Sarah Friedland’s Venice Film Festival prize-winning grand slam debut Familiar Touch is set to open the 54th edition of New Directors/New Films (ND/NF) and Alex Russell‘s Lurker – a 2025 Sundance and Berlinale selection will be bookending the fest which takes place between April 2nd through April 13th. A true mixed bag of most first time efforts, we have films going back to last year’s Cannes in Blue Sun Palace by Constance Tsang and the Un Certain Regard film The Village Next to Paradise by Mo Harawe. Here is the line-up (as always, there are a bunch of mini gems here).
Opening Night: Sarah Friedland’s Familiar Touch
Closing Night: Alex Russell’s Lurker
The Assistant dir. Wilhelm Sasnal, Anka Sasnal
Blue Sun Palace dir. Constance Tsang
Cactus Pears dir. Rohan Parashuram Kanawade
CycleMahesh dir. Suhel Banerjee
Drowning Dry dir. Laurynas Bareiša
Fiume o morte! dir. Igor Bezinović
Grand Me dir. Atiye Zare Arandi
The Height of the Coconut Trees dir. Du Jie
Holy Electricity dir. Tato Kotetishvili
Invention dir. Courtney Stephens
Kyuka Before Summer’s End dir. Kostis Charamountanis
Lesson Learned dir. Bálint Szimler
Listen to the Voices dir. Maxime Jean-Baptiste
Lost Chapters dir. Lorena Alvarado
Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo) dir. Joel Alfonso Vargas
No Sleep Till dir. Alexandra Simpson
Sad Jokes dir. Fabian Stumm
Stranger dir. Zhengfan Yang
Two Times João Liberada dir. Paula Marques
The Village Next to Paradise dir. Mo Harawe
The Virgin of the Quarry Lake dir. Laura Casabé
