Encounters Film Festival announces 2025 Official Selection

25 August 2025 // Festival News

Skwigly

Image: Encounters

The Encounters Film Festival 2025 competition programme presents an extraordinary collection of 105 exceptional films from fresh voices and celebrated auteurs around the globe. This historic 30th edition showcases the very best in contemporary cinema, bringing together diverse perspectives, innovative storytelling, and genuine star power across multiple formats and genres.

44 Premieres and High-Profile Talent

This year’s programme features an impressive 44 premieres, including 33 UK premieres, with world and international premieres from as far afield as China, Kazakhstan, Poland, Norway and the USA. New films drawn from over 50 countries ensure audiences will be amongst the first to discover the next wave of cinematic excellence.

Ovary Acting (Dir. Ida Melum)

UK premieres provide a chance to be among the first to discover stunning new works from animation directors including Ida Melum (Ovary-Acting) and Georges Schwizgebel (From One Painting… to Another), alongside many of the most notable new short films including Oscar-nominated works from Nina Gantz (Wander to Wonder) among others.

The programme boasts remarkable star power, featuring acclaimed performers including Jessie Buckley (Oscar-nominated for The Lost Daughter), Domhnall Gleeson (Star Wars, Ex Machina), Emma D’Arcy (House of the Dragon), Charlotte Ritchie (Ghosts), legendary singer Marianne Faithfull and BAFTA, Oscar and Emmy Award winners Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy, and Juliet Stevenson.

Bristol and the South West are also widely represented in competition with films from Paul Holbrook, Xenia Glen, Ellen Mcdougall, Laura Tofarides, Siôn Marshall-Waters, Edward Rowe, Penn Bálint, Ada Player and Bron Waugh, Karni and Saul, Matty Crawford and Ross Harrison (whose The Alphabeticians will world premiere).

The 2025 Official Selection celebrates both the continued vitality of British filmmaking and cinema’s universal language through diverse international perspectives.

Brain Space (Dir. Laura Tofarides)

Animated Films in Competition

Adiós, José Prats (United Kingdom)
As If The Earth Had Swallowed Them Up, Natalia León (France)
Brain Space, Laura Tofarides (Wales, New Zealand, England) UK Premiere
Contradiction of Emptiness, Irina Rubina (Germany)
Cottage Cheese, Liina Luomajoki, Lena Metzger, Janina Müller, Alice Kunz (Switzerland) UK Premiere
Dare To Be Fabulous, João Buosi, Yangjia Chen, Adam Meziane Philipps, Carla Sampaio da Silva, Xinxin Qin, Zhen Zhou (France) UK Premiere
Dede (Ancestor), Yasmine Djedje-Fisher-Azoume (United Kingdom)
Existential Greg, Will Anderson (Scotland) UK Premiere
From One Painting… To Another, Georges Schwizgebel (Switzerland, France) UK Premiere
Hunting, Lea Favre (Switzerland) UK Premiere
Hurikán, Jan Saska (Czech Republic, France, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Hypersensitive, Martine Frossard (Canada) UK Premiere
Il burattino e la balena, Roberto Catani (France, Italy)
Kaminhu, Marie Vieillevie (France)
Little Other, Andres Tenusaar (Estonia)
LOCA, Véronique Paquette (Canada)
My Teenage Blackout, Basile Khatir (France)
On Weary Wings Go By, Lin Jianjie (JJ) (Estonia, Lithuania)
Ovary-Acting, Ida Melum (Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom) World Premiere
Pear Garden, Shadab Shayegan (Germany, Iran)
Peeping Mom, Francis Canitrot (France)
Percebes, Alexandra Ramires, Laura Gonçalves (Portugal, France)
Radix, Anne Breymann (Germany) UK Premiere
Retirement Plan, John Kelly (Ireland)
Romina, Paola Mendonza, Bee Grandinetti (USA, Brazil, Sweden, Spain, France, Russia, Finland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland, Italy, Mexico, India, Germany)
The Dog, Kaspar Jancis (Estonia) UK Premiere
The Mud Under My Window, Violette Delvoye (France, Belgium) UK Premiere
The Shyness of Trees, Sofiia Chuikovska, Loïck Du Plessis D’Argentré, Lina Han, Simin He, Jiaxin Huang, Maud Le Bras, Bingqing Shu (France, Ukraine, China)
The Undying Pain of Existence, Oscar Jacobson (France) UK Premiere
Threaded, Naaman Azhari (United Kingdom)
Trash, Gregory Bouzid, Maxime Crançon, Robin Delaporte, Mattéo Durand, Romain Fleischer, Alexis Le Ral, Margaux Lutz, Fanny Vecchie (France) UK Premiere
TV or The Disturbance on Forest Hill Road, Frederic Siegel (Switzerland) UK Premiere
Two Black Boys in Paradise, Baz Sells (United Kingdom)
Volcelest, Éric Briche (France)
Wander to Wonder, Nina Gantz (Netherlands, France, Belgium, United Kingdom)
Wild Summon, Karni and Saul (United Kingdom)
Windy Day, Martin Chailloux, Ai Kim Crespin, Elise Golfouse, Chloé Lab, Hugo Taillez, Camille Truding (France)
Wormwood, Matthieu Dupille, Chenhe Liu, Philémon Martin, Ninon Quemener, Alexander Vanderplank, Binlin Xie (France)
Yellow Light, Tal Kantor (Israel)
Zarko You Will Spoil the Child!, Veljko Popovic, Milivoj Popovic (Croatia, France)

Animated Films in DepicT! Competition

A Little More Action, Alexis Beaumont (France) UK Premiere
Full of Sh*t, Clarissa Kumala (United Kingdom) World Premiere
Lust Envy, Aisha Boudjillouli (United Kingdom)
Portugal 2000, George Hampshire (United Kingdom) World Premiere
The Gardener, Efa Blosse-Mason, Sophie Marsh (Wales)
Tögethår, Rich Farris (United Kingdom) UK Premiere
When the Eggs are Jumping, Felicia Bergström (Germany) World Premiere
You’re a Shadow, Rajee Samarasinghe (Sri Lanka, USA) UK Premiere

Animated Films in Genre Programmes

A Round of Applause for Death, Stephen Irwin (United Kingdom)
Broomsticks on Broadway, Gordon Howie (Scotland, United Kingdom)
Drijf, Levi Stoops (Belgium) UK Premiere
God Is Shy, Jocelyn Charles (France) UK Premiere
It All Comes Down, Meg Earls (United Kingdom)
Mog’s Christmas, Robin Shaw (United Kingdom)
Notes From Planet Three, Simon Ellis (United Kingdom) UK Premiere
Snow Bear, Aaron Blaise (United States)
Tuu Tuu Til, Veronica Solomon (Germany)
Two Point Five Stars, Sina Lerf, Dario Marti, Dario Boger (Switzerland) UK Premiere
When The Tide Comes, Fêt-Nat Bailly (United Kingdom) UK Premiere

The 30th edition of the Encounters Film Festival takes place September 24th-28th in Bristol. For the full official selection and to buy passes visit encounters.film