75 films to tempt festival directors in 2025

Screen International’s network of international correspondents select a snapshot of arthouse and independent films from around the world that are poised to premiere at A-list festivals in 2025.

This list is not exhaustive and is intended as a taster of festival films to look forward to this year, post the Berlinale. 

Aisha Can’t Fly Away Anymore (Egypt)
Dir. Morad Mostafa
Mostafa’s story of a Somali woman trapped in the growing tensions of Cairo’s Ain-shams neighbourhood has strong Cannes credentials: at project stage, it participated in both the Cinéfondation residency and Critics’ Week Next Step programme. Producer is Sawsan Yusuf of Egypt’s Bonanza Films.
Contact: MAD World

All Before You (Palestine)
Dir. Annemarie Jacir
Jacir is understood to be in the edit suite with her latest film which was disrupted by the Israel-Hamas war that began on October 7, 2023. All Before You recounts the 1936 farmers’ uprising against British colonial rule in Palestine and stars Yasmine Al Massri and UK actor Finlay James.
Contact: Philistine Films 

Alpha (France)
Dir. Julia Ducournau
Tahar Rahim and Golshifteh Farahani star in Ducournau’s follow-up to her Palme d’Or-winner Titane. It is understood to be the director’s most personal project yet and centred on a young girl in 1980s France. Neon has already snagged North American rights.
Contact: Charades, FilmNation Entertainment

Amrum (Germany)
Dir. Fatih Akin
Amrum reunites Akin with Diane Kruger who won the best actress prize at Cannes for Akin’s 2017 drama In The Fade. Amrum is about a 12-year-old boy helping his mother in the final days of the Second World War, until the arrival of peace brings new conflicts. Warner Bros Pictures will release the film in Germany in September 2025.
Contact: Beta Cinema

Back To Reality (working title) (Denmark-Sweden) 
Dir. Anders Thomas Jensen 
Thomas Jensen reunites with frequent collaborators Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas and production outfit Zentropa. The story follows a bank robber, fresh out of jail, on his way to collect the loot. Only his brother knows where the money is buried – but he no longer remembers where that is.
Contact: TrustNordisk

The Ballad Of A Small Player (UK-Germany)
Dir. Edward Berger
Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton star in this story of a high-stakes gambler laying low in Macau after his past catches up with him, directed by Conclave and All Quiet On The Western Front’s Berger. It is produced by Mike Goodridge’s Good Chaos, Berger’s Nine Hours and Matthew James Wilkinson’s Stigma Films.
Contact: Netflix

Blue Moon (US-Ireland)
Dir. Richard Linklater
Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale and Andrew Scott star in one of the two films Linklater will likely premiere in 2025. It follows the last days of Lorenz Hart, one-half of the songwriting team Rodgers & Hart. The film, which shot in Ireland in summer 2024, is a Detour and Renovo production in association with Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Pictures, Under The Influence and Cinetic Media, with Sony Pictures releasing worldwide.
Contact: Sony Pictures

The Bride (US)
Dir. Maggie Gyllenhaal
Gyllenhaal’s horror musical takes place in Chicago in the 1930s as Dr Frankenstein seeks help in bringing a dead woman back to life. A killer cast is led by Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Jake Gyllenhaal, Penelope Cruz, and September 5’s Peter Sarsgaard and John Magaro. Warner Bros has scheduled a September 26 release.
Contact: Warner Bros

A Bright Future (Uruguay)
Dir. Lucia Garibaldi
Garibaldi’s second feature after 2019 Sundance selection The Sharks went through the San Sebastian co-production forum and is a coming-of-age story set in a dystopian future where a young woman resists an initiative to send teenagers to a promised land. Newcomer Martina Passeggi stars.
Contact: Montelona, Cimarrón, Achtung Panda!

