)
A dad and his twin kids go on a boat holiday filled with unexpected encounters.
Lurker (Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Alex Russell; Writer: Alex Russell; Stars: Havana Rose Liu, Sunny Suljic, Archie Madekwe, Daniel Zolghadri, Théodore Pellerin, Mikaela Poon, Rene Leech, Hannah Christine Shetler, Willa Jane Shaw, Zack Fox)
A retail employee infiltrates the inner circle of an artist on the verge of stardom. As he gets closer to the budding music star, access and proximity become a matter of life and death.
Mad Bills To Pay (or Destiny, Dile Que No Soy Malo) (Country: US, UK; Year: 2025; Director: Joel Alfonso Vargas; Writer: Joel Alfonso Vargas; Stars: Juan Collado, Destiny Checo, Yohanna Florentino, Nathaly Navarro)
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.
Sad Jokes (Country: Germany; Year: 2024; Director: Fabian Stumm; Writer: Fabian Stumm; Stars: Fabian Stumm, Haley Louise Jones, Ulrica Flach, Jonas Dassler, Godehard Giese, Marie-Lou Sellem, Anne Haug, Knut Berger)
When his co-parent is hospitalised due to severe depression, a filmmaker reeling from a recent break-up is forced to step up.

Invention and Drowning Dry
Timestamp (Strichka Chasu) (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)
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.
Two Times João Liberada (Duas vezes João Liberada) (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)
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.
The Village Next To Paradise (Country: France, Austria; Year: 2024; Director: Mo Harawe; Writer: Mo Harawe; Stars: Axmen Cali Faarax, Canab Axmed Ibraahin, Ahmed Mohamoud Salleban)
In a windy Somali village, a newly assembled family must navigate between their different aspirations and the complex world surrounding them.
The Virgin Of The Quarry Lake (Country: Argentina, Spain, Mexico; Year: 2025; Director: Laura Casabe; Writer: Benjamín Naishtat; Stars: Fernanda Echevarría, Dady Brieva, Dolores Oliverio, Luisa Merelas, Agustín Sosa)
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.
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