FILMS 2026
The Commitments (1991) Q&A
Runtime: 118 min
Director: Alan Parker
Principal cast/crew: Robert Arkins, Angeline Ball, Jonathon Rhys Meyers (early career appearance), screenplay Roddy Doyle/Dick Clement/Ian La Frenais
Short synopsis: A young music fan in Dublin forms a soul band from working-class youths — a funny, heartfelt tale of ambition, music and messy friendships.
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Music
Country: Ireland, UK, USA
Language: English
Festivals / awards / notes: Critical favorite; strong box-office and enduring cult status.
Christy (2025)
q&a
Runtime: 94 min
Director: Brendan Canty
Principal cast/crew: Danny Power, Diarmuid Noyes, AJ Brown.
Short synopsis: Set in Knocknaheeny in Cork, Ireland, the film centres on two estranged brothers who attempt to reconnect with each other.
Genre: Drama
Country: Ireland, UK
Language: English
Festivals / awards / notes: winner at Berlin Film Festival in the The Grand Prix for the Best Film in Generation 14plus, Best Irish Film at Galway Film Festival, Best Irish Film by Dublin Film critic’s circle
Ready or Not (2025)
Runtime: 84 min
Director: Claire Frances Byrne
Principal cast/crew: Ruby Conway Dunne, Alex Grendon, Molly Byrne
Short synopsis: Katie and her friends from a small housing estate explore teenage boundaries and premature maturity, testing their deep friendships amid major changes as they navigate the complex grey areas of growing up.
Genre: Drama
Country: Ireland
Language: English
Festivals / awards / notes: ReFrame stamp, Dublin International Film Festival 2025 (Michael Dwyer Discovery Award)
IMDb rating (reference): 8.2
Wolfwalker (2020)
Q&A
Runtime: 103 min
Director: Tomm Moore & Ross Stewart
Principal cast/crew: Honor Kneafsey (voice), Eva Whittaker, Sean Bean (voice); Cartoon Saloon
Short synopsis: In 17th-century Ireland, a girl apprentice hunter befriends a free-spirited child of a mysterious tribe rumored to turn into wolves.
Genre: Fantasy
Country: Ireland, Luxembourg, france
Language: English
Festivals / awards / notes: Oscar-nominated (Best Animated Feature); acclaimed for hand-drawn animation, Best Irish Film by Dublin Film critic’s circle
Maspalomas (2025)
Q&A
Runtime: 1h 55 min
Director: Aitor Arregi & Jose Mari Goenaga
Principal cast/crew: Jose Ramón Soroiz (lead)
Short synopsis: Vicente, 76, enjoys life in Gran Canaria’s gay haven Maspalomas. After a stroke and return to a conservative nursing home, he must confront family, identity and the choices he once made.
Genre: Drama
Country: Spain
Language: Basque
Festivals / awards / notes: World premiere San Sebastián; critical recognition and national award nominations.
Confessions of a Swedish Man (2025)
Q&a
Runtime: 1h 37 min
Director: Hampus Linder
Principal cast/crew: Hampus Linder
Short synopsis: A personal/essayistic film exploring masculinity, identity and family through the filmmaker’s own lens.
Genre: Documentary
Country: Sweden, Denmark, Norway
Language: Swedish, English, Danish
Festivals / awards / notes: /
The Holy Boy (La valle dei sorrisi) (2025)
Q&A
Runtime: 122 min
Director: Paolo Strippoli
Principal cast/crew: Michele Riondino, Romana Maggiora Vergano, Roberto Citran
Short synopsis: An arthouse horror/ritual fable set in a strange town where an uncanny ritual promises to take away suffering.
Festivals / awards / notes: Venice midnight slot; acquired by genre distributors.
Genre: Horror
Country: Italy
Language: Italian
Resurrection (Kuangye shidai) (2025)
Runtime: 160 min (approx. 2h40m)
Director: Bi Gan
Principal cast/crew: Jackson Yee, Shu Qi, Mark Chao, Li Gengxi, Huang Jue, Chen Yongzhong
Short synopsis: A visionary, phantasmagoric exploration of memory, cinema and dreamlike landscapes — hallmarks of Bi Gan’s style.
