The 2025 Festival Films You Need to Know
Check out our list of exciting new movies from this year's film festivals, including Cannes, ABFF, Venice, the New York Film Festival, and more.
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- DirectorWes AndersonStarsBenicio Del ToroMia ThreapletonMichael CeraThe story of a family and a family business.Who’s ready for another trip into the Wander-verse? Following The French Dispatch in 2021, Asteroid City in 2023, and Henry Sugar in 2024, Wes Anderson is showing no signs of slowing down with his latest movie, The Phoenician Scheme, premiering at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. In typical fashion, Phoenician features a star-studded ensemble of frequent Anderson collaborators, with Benicio del Toro leading the pack alongside troupe newcomer Mia Threapleton. While the plot details remain blurry (the logline simply reads “The story of a family and a family business.”), its trailer brings into focus a 1940s tale of espionage featuring Del Toro and Threapleton as a father-daughter duo embarking on a large-scale infrastructure scheme. The absurd, action-packed trailer teases plane crashes, hand grenades, shootouts — and did we mention Michael Cera?
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival - DirectorAri AsterStarsJoaquin PhoenixPedro PascalEmma StoneIn May of 2020, a standoff between a small-town sheriff and mayor sparks a powder keg as neighbor is pitted against neighbor in Eddington, New Mexico.From the mind behind Hereditary, Midsommar, and the gloriously unhinged Beau Is Afraid comes something a little unexpected … a western. Sort of. Ari Aster returns to Cannes with Eddington, a darkly comic, dread-soaked tale of small-town power and paranoia, set during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Joaquin Phoenix stars as a local sheriff at odds with the town’s increasingly authoritarian mayor, played by Pedro Pascal. The ensemble cast also includes Emma Stone and Austin Butler. Set in the fictional desert town of Eddington, New Mexico, the film promises Aster’s signature existential unease — this time filtered through a cracked Americana lens, where neighbor turns against neighbor in a surreal standoff for control.
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival - DirectorKelly ReichardtStarsGaby HoffmannJosh O'ConnorJohn MagaroIn 1970, Mooney and two cohorts wander into a museum in broad daylight and steal four paintings. When holding onto the art proves more difficult than stealing them, Mooney is relegated to a life on the run.With Josh O'Connor's name above the title, the latest project from director Kelly Reichardt (First Cow) has attracted a fair share of chatter. The Mastermind, one of two O’Connor-led films set to compete for the Palme D’or at Cannes 2025 (the other being The History of Sound), is a crime drama set in 1970s Massachusetts, so let’s hope the Challengers star and his castmates give a masterclass in regional accents.
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival - DirectorRichard LinklaterStarsZoey DeutchAlix BénézechPaolo Luka-NoéFollows the production of Jean-Luc Godards's "Breathless".This is a movie for people who anticipate new Criterion Closet drops on YouTube. Richard Linklater travels back to 1950s France to dream in black and white about the production of Jean-Luc Godard’s landmark New Wave film, Breathless. Though it’s appeal might be more limited, the deep dives on Nouvelle Vague are some of the best industry writing we’ve read in a year where we’ve consumed every minute detail on the making of Sinners. Linklater had permits to film (Godard didn’t), but kudos to him for casting mostly unknowns, with the exception of Zoey Deutch, who plays actress Jean Seberg.
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival - DirectorJulia DucournauStarsEmma MackeyGolshifteh FarahaniTahar RahimAlpha, 13, is a troubled teenager who lives alone with her mother. Their world comes crashing down the day she comes home from school with a tattoo on her arm.Women make the best body horror, and filmmaker Julia Ducournau is one the most skilled and twisted to do it. The college cannibal drama Raw announced her as a new voice to watch in 2016. Titane was an undeniable psycho-thriller that took home a Palme d’Or the last time she came to Cannes with a film. Therefore, we should expect big, disgusting, and delightful things from Alpha, the story of how a 13-year-old girl’s tattoo unspools her world.
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival - DirectorSpike LeeStarsDenzel WashingtonJeffrey WrightIlfenesh HaderaWhen a titan music mogul is targeted with a ransom plot, he is jammed up in a life-or-death moral dilemma. A reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa's crime thriller High and Low, now played out on the mean streets of modern day New York City.Legendary director Spike Lee is adapting a Kurosawa classic for his 25th feature, which premieres out of competition at Cannes this May. Based on Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 noir thriller High and Low, Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest reinterprets the story of a successful man who must chose between his ambitions and saving a kidnapped child by trading Toshiro Mifune’s Japanese industrialist for Denzel Washington’s music mogul and moving the proceedings to the “mean streets” of New York City. This is the fifth collaboration between Lee and Washington, and the director has assembled a tremendous cast to support the actor’s lead performance, including Jeffrey Wright, Ilfenesh Hadera, Ice Spice, and A$AP Rocky, who Lee claims has “the main role” in the film.
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival - DirectorOliver HermanusStarsPaul MescalPeter Mark KendallJosh O'ConnorTwo young men during World War I set out to record the lives, voices and music of their American countrymen.Oddly enough, Josh O'Connor's second film in competition for the Palme D’or is also set in Massachusetts, but unlike the heist-drama The Mastermind, the only thing O'Connor steals is Paul Mescal's heart in this sweeping romantic drama that follows their journey across rural New England in the summer of 1919 documenting the folk songs of the time, then through the melancholy years that follow. We're already expecting awards season buzz around this one.
