Festivals | Journey Into Cinema | Reviews and Dispatches

Rotterdam Film Festival has more films in its 2025 edition than days in the year. We tried to hold its offerings, like collecting water in a sieve.

While Perla looks and feels extremely well-made, its surfeit of style overwhelms the emotional heart of this communist-era tale. Live from Rotterdam!

The woods straddling Bulgaria and Turkey are imbued with multivalent meanings in Pepe Hristova’s Strandzha, playing in Harbour at IFFR.

The end of identity politics is discussed with nuance and heart in Matthew Lax’s simple yet effective mid-length documentary Gay Men’s Book Club.

In the aftermath of a devastating election result, Wicked Queer Docs in Boston offers solace, community and celebration of LGBTQI+ voices.

Pink clothes become a metaphor for difference in Margherita Ferri’s nuanced The Boy with Pink Pants, based on a devastating true story.

Some Nights I Feel Like Walking doesn’t buy into the glittery tropes of recent queer cinema — instead diving into the harsh realities of gay life.

Despite its technical accomplishments, Steve Bache’s No Dogs Allowed unfortunately replicates many of the same things it seeks to criticise.

Thoughts of food and Medieval architecture permeate a curious second day at Cottbus, with a Kazakh Western and a Lithuanian comedy.

Serbian stories take centre stage at Cottbus, with Dwelling Among the Gods and When The Phone Rang, as well as the Croatian Good Children.