Bugonia (UK-South Korea-US)
Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos
The Greek director’s latest collaboration with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons is a remake of the South Korean 2003 sci-fi comedy Save The Green Planet!. The film follows two conspiracy fanatics who kidnap the CEO of a major company, convinced she is an alien. Focus Features has slated a US release on November 7.
Contact: Universal

The Captive (Spain-Italy)
Dir. Alejandro Amenábar
Amenábar’s anticipated feature is about writer Miguel de Cervantes and is in post-production. The film is set in 1575 when the future author of Don Quixote is taken prisoner in Algiers. Julio Peña, who recently appeared in Netflix series Berlin, plays Cervantes.
Contact: Film Constellation

Chien 51 (France)
Dir. Cedric Jimenez
This sci-fi thriller set in a dystopian Paris in 2045 has a starry cast led by Gilles Lellouche, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Louis Garrel, Xavier Dolan and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. The police drama also tackles timely topics like AI and social divisions.
Contact: Studiocanal 

Chocobar (working title) (Argentina)
Dir. Lucrecia Martel
Martel’s long-gestating documentary about the slain Indigenous activist Javier Chocobar is finally expected to be ready in 2025, according to Argentinian producers Rei Pictures. Expect a new, as yet unannounced, title very soon. This will be Martel’s first feature since Zama premiered in Venice in 2017.
Contact: Rei Cine

The Chronology Of Water (France-Latvia-UK-US)
Dir. Kristen Stewart
Stewart’s directorial feature debut stars the UK’s Imogen Poots with Thora Birch and Jim Belushi, and is described as an exploration of sexuality, addiction and creativity. It is based on Lidia Yuknavitch’s best-selling memoir and shot in Latvia and Malta. WME Independent is handling North American rights.
Contact: Les Films du Losange 

Colhões De Ouro (Brazil)
Dir. Lillah Hallah
The Brazilian filmmaker’s second feature is a dark musical comedy about an 85-year-old woman who plans to destroy a hyper-masculine cult in order to save her son. Colhões de Ouro received funding from Rotterdam Film Festival’s Hubert Bals Fund. Hallah’s debut feature Levante (also known as Power Alley) played in Cannes Critics’ Week in 2023 and went on to screen widely on the international festival circuit. 
Contact: TBC

Le Cri Des Gardes (France-Senegal)
Dir. Claire Denis
Matt Dillon, Riley Keough and Isaach de Bankolé star in Denis’ English-language adaptation of Bernard-Marie Koltes’ play Black Battles With Dogs. The story takes place against the backdrop of a vast construction site in sub-Saharan Africa. Producers are Curiosa Films and Vixens, with Senegal’s Astou Production. The veteran director won Berlin’s Silver Bear for best director in 2022 for Both Sides Of The Blade just before earning Cannes’ Grand Prix ex aqueo the same year for thriller Stars At Noon.
Contact: Goodfellas

Decorado (Spain-Portugal)
Dir. Alberto Vázquez
After Birdboy: The Forgotten Children and Unicorn Wars, animation maestro Vazquez is working on Decorado, about a mouse called Arnold in full-blown midlife crisis, with delivery set for 2025. The filmmaker previously made a short film, also called Decorado, that premiered in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2016 and went on to win the Goya award for best animated short.
Contact: Abano Producions

Die, My Love (US-UK)
Dir. Lynne Ramsay
Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, LaKeith Stanfield and Sissy Spacek star in Ramsay’s adaptation of Ariana Harwicz’s novel of the same name, a thriller set in rural America where a woman is engulfed by her mental health struggles. Ramsay’s Cannes credentials are strong – all four of her features have premiered on the Croisette, with her most recent, You Were Never Really Here, winning the best screenplay award in 2017. Irish writer Enda Walsh wrote the script. It is produced by the UK’s Andrea Calderwood with Lawrence’s outfit Excellent Cadavar, with financing from Black Label Media. 
Contact: Excellent Cadavar

Dreamers (UK)
Dir. Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor
Gharoro-Akpojotor, the UK producer of Blue Story and Boxing Day, makes her directorial debut with Dreamers, a love story and escape movie hybrid, set in an immigration removal centre. The cast includes Screen Star of Tomorrow 2023 Ronke Adékoluejo and I May Destroy You’s Ann Akinjirin. It is produced by Emily Morgan’s UK outfit Quiddity Films, with support from BBC Film and the BFI.
Contact: Yellow Affair 

Dreams (Mexico)
Dir. Michel Franco
The Mexican enfant terrible behind New Order and Chronic reunites with Jessica Chastain, who starred in Franco’s 2023 Venice entry Memory, on the love story between a socialite and a ballet dancer. Isaac Hernández and Rupert Friend also star.
Contact: The Match Factory