Festivals / awards / notes: The film had its world premiere at the main competition of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Prix Spécial. It was theatrically released in China on 22 November by Huace Pictures.
Genre: Psychological Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: China, france
Language: Mandarin
A Poet (Un Poeta) (2025)
Runtime: 120 min
Director: Simón Mesa Soto
Principal cast/crew: Rebeca Andrade, Guillermo Cardona
Short synopsis: An aging poet finds new purpose mentoring a young student — a bittersweet, absurdist fable about art and survival.
Festivals / awards / notes: Cannes recognition (Un Certain Regard) and festival awards.
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: Colombia, Germany, Sweden
Language: Spanish
Urchin (2025)
Runtime: 100 min
Director: Harris Dickinson
Principal cast/crew: Frank Dillane, Harris Dickinson
Short synopsis: A gritty, compassionate portrait of a rough sleeper in London trying to rebuild his life amid addiction and instability.
Festivals / awards / notes: Cannes premiere; FIPRESCI recognition reported.
Genre: Psychological Drama, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Language: English
Sleepless City (Ciudad sin sueño)
Q&A
Runtime: 1h 37 min
Director: Guillermo Galoe
Principal cast/crew: Antonio Fernandez Gabarre, Bilal Sedraoui, Jesús Fernández Silva
Short synopsis: Set in La Cañada Real near Madrid, three generations of a family face eviction and struggle to hold on to home and identity.
Festivals / awards / notes: Critics’ Week / Cannes 2025 selection; noted for social realism and local collaboration.
Genre: Drama
Country: Spain, France
Language: Spanish
Hjem kære Hjem (Home Sweet Home)
Runtime: 1h 52m
Director: Frelle Petersen (or festival credit)
Principal cast/crew: Jette Søndergaard, Mimi Bræmer Dueholm, Karen Tygesen.
Short synopsis: A home carer navigates the emotional and practical demands of caring for the elderly while balancing her own life.
Festivals / awards / notes: Berlinale screening (2025).
Genre: Drama
Country: Denmark
Language: Danish
To the West, in Zapata (Al oeste, en Zapata)
Q&A
Runtime: 74 min
Director: David Bim
Principal cast/crew: David Bim, Lia Rodriguez, Wouter Jansen (Producers)
Short synopsis: In pandemic-hit Zapata swamp, a father hunts crocodiles to feed his sick child; a story of survival, absence and quiet resilience.
Festivals / awards / notes: Visions du Réel / Dokufest circulation.
Genre: Documentary
Country: Cuba, Spain
Language: Spanish
Songs of Slow Burning Earth (2024)
Runtime: 95
Director: Olha Zhurba
Principal cast/crew: Darya Bassel (producer)
Short synopsis: An audiovisual diary of Ukraine during the first years of the full-scale invasion — eyewitness accounts and contemplative reflections.
Festivals / awards / notes: Venice 2024 premiere; awards at Riga and Big Sky; human-rights festival prizes.
Genre: Documentary
Country: Ukraine, Sweden
Language: Ukrainian, Russian
With Hasan in Gaza (2025)
Runtime: 106 min (approx. 1h46m)
Director: Kamal Aljafari
Principal cast/crew: Hasan (guide, subject of the footage)
Short synopsis: Rediscovered 2001 footage leads the filmmaker and a local guide on a road trip through Gaza, revealing intimate everyday life moments.
Festivals / awards / notes: Locarno 2025 main competition; Golden Leopard nomination.
Genre: Documentary
Country: Qatar, Germany, Palestine, Switzerland, France
Language: Arabic
Always (Cónglái) (2025)
Runtime: 86 min
Director: Deming Chen
Principal cast/crew: (local cast)
Short synopsis: A poetic portrait of a mountain family and a child’s voice — interwoven with classroom poems and rural life.