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival - DirectorJoachim TrierStarsRenate ReinsveStellan SkarsgårdInga Ibsdotter LilleaasAn intimate and moving exploration of family, memories, and the reconciliatory power of art.Forget Scorsese and De Niro, or Spielberg and Hanks, the only director-actor collab we should care about is Joachim Trier and Renate Reinsve, who will make this their third film together after depressing drug drama Oslo, August 31st and absolutely sublime love story The Worst Person in the World. Sentimental Value has a vague logline about exploring family and memories (what film doesn’t do this?), but Trier’s films are never easy to define or distill. They just need to be experienced.
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival - DirectorMichael Angelo CovinoStarsAdria ArjonaDakota JohnsonO-T FagbenleWhen Ashley asks for a divorce, the good-natured Carey runs to his friends, Julie and Paul, for support. Their secret to happiness is an open marriage; that is, until Carey crosses the line and throws all of their relationships into chaos.Fans of messy relationship drama take note, Michael Angelo Covino is back with another comedy all about the tangled webs love can weave in Splitsville. The writer-director returns to Cannes this year with his sophomore feature after winning the Jury Coup de Coeur award in 2019 for his debut The Climb. But while The Climb focused on timeless themes of infidelity, this new creation takes a decidedly more modern approach, as Kyle Marvin navigates an impending divorce from Dakota Johnson through the exploration of open relationships with predictably chaotic results. In addition to Marvin, Johnson, and Covino himself, the cast includes fan favorites Adria Arjona, O-T Fagbenle, and Nicholas Braun, among others.
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival - DirectorSylvain ChometStarsLaurent LafitteGéraldine PailhasThierry GarciaIt follows the life of Pagnol, a playwright, novelist, and filmmaker who grew up in a middle-class household in Marseille and became one of the world's most inventive and prolific artists from the 1930's to the 1950's.The magnificent life at the center of Sylvain Chomet’s new animated biopic is Marcel Pagnol, who became one of France’s greatest 20th century auteurs as an accomplished playwright, novelist, and director of films such as Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring. Chomet is the Oscar-nominated director of modern animated classics The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist, so expect a unique and charming character study worthy of a Cannes premiere.
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival - DirectorEthan CoenStarsMargaret QualleyAubrey PlazaChris EvansA dark comedy about Honey O'Donahue, a small-town private investigator, who delves into a series of strange deaths tied to a mysterious church.Margaret Qualley reunites with director Ethan Coen for another “lesbian b-movie” in this follow-up to their 2024 crime comedy, Drive-Away Dolls. Qualley plays a private investigator who gets mixed up with a cult leader (Chris Evans) and a “mystery woman” (Aubrey Plaza). Written with his wife (and editor) Tricia Cooke, this is Coen’s third consecutive project without his brother, Joel. And while Drive-Away Dolls didn’t make a big splash, Qualley’s recognition post-Substance should give Honey, Don’t! the boost it needs for success.
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival - DirectorScarlett JohanssonStarsChiwetel EjioforJune SquibbErin KellymanAfter seventy years with her best friend, Eleanor moves to New York City for a fresh start. Making new friends at ninety proves difficult. Longing for connection, she befriends a 19-year-old student.Scarlett Johansson and June Squibb on the red carpet together is a moment waiting to happen. The former Avenger will present her directorial debut at Cannes, and we think Eleanor the Great might be an even stronger awards contender than June Squibb’s most recent movie, Thelma. As an actress, Johansson knows just how enduring a friendship drama can be (Ghost World, Lost in Translation), and she’s acknowledged how Eleanor is inspired by indie films she grew up loving.
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival - DirectorHarris DickinsonStarsFrank DillaneAmr WakedMurat ErkekMike, a homeless person in London who is struggling to break free from a cycle of self-destruction while trying to turn his life around.Harris Dickinson is going for it. The newly minted A-list actor, who first caught our eye with Beach Rats, will make his directorial debut at Cannes with Urchin. Despite the heavy sounding premise, we’ve read the movie finds humor in its protagonist’s circumstances. Feels like a custom fit for Frank Dillane, an actor who knows a thing or two about dicey on-screen situations; he’s the guy who had to try and kick heroin during a zombie outbreak on “Fear the Walking Dead.”
Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival - DirectorsIain ForsythJane PollardStarsEmiliana TorriniCaroline CatzRichard AyoadeUncovers Geraldine Flower's collection of love letters, suggesting a potential double life as a spy.This extraordinary movie is a unique blend of documentary, music, and mystery. When Geraldine Flower died in 2019, her daughter discovered a suitcase of old love letters revealing a new aspect of her mother’s life. The story sets out to explore the truth and the mystery of Geraldine Flower using songs with lyrics taken directly from the letters and set to music by Icelandic performer, Emiliani Torrini, who in turn appears in the movie. The result, by directors Iain Forsyth and Jan Pollard, is a remarkable and engaging journey with a wonderful dreamlike quality like nothing I have ever experienced before. The storytelling is enhanced by a host of celebrities appearing as themselves, including Nick Cave (who in turn was the subject of the directors’ previous film 20,000 Days on Earth (2014)), Alice Lowe, and Richard Ayoade.
Screened in 2025 at the Glasgow Film Festival and the Dublin International Film Festival