Duse (Italy-France)
Dir. Pietro Marcello
Italian auteur Marcello’s Duse is a biopic of 19th-century Italian stage diva Eleonora Duse. Valeria Bruni Tedeschi stars in the title role and Noémie Merlant plays her daughter. Marcello’s Scarlet opened Cannes’ Directors Fortnight in 2022, while Martin Eden played in Competition at Venice in 2019.
Contact: The Match Factory

Eagles Of The Republic (Sweden-France)
Dir. Tarek Saleh
Cannes and Sundance-winning filmmaker Tarik Saleh is now in post on the $10m political thriller Eagles Of The Republic, the third and final film in Saleh’s Cairo trilogy after The Nile Hilton Incident and Cairo Conspiracy aka Boy from Heaven. The cast features Fares Fares, Lyna Khoudri, Cherien Dabis, Zineb Triki and Sherwan Haji.
Contact: Playtime 

Enzo (France)
Dir. Robin Campillo
The late Laurent Cantet was meant to direct Enzo before he died last April. His friend and the film’s co-writer Robin Campillo stepped in to helm the project produced by Anatomy of a Fall producer Marie-Ange Luciani of Les Films de Pierre. The film centres on a 16-year-old apprentice mason and his Ukrainian colleague. Newcomers Eloy Pohu and Maksym Slivinskyi star opposite Italy’s Pierfrancesco Favino and Elodie Bouchez.
Contact: Les Films de Pierre

Forastera (Spain-Sweden)
Dir. Lucía Aleñar Iglesias
Aleñar Iglesias’s debut feature is about a woman whose vacation is dramatically disrupted by the death of her grandmother. It was developed as part of the Critics’ Week Next Step programme and the Cannes Cinéfondation. Forastera also received the Artekino Award during Rome’s MIA market in 2022.
Contact: Lastor Media

Frankenstein (US)
Dir. Guillermo del Toro
The Mexican auteur tackles Mary Shelley’s Gothic classic as Dr Pretorius, a character from Universal’s Bride Of Frankenstein, tracks down Frankenstein’s monster to continue the work of Frankenstein. The cast includes Mia Goth, Christoph Waltz, Oscar Isaac and Jacob Elordi.
Contact: Netflix

Franz (Czech Republic)
Dir. Agnieszka Holland
German-Israeli newcomer Idan Weiss makes his feature debut playing Franz Kafka in Holland’s biopic inspired by the life of the Czech novelist and writer. Czech actress Jenovéfa Boková plays Kafka’s friend and translator Milena Jesenska, with Peter Kurth as the novelist’s father and Ivan Trojan as his uncle.
Contact: Films Boutique  

Girl (Taiwan)
Dir. Shu Qi
Starring Roy Chiu and singer/actress 9m88, this story of a young girl in the late 1980s marks the directorial debut of acclaimed actress Shu Qi, best known for The Assassin. It is executive produced by Yeh Jufeng, with Yu Jing-pin of Oscar-nominated Better Days as cinematographer.
Contact: Mandarin Vision

Girls On Wire (China)
Dir. Vivian Qu
Following 2017’s Venice competitor Angels Wear White, Qu’s drama is about two cousins who struggle to break free from family and society amid China’s rapid changes. Starring Liu Haocun and Wen Qi, it is produced by Sean Chen and co-produced by UK-Irish producer Mike Downey.
Contact: 22 Hours Films  

Good Boy (UK-Poland)
Dir. Jan Komasa
Stephen Graham and Andrea Riseborough headline Polish filmmaker Komasa’s thriller, produced by Jeremy Thomas for the UK’s Recorded Picture Company, alongside Poland’s Ewa Piaskowska and Jerzy Skolimowski. Thomas, Piaskowska and Skolimowski’s last collaboration, EO, won the jury prize at Cannes in 2022.
Contact: HanWay Films 

Hamnet (US-UK)
Dir. Chloe Zhao
Zhao, winner of the 2020 Venice Golden Lion and the best directing and best picture Oscars for Nomadland, directs the adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel of the same name, in which Paul Mescal portrays William Shakespeare in a fictionalised account surrounding the death of his only son, Hamnet. The film shot in Wales last summer, and also stars Jessie Buckley, Emily Watson and Joe Alwyn. Liza Marshall, Pippa Harris, Sam Mendes and Steven Spielberg produce.
Contact: Focus Features 

