Luminous and Frontlight titles announced

The premiere-only section Luminous presents a wide range of styles and formalist approaches, from observational to personal to experimental— among them both feature-length and short films. The twenty-seven titles move between intimate meditations on the filmmakers’ inner worlds and explorations of lives far beyond their own. All twenty-seven films in the selection are world or international premieres.

Co-directed by filmmaker Toia Bonino and incarcerated prisoner Marcos Joubert, Do or Die is a rare, intimate portrait of prison life and a meditation on cinema itself—filmed entirely on a phone behind bars. In House of Hope, Marjolein Busstra follows a Palestinian woman running a Waldorf school on the West Bank with her husband, capturing their struggle to create a safe haven for children amid escalating violence and uncertainty. In Paikar, Dawood Hilmandi returns to Iran to confront his authoritarian father, crafting a poignant family portrait that wrestles with exile, reconciliation, and the meaning of home.

The premiere-only section Frontlight showcases fifteen films that critically examine the truth and artistically explore the urgent issues of our time. Eleven of the selected titles are world or international premieres.

Several films offer immediate responses to critical current events, while others take time to reflect, examining the social realities and challenges shaping people’s lives today. Reporting directly from Gaza, Gaza’s Twins, Come Back to Me by Mohammed Sawwaf follows a mother desperate to reach her two newborn babies in urgent care, evacuated amid bombings and prevented from seeing them by travel restrictions and checkpoints. Steal This Story, Please! by Carl Deal and Tia Lessin profiles independent journalist Amy Goodman, highlighting the vital role of fearless reporting in upholding democracy and a free press.

The IDFA 2025 selection is now complete.