From Tallinn to Austria to London, here are our picks for our favourite film festivals in 2025, celebrating the places that make cinema so special.
Favourite Film Festivals 2025
Tag: Movies
The Mysteries of the Festival Organism
Operating under public funding cuts, the Festival of Auteur Films in Belgrade reflects on Balkan division, politics and the potential for change.
Cult Classic Twin Cheeks: Who Killed The Homecoming King? Finally Reemerges From Its Camcorder Swamp
Kelly Hughes’ long-unavailable and unique queer outsider artwork Twin Cheeks: Who Killed the Homecoming King? finally makes its way back into the public eye.
Bruising and Vanishing
Tales of trauma, pain, memory and vanishing animate an instructive and illuminating Tallinn Black Nights, a ray of light amid bleak November.
The Pupil Hauntingly Depicts Grooming Hidden in Plain Sight
At a time when “groomer” is used as a political smear, The Pupil shows us the truly sickening impact the reality can have on young boys and girls.
Empty Incel Nonsense
Evi Kalogiropoulou’s deeply disappointing Gorgonà leans so heavily into fascist aesthetics it starts to resemble the very thing it criticises.
Balearic Can’t Find The Beat
Ion De Sosa’s dreamy follow-up to horror hit Mamántula is a disappointment, despite all those lovely 16mm images.
Videoheaven Lovingly Resurrects a Lost World
Over the course of three hours, Alex Ross Perry knowingly charts the rise and fall of the video store, from cultural icon to modern irrelevance.
Gatsby with the Dad Jokes
Tim Key provides a masterclass of tragicomic acting in the subtle yet often hilarious The Ballad of Wallis Island, replete with brilliant folk songs.
No Dogs Allowed. Navigating Shaky Ground.
Despite its technical accomplishments, Steve Bache’s No Dogs Allowed unfortunately replicates many of the same things it seeks to criticise.