High And Low (US)
Dir. Spike Lee
Lee and Denzel Washington reunite for the remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime drama High And Low, about a corporate executive dealing with an extortion attempt. The cast in Lee’s remake includes Jeffrey Wright, Oscar-nominated last awards season for American Fiction.
Contact: Apple/A24

Hope (South Korea)
Dir. Na Hong-jin
Alicia Vikander, Michael Fassbender and Hwang Jung-min star in this sci-fi thriller set in a remote harbour town where a mysterious discovery is made that threatens the residents. Na is the director of The Wailing and Cannes selections The Chaser and The Yellow Sea.
Contact: Plus M Entertainment  

Hot Milk (UK-Greece)
Dir. Rebecca Lenkiewicz
Fiona Shaw stars alongside Emma Mackey (replacing the previously announced Jessie Buckley) in the directorial debut of She Said writer Lenkiewicz. The adaptation of Deborah Levy’s novel of the same name explores the complexities of a mother-daughter relationship, against the backdrop of Almería in Spain.
Contact: HanWay Films 

In The Shadows Of Good Fortune (Nigeria)
Dir: Babatunde Apalowo
Could In The Shadows Of Good Fortune become the first Nigerian film to screen in official selection at Cannes? Apalowo’s second film is about a couple whose daughter is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness just as the woman finds out she is pregnant. His debut feature, All the Colours Of The World Are Between Black and White, won the 2023 Teddy award at the Berlinale.
Contact: TBC

Julian (Belgium)
Dir. Cato Kusters
Lukas and Michiel Dhont’s production outfit The Reunion is behind the feature debut from Belgian writer-director Kusters. Julian is a road movie about a gay couple planning to get married. Kusters won several prizes for her short Finn’s Heel.
Contact: The Reunion

The Kidnapping Of Arabella (Italy)
Dir. Carolina Cavalli
Benedetta Porcaroli stars with US actor Chris Pine in Cavalli’s story of a woman who is convinced she is the wrong version of herself. Italy’s Elsinore Film and The Apartment produce.
Contact: The Apartment

Ky Nam’s Inn (Vietnam)
Dir. Leon Le
Starring Lien Binh Phat and Do Thi Hai Yen, this drama set in post-war communist Vietnam follows the bond between a young translator and a widow from the defeated South. Le was an actor, dancer and singer before making his 2018 directorial debut Song Lang, which won awards at festivals including Beijing and New York Asian Film Festival.
Contact: UFO Entertainment

Lang Lang (working title) (China)
Dir. Jiang Wen
Inspired by the true story of world-renowned pianist Lang Lang, Jiang’s latest feature narrates the journey of a father-son duo from northeast China who overcome challenges with courage and perseverance and achieve international acclaim. Jiang won Cannes’ grand prix for Devils On The Doorstep in 2000.
Contact: Dachong Pictures   

The Last One (France-Germany)
Dir. Hafsia Herzi 
This adaptation of Fatima Daas’ novel is a coming-of-age story set in a Paris suburb about a lesbian Muslim woman dealing with pushback from both her family and the outside world. June Films produces. It is Herzi’s third feature as a director following 2021 Un Certain Regard title Good Mother and 2019 Critics’ Week debut You Deserve A Lover.
Contact: June Film

The Love That Remains (Iceland-Denmark-France-Sweden)
Dir. Hlynur Pálmason
Icelandic director Pálmason could make a return to Cannes – where he premiered Godland in Un Certain Regard and A White, White Day in Critics’ Week – with his fourth feature. The story, using “intimate vignettes and strange occurrences”, captures a year in the life of a family as the parents navigate their separation.
Contact: Still Vivid

The Magnificent Life Of Marcel Pagnol (France)
Dir. Sylvain Chomet
The Bafta-winning, four-time Oscar-nominated director of The Triplets Of Belleville and The Illusionist is back with his first feature in 15 years, a 2D-animated journey about the life of the titular author, playwright and filmmaker. Sony Pictures Classics snapped up rights back in 2022 for North America and multiple other territories worldwide.
Contact: Elle Driver

Materialists (US)
Dir. Celine Song
Song’s follow-up to Past Lives stars Dakota Johnson with Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal as a matchmaker who experiences complications when she tumbles into a love triangle. Producers are A24, 2AM and Killer Films.
Contact: A24

