Why It Is Trending: Women on the Road, Women in Charge The Ionas brothers — the provocative Greek duo behind The Callas  — return with Madonnas , a playful, rebellious, and unapologetically feminist road comedy about friendship, freedom, and female pleasure on their own terms. When Nancy (Nancy Boukli)  inherits an old caravan, she and her best friend Georgina (Georgina Liossi)  decide to transform it into something radical: a mobile brothel for women.  Joined by a wandering

Why It Is Trending: A Forbidden Love That Defies Silence A luminous and heartbreaking cross-cultural drama, Cast Aside the Clouds  tells the story of forbidden connection, moral courage, and the price of education in a repressive society. When Layla Khosravi (Parmiss Sehat) , a young Iranian woman, is attacked at her bookstore, she finds herself in the care of Dr. Sasan Naderi (Behtash Fazlali) . What begins as an act of compassion blossoms into an unexpected bond — one that

A Daughter’s Fight, A Father’s Fall Poetic, raw, and deeply human, La Lucha  (translated as The Fight  or Dance of the Living ) transforms the physical act of wrestling into a moving allegory of grief, identity, and resilience. Set against the volcanic landscapes of the Canary Islands , José Ángel Alayón’s  new film captures the timeless rhythm between defeat and endurance — between the silence of loss and the roar of survival. Mariana , a teenage girl with fire in her eyes,

From Free Money to New Problems Estonia’s tech-savvy director Rain Rannu  returns with Uus Raha  ( New Money ), a sharp and hilarious sequel to his 2022 hit Free Money . This time, the story asks a bigger, funnier, and more existential question: what happens after you actually get rich? Equal parts social satire, relationship comedy, and digital-age morality play, Uus Raha  is a witty, heartfelt reflection on sudden wealth, modern greed, and the absurdity of success in the cr

Two Friends, One Hot Berlin Summer A hazy, sun-soaked snapshot of post-graduation drift, Sorina Gajewski’s Nulpen  (also known internationally as Slackers ) captures a generation suspended between apathy and awakening. Set in a restless Berlin summer, the film follows two young women navigating the aimlessness of early adulthood with humor, defiance, and quiet grace. With its naturalistic tone and nods to 1990s American indie cinema, Nulpen  is both a love letter to youthful

A razor-edged and darkly funny examination of modern youth, Oscar Boyson’s “Our Hero, Balthazar”  is part coming-of-age odyssey, part internet fever dream. At once hilarious and harrowing, it explores how young men craft identities in the age of constant performance — where morality is measured in likes, and heroism has become a hashtag. Modern Youth Under the Ring Light Boyson’s debut feature is a biting social satire disguised as a road movie , following a privileged prep-s

When the Protector Becomes the Threat Erytorium  (international title: Territory ) is a 2025 Polish psychological thriller  directed by Bartosz Paduch  and co-written with Marcin Grabowski . The film follows Adam Majewski  (Józef Pawłowski), a newly transferred policeman in a quiet Polish town who discovers, through CCTV footage, that his fellow officers are covering up the rape of a young girl . The only witness — Robert  (Igor Kowalunas), a homeless man — turns out to be th

A Poetic, Adult-Free Road Movie Fable The film is an enigmatic, experimental road movie by renowned artist Ben Rivers, co-written with Don DeLillo, that follows a girl named Moon through a mysterious, adult-less, post-societal world. Structured as a series of fragmented encounters, the film blends elements of fiction, documentary, and poetry, using the journey to explore themes of climate anxiety, language, and the possibility of reinvention through a child's eyes. Mare's Nes

A Metacinematic Documentary Una película de miedo  is a Spanish-Portuguese feature-length documentary with a runtime of 1 hour and 12 minutes  (72 minutes). Written and directed by Sergio Oksman , the film documents Oksman's own experience during a summer vacation in Lisbon, where he and his twelve-year-old son, Nuno Oksman , stay in an abandoned hotel . The film explicitly references the horror classic The Shining , using the empty, isolated hotel as a setting to explore th

A Haunting Story of Grief and Madness at Home In No dejes a los niños solos  ( Don’t Leave the Kids Alone ), Mexican filmmaker Emilio Portes  crafts a tense, claustrophobic psychological horror where childhood innocence collides with trauma and paranoia. The story follows Cata , a recently widowed mother who, forced to leave her two sons home alone for one night, unwittingly sets the stage for a terrifying descent into fear and suspicion. As brothers Matías  and Emiliano  spe

