Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival will debut 17 features, including new works by Radu Jude and Abdellatif Kechiche, as part of its 2025 competition. This year’s event runs from August 6 to 16.
The festival announced its competition lineups this morning. The Radu Jude feature is his much-talked-about Dracula. The film was shot in Transylvania and is said to blend several takes on the Dracula story. Teasing the project as last year’s Locarno Film Festival, Jude said: “I am from Romania. My father is actually from Transylvania. It’s time that someone from Romania does a Dracula film. It’s only Hollywood that has done it 1,000 times. We shouldn’t let Hollywood dominate our Dracula.”
The Abdellatif Kechiche feature is Mektoub, My Love: Canto Due, the third edition in his controversial Mektoub series. Ben Rivers, a Locarno regular, will debut his latest feature, Mare’s Nest. Scroll down for the full Loarno lineup.
Elsewhere, Vietnamese filmmaker Trương Minh Quý, best known for his buzzy feature Viet and Nam, will debut Hair, Paper, Water…, a new feature co-directed with Nicolas Graux. Thomas Hakim and Julien Graff, the duo behind Payal Kapadia’s groundbreaking feature debut All We Imagine As Light, are producers on the film, which will screen in Locarno’s Concorso Cineasti del Presente section.
Locarno’s separate Piazza Grande lineup features 14 titles, including Cannes titles Sentimental Value by Joachim Trier, It Was Just an Accident by Jafar Panahi, and Bill Condon’s Kiss of the Spider Woman, starring Jennifer Lopez.
Discussing this year’s edition, Locarno head Giona A. Nazzaro described his competition lineup as the best representation of “what is alive, necessary, and daring in contemporary cinema today.”
“These are films designed for the cinema and for the collective experience in front of the screen. Once again, cinema is now – and facing into the future,” Nazzaro added.
As previously announced, cinema legend Jackie Chan, Alexander Payne, and Ang Lee are among the filmmakers set to receive honorary awards.
Check out the lineup below.
Piazza Grande 06.08.2025 LE PAYS D’ARTO (IN THE LAND OF ARTO)* by Tamara Stepanyan France, Armenia – 2025 World premiere 07.08.2025 THE BIRTHDAY PARTY* by Miguel Ángel Jiménez Greece, Spain, Netherlands, United Kingdom – 2025 World premiere 08.08.2025 THE DEAD OF WINTER* by Brian Kirk USA, Germany – 2025 World premiere TOGETHER* by Michael Shanks Australia, USA – 2025 Swiss premiere 09.08.2025 AFFEKSJONSVERDI (SENTIMENTAL VALUE)* by Joachim Trier Norway, France, Denmark, Germany, Sweden – 2025 Swiss premiere POLICE STORY by Jackie Chan Hong Kong – 1985 10.08.2025 TESTA O CROCE? (HEADS OR TAILS?)* By Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis Italy, USA – 2025 Swiss premiere THE SHINING by Stanley Kubrick United Kingdom, USA – 1980 11.08.2025 THE DEAL* by Jean-Stéphane Bron Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Belgium – 2025 Swiss premiere Episodes 1&2 12.08.2025 IRKALLA HULM JIJILJAMISH (IRKALA – GILGAMESH’S DREAM)* by Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, France, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia – 2025 World premiere 13.08.2025 LA PETITE DERNIÈRE* by Hafsia Herzi France, Germany – 2025 Swiss premiere 14.08.2025 ROSEMEAD* by Eric Lin USA – 2025 International premiere 15.08.2025 UN SIMPLE ACCIDENT (IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT)* by Jafar Panahi Iran, France, Luxembourg – 2025 Swiss premiere 16.08.2025 KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN by Bill Condon USA, Uruguay – 2025 International premiere
Concorso Internazionale AS ESTAÇÕES (THE SEASONS) by Maureen Fazendeiro – Portugal, France, Spain, Austria – 2025 World premiere BOG NEĆE POMOĆI (GOD WILL NOT HELP) by Hana Jušić – Croatia, Italy, Romania, Greece, France, Slovenia – 2025 World premiere DONKEY DAYS by Rosanne Pel – Netherlands, Germany – 2025 World premiere DRACULA by Radu Jude – Romania, Austria, Luxembourg – 2025 World premiere DRY LEAF by Alexandre Koberidze – Germany, Georgia – 2025 World premiere LE BAMBINE (MOSQUITOES) by Valentina Bertani, Nicole Bertani – Italy, Switzerland, France – 2025 World premiere LE LAC by Fabrice Aragno – Switzerland – 2025 World premiere LINIJE ŽELJE (DESIRE LINES) by Dane Komljen – Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Netherlands, Croatia, Germany – 2025 World premiere MARE’S NEST by Ben Rivers – United Kingdom, France, Canada – 2025 World premiere MEKTOUB, MY LOVE: CANTO DUE by Abdellatif Kechiche – France – 2025 World premiere SEHNSUCHT IN SANGERHAUSEN (PHANTOMS OF JULY) by Julian Radlmaier – Germany – 2025 World premiere SOLOMAMMA by Janicke Askevold – Norway, Latvia, Lithuania, Denmark, Finland – 2025 World premiere SORELLA DI CLAUSURA by Ivana Mladenović – Romania, Serbia, Italy, Spain – 2025 World premiere TABI TO HIBI (TWO SEASONS, TWO STRANGERS) by Sho Miyake – Japan – 2025 World premiere TALES OF THE WOUNDED LAND by Abbas Fahdel – Lebanon – 2025 World premiere WHITE SNAIL by Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter – Austria, Germany – 2025 World premiere WITH HASAN IN GAZA by Kamal Aljafari – Palestine, Germany, France, Qatar – 2025 World premiere
Concorso Cineasti del Presente AFFECTION AFFECTION by Alexia Walther, Maxime Matray – France – 2025 World premiere BALEARIC by Ion de Sosa – Spain, France – 2025 World premiere BECOMING by Zhannat Alshanova – France, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Lithuania, Sweden – 2025 World premiere BLUE HERON by Sophy Romvari – Canada, Hungary – 2025 World premiere DON’T LET THE SUN by Jacqueline Zünd – Switzerland, Italy – 2025 World premiere FANTASY by Kukla – Slovenia, North Macedonia – 2025 World premiere FOLICHONNERIES (FOLLIES) by Eric K. Boulianne – Canada – 2025 World premiere GIOIA MIA (SWEETHEART) by Margherita Spampinato – Italy – 2025 World premiere HIJO MAYOR by Cecilia Kang – Argentina, France – 2025 World premiere NU MĂ LĂSA SĂ MOR (DON’T LET ME DIE) by Andrei Epure – Romania, Bulgaria, France – 2025 World premiere OLIVIA by Sofía Petersen – Argentina, United Kingdom, Spain – 2025 World premiere THE FIN by Park Syeyoung – South Korea, Germany, Qatar – 2025 World premiere THE PLANT FROM THE CANARIES by Ruan Lan-Xi – Germany – 2025 World premiere TÓC, GIẤY VÀ NƯỚC… (HAIR, PAPER, WATER…) by Nicolas Graux, Trương Minh Quý – Belgium, France, Vietnam – 2025 World premiere UN BALCON À LIMOGES (A BALCONY IN LIMOGES) by Jérôme Reybaud – France – 2025 World premiere
The post Locarno: Radu Jude, Abdellatif Kechiche & ‘Viet And Nam’ Filmmaker Trương Minh Quý Among Directors Set To Debut New Works In Competition appeared first on Deadline.