Mercy (Germany-France-UK)
Dir: Emily Atef
Set in 1997, Atef’s English-language Mercy is about the friendship between a US correspondent in Kenya and a local woman from the slums joining forces to combat the AIDS crisis in the country. Atef’s 2023 film One Day We’ll Tell Each Other Everything premiered in Competition at the Berlinale.
Contact: Global Screen

Mickey 17 (US)
Dir: Bong Joon Ho
Bong’s absurdist sci-fi comedy from Plan B stars Robert Pattinson as an “expendable” on a mission to colonise an ice planet who keeps dying and coming back to life. In late December Warner Bros switched the US release date for Bong’s first feature since the Oscar-winning Parasite, moving it away from the mid-January corridor into a slot where it just might premiere at SXSW, which kicks off on March 7 – the day the film will open in Imax. 
Contact: Warner Bros

Miroirs No. 3 (Germany)
Dir: Christian Petzold
Petzold reunites with Paula Beer for Miroirs No. 3, about a music student who must rebuild her life when her boyfriend dies in a car crash. The film started shooting in late August 2024, making a later festival appearance more of a possibility than a Berlin launch. The German director’s Transit, Undine and Afire all played in competition in Berlin. Metrograph has North American rights.
Contact: The Match Factory

Mother Mary (US-Germany)
Dir. David Lowery
Lowery is in post on this feature about a musician and her relationship with a big fashion designer, starring Anne Hathaway and Michaela Coel. A24 is co-financing alongside Topic Studios, Homebird Productions and augenschein Filmproduktion.
Contact: A24

No Other Choice (South Korea)
Dir. Park Chan-wook
This comedy-thriller marks director Park’s follow-up feature to Cannes award-winner Decision To Leave. Based on the 1997 novel The Ax, the film stars Lee Byung-hun as a man who, after being fired from the company to which he was loyal, embarks on a killing spree to eliminate his competition.
Contact: CJ ENM 

Nouvelle Vague (France)
Dir: Richard Linklater
The second film of the year by US director Linklater is his first to entirely shoot in French. It reconstructs the genesis and filming of Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard. Zooey Deutsch stars in the film produced by Paris-based ARP Productions. Breathless played at Cannes in 1960.
Contact: ARP Sélection 

Orphan (Hungary-UK)
Dir: Laszlo Nemes
Hungarian director Nemes’s Orphan is expected to be ready for Cannes, where Nemes won the Grand Prix for his debut feature, Son Of Saul. Orphan is a family drama set after the Hungarian uprising of 1956 in which events are seen through a young boy’s eyes.
Contact: New Europe Film, Charades

A Pale View Of Hills (Japan)
Dir: Kei Ishikawa
This adaptation of the Kazuo Ishiguro novel about a woman in post-war Nagasaki and 1980s England is directed by Ishikawa, whose A Man premiered at Venice in 2022 and won best feature at the Japanese Academy Awards. It is produced by Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Bunbuku and stars frequent Kore-eda collabator Suzu Hirose.
Contact: Gaga

Pillion (UK)
Dir. Harry Lighton
UK filmmaker Lighton’s feature debut, starring Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgard, tells the story of a love affair between a shy young man and the handsome leader of a kinky, queer motorbike club. It is produced by Cannes regular, the UK-Ireland outfit Element Pictures, with Lee Groombridge, and has backing from BBC Film and the BFI, in association with Fremantle, Picturehouse Entertainment and September Film.
Contact: Cornerstone Films 

Renoir (Japan)
Dir. Chie Hayakawa
This drama marks the second feature from Hayakawa, whose Plan 75 debuted at Cannes in Un Certain Regard in 2022 and was selected as Japan’s Oscar submission. Her latest revolves around a young girl whose father is battling cancer. The feature is produced by Loaded Films.
Contact: Goodfellas  

Romería (Spain)
Dir. Carla Simón
The third feature by the director of Golden Bear winner Alcarràs is about a young teen who sets out on a journey to meet her biological father’s family. It is inspired by the family of the director’s biological father, just as the origins of Simon’s Summer 1993 and Alcarràs could also be found in the director’s family.
Contact: mk2 Films

Rosebush Pruning (UK-Germany-Italy)
Dir. Karim Aïnouz
Elle Fanning, Callum Turner, Riley Keough, Jamie Bell and Pamela Anderson star in this adaptation of Marco Bellocchio’s 1965 Fists In The Pocket, a dark satire of family and social values. Brazilian director Aïnouz is a Cannes regular: most recently Firebrand played in Competition in 2023 and Motel Destino in 2024.
Contact: The Match Factory