A Coming-of-Age Story Against a Political Backdrop Cuerpo Celeste  (Celestial Body) is an Italian-Chilean drama film with a runtime of 1 hour and 36 minutes . Written and directed by Nayra Ilic , the film is set in the summer of 1990  as the Chilean dictatorship is nearing its end. The story centers on fifteen-year-old Celeste (Helen Mrugalski) , who is navigating her own personal turmoil—a family falling apart—against the backdrop of immense national change. The film is an

A Surreal Political and Psychological Satire Abendland  (meaning 'Evening Land' or 'The West') is a German comedy/drama film with a runtime of 1 hour and 55 minutes  (115 minutes), directed and written by Omer Fast , a renowned video artist. Set in the early '90s, the film uses a surreal, parable-like structure to critique the failing German state and the crisis of Western identity. The plot follows a young political activist, wearing an Angela Merkel mask , who, after a cla

A Political Drama of Resistance Hunger Strike Breakfast  is a Lithuanian drama film, set in the early 1990s, directed and written by Karolis Kaupinis  (known for Nova Lituania ). The film centers on Daiva (Ineta Stasiulyte) , a popular Lithuanian television star whose life is turned upside down when Russian soldiers seize control of the TV studios. In an act of bold, non-violent resistance, Daiva and a group of her colleagues announce a hunger strike  to reclaim the vital te

A vampire comedy with bite — and heart Życie dla początkujących (Life for Beginners) , directed by Paweł Podolski  and co-written with Lynn Kucharczyk , is a genre-bending dark comedy that blends horror, absurdism, and existential tenderness. The story follows Monia  (Magdalena Mascianica), a painfully introverted vampire who has found a comfortable — if lonely — way to survive: she works at a nursing home, quietly feeding on blood collected in sanitary conditions. Her human

When connection becomes content Virtual Girlfriends (2025)  is a Czech documentary  directed by Barbora Chalupová , set to open the 28th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival  on October 24, 2025 . The film dives deep into the world of OnlyFans , following the lives of three women  who make their living crafting intimacy for an audience. Through their stories, Virtual Girlfriends  examines how digital platforms blur the boundaries between work, romance, and emotion

When exile leads you back to the ghosts of home The Secret Agent (2025)  ( O Agente Secreto ) is the latest film from acclaimed Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho  ( Bacurau , Aquarius ). Set in 1977 , during Brazil’s military dictatorship, the film follows Marcelo Alves  (played by Wagner Moura ), a technology expert fleeing a mysterious past who returns to his hometown of Recife  seeking refuge. Instead, he finds himself entangled in a dense web of political corrupti

When acting becomes survival Atropia (2025)  marks the feature directorial debut  of Hailey Gates , expanding her 2019 short film Shako Mako  into a full-length satirical war drama. Premiering at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival , the film stars Alia Shawkat , Callum Turner , and Zahra Alzubaidi  in a story that blurs the boundaries between art, propaganda, and lived experience . Set on a U.S. military training base that simulates an Iraqi war zone , Atropia  follows Fayruz  (

A Drama Exploring Family and Identity Thesis on a Domestication , originally titled Tesis sobre una domesticación , is an Argentine and Mexican drama with a runtime of 1 hour and 53 minutes . Directed by Javier van de Couter , the film tells the story of a successful transgender actress and her lawyer husband who decide to adopt a child. Their pursuit of domestic happiness is complicated by their return to the actress's conservative hometown, where they are confronted by a c

When folklore, politics, and AI collide in Transylvania Dracula (2025)  is a bold, genre-defying comedy-horror satire  from Romanian auteur Radu Jude  ( Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World ). Written and directed by Jude, the film reinvents the Dracula myth  for the digital, disillusioned age — a chaotic mosaic of vampire hunts, labor strikes, love stories, AI-written screenplays , and cinematic self-parody. Set in modern-day Transylvania , the film fuses myth an

When love, language, and guilt collide on the coast Ungrateful Beings (2025)  is a psychological drama  directed by Olmo Omerzu  and...