Resorting to Tenderness – A Temporal Implant: ‘Before/After’ (2025) by Manoël Dupont
THESSALONIKI 2025: The filmmaker’s debut feature suggests the connection formed might be as temporary as cosmetic surgery itself.
Reviews
Return to Sender: ‘Maspalomas’ (2025) by Jose Mari Goenaga and Aitor Arregi
SAN SEBASTIÁN 2025: There’s no place like home in this repeatedly surprising Basque-language feature, especially when “home” means being out and proud as a septuagenarian, free to exercise bodily autonomy as one pleases.
That August in Bilbao: ‘Jone, Sometimes’ (2025) by Sara Fantova
SAN SEBASTIÁN 2025: Time is central to one week in the life of the titular protagonist, where infatuation, heartbreak, responsibility, and acceptance all collide—but in a level-headed manner—during Bilbao’s Great Week festivities.
All You Need is Love and Queerpop: ‘Queens of Drama’ (2024) by Alexis Langlois
XPOSED 2025: The French filmmaker soars to beautifully chaotic, queer, campy heights with this festival favourite about two star-crossed lovers looking down the barrel of the music industry’s straight and conformist gun.
Beneath the Shade of Your Leaves, I Grow: ‘Cactus Pears’ (2025) by Rohan Parashuram Kanawade
SXSW LONDON / INSIDE OUT 2025: This multi-award winner is a quiet journey into sensorial discovery between a man who goes to the Maharashtra countryside for his father’s funeral and an unwed farmer.
Inside These Walls, I’ll Carry You: ‘The Crowd’ (2025) by Sahand Kabiri
INSIDE OUT 2025: The Iranian writer-director signs a profound testament to community in this tale of celebration, mourning, and impending departure.
Soft Boys, Sharp Corners: ‘Some Nights I Feel Like Walking’ (2024) by Petersen Vargas
XPOSED 2025: The Filipino director’s newest feature shoots Manila all aglow with neon light in a story of a group of young male sex workers who come together after tragedy, all over the course of one night.
The Village That Raised the Dolls: ‘The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo’ (2025) by Diego Céspedes
CANNES 2025: Diego Céspedes glides to a big win in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard strand with this winding but unflinching debut centring the strength of trans women.
Sepia, Silence, and Sad Gays: ‘The History of Sound’ (2025) by Oliver Hermanus
CANNES 2025: Led by heartthrob favourites Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor, the South African director’s new queer drama is disappointingly lukewarm, caught up in its own languorous melancholia.
The Importance of Being Earnest, Redux: ‘Sad Jokes’ (2024) by Fabian Stumm
BFI FLARE 2025: In an unwavering refusal of cynicism, the German writer-director-actor creates a thought-provoking sophomore feature by pointing to life’s inherent ironies and beautiful moments as they play out in often unexpected ways.