Sacrifice (UK-US-Greece)
Dir. Romain Gavras
French filmmaker Gavras makes his English-language debut with Sacrifice, which has a starry cast including Chris Evans, Anya Taylor-Joy, Salma Hayek Pinault, Vincent Cassel, John Malkovich and Ambika Mod. It’s about a high-end charity gala raided by a violent group of radicals. Robert Walak’s Iconoclast produces with Heretic, Mid March Media and Film4. 
Contact: CAA Media Finance,Rocket Science

The Secret Agent (Brazil)
Dir. Kleber Mendonça Filho
The Brazilian veteran behind Cannes selections Bacurau (2019) and Aquarius (2016) returns with a political thriller set during the military dictatorship in the 1970s. Wagner Moura from Civil War and Elite Squad stars as a man on the run who flees to the coastal city of Recife.
Contact: mk2 Films

Sentimental Value (Norway-France-Germany-Denmark-Sweden)
Dir. Joachim Trier
Trier reunites with The Worst Person In The World co-writer Eskil Vogt and its Cannes best actress winner Renate Reinsve for this portrait of a family in Oslo in a house they’ve lived in for generations – when the filmmaker father wants his daughter to star in his comeback film. The cast for Trier’s sixth feature also includes Stellan Skarsgaard, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Elle Fanning.
Contact: mk2 Films

Sham (Japan)
Dir. Takashi Miike
Produced by Toei, this is the first feature from the prolific Miike based on true events. The story centres on a teacher accused of verbally abusing a student, who was hounded by the media and put on trial until the student’s story was found to be a sham. Miike’s films have twice been selected for Competition at Cannes.
Contact: Toei 

Silent Friend (Germany-France-Hungary-China)
Dir. Ildikó Enyedi
Hungarian director Enyedi’s drama stars Léa Seydoux and Tony Leung Chiu-wai and is set in the botanical garden of a university town in Germany, where a majestic tree observes humans over different eras. The film marks Tony Leung Chiu-wai’s debut acting role in a European film following credits including Wong Kar-Wai’s In The Mood For Love.
Contact Films Boutique

The Silent Treatment (Belgium-Netherlands-Hungary)
Dir. Caroline Strubbe
Belgian director Strubbe’s The Silent Treatment is a drama about an 18-year-old woman with Stockholm syndrome, who stalks an older man in Budapest, played by Zoltan Miklos Hajdu, with whom she shares a complex past. The film is the third in Strubbe’s ‘Lost Persons’ trilogy following Lost Persons Area in 2009 and I’m The Same I’m An Other in 2013.
Contact: Minds Meet

Sleepless City (Spain)
Dir. Guillermo García López
García López has cast non-professional actors to tell the story of a teenage boy living in harsh conditions in a settlement on the outskirts of Madrid. Sleepless City was developed through labs including Cannes’ La Résidence de la Cinéfondation.
Contact: Sintagma Films 

Sleep No More (Indonesia)
Dir. Edwin
After winning Locarno’s Golden Leopard with Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash in 2021, Indonesian director Edwin has made a satirical dark fantasy centred on two sisters who are forced to work at a hair factory to repay their late mother’s debt, only to start seeing strange and dangerous things around them.
Contact: Palari Films

El Sombreron (Guatemala)
Dir. Jayro Bustamante
It is touch and go as to whether this will be ready in time for a major festival berth, but Guatemalan filmmaker Bustamante is directing Adria Arjona from Hit Man and Edgar Ramirez in the thriller about the trophy wife of a cartel boss who accepts an offer to get smuggled out of the country. Bustamante’s Fantasia award-winner Rita was his country’s Oscar submission this season.
Contact: CAA Media Finance, The Match Factory

Stitches (France)
Dir. Alice Winocour
Angelina Jolie stars in Winocour’s English and French-language drama about a group of women whose lives collide during Fashion Week in Paris. It also stars Louis Garrel, Ella Rumpf and Finnegan Oldfield. Winocour’s last film Paris Memories premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.
Contact: UTA Independent Film Group, HanWay Films

