The Geneva International Film Festival (GIFF) has unveiled the programme for its 32nd edition (October 30-November 8), featuring new films from Mike Leigh, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Radu Jude and Lukas Dhont across its competition and wider selection.
The festival will present more than 113 works from 46 countries spanning features, series and immersive content, including 80 Swiss, international and world premieres. Its 14th GIFF Pro industry programme will run November 3-6. GIFF Pro was previously known as the Geneva Digital Market.
The edition marks a leadership transition, with artistic director Emilie Bujès and director of operations Audrey Olivier Muralt taking over as co-directors in August. The 2026 programme was developed by outgoing general and artistic director Anaïs Emery and GIFF’s programming teams, while Bujès’ first fully programmed edition in 2027 will coincide with the festival’s move to Geneva’s Plaza Centre Cinéma.
GIFF will open with Canadian filmmaker Leah Nelson’s animated debut, Tangles, a family drama about Alzheimer’s featuring a voice cast including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Bryan Cranston and Seth Rogen. Japanese filmmaker Sabu’s action comedy Arrested Memory will close the festival.
Indian-US filmmaker Mira Nair and French screenwriter Fanny Herrero will be special guests, with each receiving a retrospective and taking part in an on-stage talk. Nair will receive GIFF’s Film & Beyond Award, while Call My Agent! creator Herrero will be spotlighted for her work in French television.
Feature competition
Ten films are in the running for the Reflet d’Or in the international feature competition, including French filmmaker Marine Atlan’s La Gradiva, which won the grand prix at Cannes Critics’ Week, and Romanian director Jude’s Bordeaux-set The Diary Of A Chambermaid. Also competing are Greek filmmaker Jacqueline Lentzou’s Athens-set A Day In The Life Of Jo: Chapter Phaedra, Iranian filmmaker Pegah Ahangarani’s Rehearsals For A Revolution, which won the L’Œil d’Or documentary prize in Cannes, and Palestinian director Rakan Mayasi’s Cannes-premiering feature debut Yesterday The Eye Didn’t Sleep.
Thai filmmaker Phuttiphong Aroonpheng’s The Burning Giants is also in competition alongside Norwegian director Patrik Syversen’s Dawning, Chinese filmmaker Gu You’s The First Taste Of Loneliness and directing duo Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel’s The Loneliest Man In Town.
Rounding out the line-up is Les Indes, from Swiss filmmaker Pauline Julier and France’s Nicolas Chapoulier, which premiered in competition at Venice’s Giornate degli Autori.
Festival circuit titles
GIFF’s non-competitive Highlights strand includes Leigh’s Tender Loving Care, fresh from winning San Sebastián’s Golden Shell for best film, Dhont’s Cannes best actor prize-winner Coward, Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo’s Spanish Oscar entry La Bola Negra, which earned the filmmaking duo best director at Cannes, and May El-Toukhy’s Venice Golden Lion winner Woman Unknown.
Further titles include Koreeda’s Venice premiere Look Back, Simon Stone’s Elsinore, starring Olivia Colman and Andrew Scott, Jordan Firstman’s Club Kid, and Paolo Strippoli’s The Spiral.
French filmmaker Cédric Kahn will present Venice premiere 15/18 (A Place To Heal), while Céline Carridroit and Aline Suter’s Geneva-shot Virages (Summer Drift)arrives from Cannes’ ACID programme. The wider programme includes limited series Alice: Pioneer Of Cinema, starring Bérénice Bejo as French filmmaking pioneer Alice Guy.
Elsewhere, GIFF’s international series competition will showcase 10 other international series. The Future Is Sensible competition brings together 10 films, series and immersive works addressing social, environmental, political and technological issues. Other strands include the International Immersive Experience Competition and experimental Pulsation section, while a Taiwan Spotlight will showcase the territory’s film and audiovisual scene through special screenings.
The festival will also host around 50 encounters and talks. GIFF Pro, the festival’s industry strand, returns for its 14th edition from November 3-6.
International Feature Competition
A Day In The Life Of Jo: Chapter Phaedra, dir. Jacqueline Lentzou (Gr-Ger-Fr)
Dawning, dir. Patrik Syversen (Nor)
La Gradiva, dir. Marine Atlan (Fr-It)
The Diary Of A Chambermaid, dir. Radu Jude (Rom-Fr)
Les Indes, dirs. Nicolas Chapoulier, Pauline Julier (Switz-Sp)
The Burning Giants, dir. Phuttiphong Aroonpheng (Thai-Fr-Sing-Neth)
The First Taste Of Loneliness, dir. Gu You (China-Fr)
The Loneliest Man In Town, dirs. Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel (Austria)
Rehearsals For A Revolution, dir. Pegah Ahangarani (Czech-Sp)
Yesterday The Eye Didn’t Sleep, dir. Rakan Mayasi (Bel-Leb-Pal-Qat-Saudi Arabia)
Highlights Screenings
15/18, dir. Cédric Kahn (Fr)
Alice, dirs. Claire Lemaréchal, Tim Loane (Fr-Bel-Can)
A Long Goodbye, dirs. Victor Maes, Kate Voet (Bel-Lux-Neth)
California Avenue, dir. Hugo Blick (UK)
Club Kid, dir. Jordan Firstman (US)
Eldorado, dirs. Tarek Haoudy, Nacim Mehtar (Fr-Bel)
Elsinore, dir. Simon Stone (UK-It-US)
Everest: The First Ascent, dirs. Benjamin Auriche, Jean Dellac (Fr)
Frank & Louis, dir. Petra Volpe (Switz-UK)
Future Frontiers, dirs. Grègór Belibi Minya, François Moncarey (Switz)
Glaxo, dir. Benjamín Naishtat (Arg-Braz)
Indulto, dir. Mélanie Courtinat (Fr)
The Spiral, dir. Paolo Strippoli (It-Fr-Bel)
La Bola Negra, dirs. Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo (Sp-Fr)
Les Braves, dir. Lukas Dhont (Bel-Fr-Neth)
Look Back, dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda (Jap)
Placée, dirs. Léa Fazer, Mathilde Henzelin, Sébastien Meier (Switz-Bel-Fr)
Quelques Mots D’Amour, dir. Rudi Rosenberg (Fr)
Ravalear: Not For Sale, dir. Pol Rodríguez (Sp)
Singapura, dir. Elsa Marpeau (Fr)
Tender Loving Care, dir. Mike Leigh (UK-US)
The Red And The Black, dir. Ida Panahandeh (Iran)
Virages, dirs. Céline Carridroit, Aline Suter (Switz-Fr)
Woman Unknown, dir. May El-Toukhy (Den-Swe-Lat)
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