Genre: Documentary
Country: USA, China, France
Language: Chinese, Mandarin, English
The Ice Tower (La tour de glace) — Lucile Hadžihalilović (2025)
Runtime: 118 min
Director: Lucile Hadžihalilović
Principal cast/crew: Marion Cotillard, Clara Pacini, August Diehl
Short synopsis: Set in the 1970s, an actress filming The Snow Queen meets a runaway orphan; a haunting, visual fairy tale.
Festivals / awards / notes: Berlinale 2025 premiere; Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution; multiple festival prizes.
Genre: Drama, Fantasy
Country: France, Germany
Language: French, Italian
Sebastian (2024)
Q&A
Runtime: 110 min
Director: Mikko Mäkelä
Principal cast/crew: Ruaridh Mollica, Hiftu Quasem, Jonathan Hyde, Ingvar Sigurðsson
Short synopsis: Max, an aspiring young writer in London, begins living a double life as a sex worker in order to research his debut novel.
Genre: Drama
Country: UK, Finland, Belgium
Language: English, French
IMDb rating (reference): 6.7
A Private Life (Vie privée) (2025)
Runtime: 103 min
Director: Rebecca Zlotowski
Principal cast/crew: Jodie Foster, Daniel Auteuil
Short synopsis: A psychiatrist’s intimate life and the ethics of private therapy woven into a tense personal drama.
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Country: France
Language: French, English
The Voice of Hind Rajab (2025) Q&A
Runtime: 89 min
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Principal cast/crew: Saja Kilani, Motaz Malhees, Amer Hlehel, Clara Khoury
Short synopsis: A docudrama built around the real phone calls of a trapped child in Gaza; a harrowing look at rescue efforts and human cost.
Festivals / awards / notes: Venice 2025 premiere; Grand Jury Prize and strong festival presence.
Genre: Drama
Country: Tunisia, France, USA, UK, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus
Language: Arabic, English
The President’s Cake (Mamlaket al-Qasab) (2025)
Runtime: 102–105 min
Director: Hasan Hadi
Principal cast/crew: Baneen Ahmed Nayyef (lead), production by TPC Film
Short synopsis: In 1990s Iraq, young Lamia must gather scarce ingredients to bake a mandated cake for the president’s birthday — a tender fable about resourcefulness under repression.
Festivals / awards / notes: Cannes Director’s Fortnight selection; Iraq’s Oscar submission; strong festival audiences.
Genre: Drama
Country: Iraq, USA, Qatar
Language: Arabic
Palestine 36 (2025)
Runtime: 115 min
Director: Annemarie Jacir
Principal cast/crew: Hiam Abbass, Saleh Bakri, Jeremy Irons
Short synopsis: Historical drama set during the 1936 Arab revolt in Palestine; political and personal tensions shape a young boy’s radicalization.
Festivals / awards / notes: TIFF premiere; Palestinian Oscar submission.
Genre: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: France, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, Denmark, Jordan, Norway, United States, Sweden, Australia
Language: Arabic, English
Sátántangó (1994) — Béla Tarr
Runtime: 450+ min (approx. 7.5 hours)
Director: Béla Tarr
Principal cast/crew: Mihály Vig, Putnoki László
Short synopsis: A rural Hungarian masterpiece — a slow-burning, black-and-white epic about betrayal, hope and decay.
Festivals / awards / notes: Cult classic; hailed as one of modern cinema’s boldest epics.
Genre: Drama, Psychological
Country: Hungary, Germany, Switzerland
Language: Hungarian
Franz (2025)
Runtime: 127 min
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Principal cast/crew: Idan Weiss as Franz Kafka
Short synopsis: A biographical drama following Franz Kafka’s life from adolescence to his early death.
Festivals / awards / notes: TIFF 2025 premiere; Poland’s Oscar submission.
Genre: Docudrama, History
Country: Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, France, Turkey
Language: German, Czech, Yiddish, English, French, Japanese