Tristes Tropiques (South Korea) 
Dir. Park Hoon-jung
Director Park, known for noir hit New World and female-led action franchise The Witch, returns with a revenge thriller about a group of young assassins who specialise in jungle warfare and embark on a mission of vengeance. Starring Park Hae-soo of Squid Game, it is produced by Gold Moon Film and Mindmark, whose recent slate includes Toronto title A Normal Family.
Contact: Finecut   

Untitled Oliver Laxe project (Spain-France)
Dir: Oliver Laxe
Sergi López and Bruno Núñez play a father and son who travel to the mountains of southern Morocco where a rave is taking place in the hope of finding their missing daughter and sister. Laxe’s Fire Will Come won the jury prize in Un Certain Regard in 2019.
Contact: The Match Factory

Untitled Kathryn Bigelow White House Thriller (US) 
Dir. Kathryn Bigelow
The Oscar-winning director of The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty is back with a real-time thriller about an impending missile attack on the United States. Rebecca Ferguson, Idris Elba, Greta Lee and Jason Clarke are among the cast. Although Bigelow’s films tend to launch outside film festivals, Oscar best picture winner The Hurt Locker premiered at Venice in 2008.
Contact: Netflix

Untitled Paul Thomas Anderson Event Film (US)
Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
One of America’s leading auteurs returns four years after Licorice Pizza with a contemporary crime ensemble (previously called The Battle Of Baktan Cross) starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro. Little else is known about the project. Neither of Anderson’s last two films, Licorice Pizza and Phantom Thread, premiered at major festivals, although they figured prominently in the awards races. Warner Bros has scheduled an August 8 release.
Contact: Warner Bros

A Useful Ghost (Thailand)
Dir. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke
Thai superstar Davika Hoorne plays a ghost wife who returns to possess the family’s vacuum cleaner and get rid of useless spirits. Hoorne is best known for her breakout role in Pee Mak, the highest-grossing Thai film of all time. It marks the debut feature of Ratchapoom and is produced by Cattleya Paosrijaroen and Soros Sukhum.
Contact: 185 Films 

Vie Privee (France)
Dir. Rebecca Zlotowski
Zlotowski’s anticipated follow-up to Other People’s Children stars Jodie Foster in a French-language role as a renowned psychiatrist investigating the death of one of her patients. Foster is joined by a local A-list cast including Daniel Auteuil, Mathieu Amalric and Virginie Efira.
Contact: Goodfellas

The Waves Will Carry Us (Malaysia)
Dir. Lau Kek Huat
This drama follows the darkly comic journey of three siblings who must reclaim their father’s body after the religious police claim he had secretly converted to Islam and must be buried in an Islamic cemetery. Malaysia-born Taiwanese director Lau recently won the Golden Horse for best documentary with From Island To Island.
Contact: Hummingbird Production

The Wave (Chile-US) 
Dir. Sebastian Lelio
Chilean auteur and Oscar winner (A Fantastic Woman) Lelio’s last film The Wonder premiered in Telluride and Toronto in 2022 and he returns with a musical, inspired by country-wide protests in 2018, in which a university student becomes a key activist in a feminist movement. Fabula produces and Fremantle and Participant co-financed. 
Contact: Fremantle

Virus (South Korea) 
Dir. Kang Yi-Kwan
This comedy-drama stars Kim Yun-seok from Cannes titles The Chaser and The Yellow Sea as a researcher investigating a mysterious virus that invokes love in its victims before it amplifies and proves fatal. He meets a woman – played by Doona Bae from multiple Cannes titles such as Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Broker and Bong Joon Ho’s The Host – with a unique antibody, who soon starts to fall in love with him. Director Kang’s Juvenile Offender was South Korea’s submission to the Oscars in 2014.
Contact: Contents Panda  

Yellow Letters (Germany-France-Turkey)
Dir. Ilker Çatak
The Teachers’ Lounge director Ilker Çatak has reteamed with producer Ingo Fliess of if…Productions and cinematographer Judith Kaufman for his next feature. Yellow Letters tells the story of an artist couple in Turkey who lose their jobs overnight due to arbitrary state action and start to live in exile. Post has just wrapped on the feature.
Contact: Be For Films

You Are Here (Malaysia)
Dir. Yeo Joon Han
Shot on 16mm, this comedy follows a filmmaker with an old-fashioned sense of humour who struggles to find a place in the world. Yeo’s directorial feature debut Sell Out! won awards at Venice in 2008 and again in Locarno’s Open Doors screenings in 2020.
Contact: Amok Films

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