Eye For Film >> Festivals >> Thessaloniki >> 2025 >> Open Horizons
View other Thessaloniki International Film Festival Films by strand: Film Forward , Fragilities , Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani Spotlight , International Competition , Meet The Neighbours+ , Plot Twist, Beyond Sixth Sense , Round Midnight , Smart7 Competition , Special Screenings , Spotlight on Marcel Pagnol
Peter Hujar’s Day and Plainclothes
Ariel
(Country: Spain, Portugal; Year: 2025; Director: Lois Patiño; Writer: Lois Patiño; Stars: Agustina Muñoz, Irene Escolar, José Díaz, Hugo Torres, Marta Pazos)
A postmodern adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, set in the tropical volcanic landscape of the Azores.
Beginnings
(Begyndelser)
(Country: Denmark, Sweden; Year: 2025; Director: Jeanette Nordahl; Writer: Rasmus Birch, Jeanette Nordahl; Stars: Trine Dyrholm, David Dencik, Johanne Louise Schmidt, Steffen Lino, Mads Bjørn, Silja Ellemann Kiehne, Karina Anov Chapman, Luna Fuglsang Svelmøe, Bjørk Storm Engelshardt Kirkegaard)
Ane and Thomas are on the verge of being divorced, but they have not told their children yet. When one is hit by a life-changing incident, they must both face a new reality.
Blue Heron
(Country: Canada, Hungary; Year: 2025; Director: Sophy Romvari; Writer: Sophy Romvari; Stars: Eylul Guven, Iringó Réti, Ádám Tompa, Edik Beddoes, Amy Zimmer)
A young girl and her family move from Hungary to Canada in the 1990s, where her brother disrupts their new life. In the present, she seeks answers from the past.
The Botanist
(Zhi Wu Xue Jia)
(Country: China; Year: 2025; Director: Jing Yi; Writer: Jing Yi; Stars: Nurdaolet Jalen, Eramazan Sarhet, Jomajan Songhat, Jahseleh Yesl, Ren Zihan)
A lonely boy immerses himself in a world of plants.
Cactus Pears
(Sabar Bonda)
(Country: India; Year: 2025; Director: Rohan Kanawade; Writer: Rohan Kanawade; Stars: Bhushaan Manoj, Suraaj Suman, Jayshri Jagtap)
Anand, a 30-something city dweller compelled to spend a 10-day mourning period for his father in the rugged countryside of western India, tenderly bonds with a local farmer struggling to stay unmarried. As the mourning ends, forcing his return, Anand must decide the fate of his relationship born under duress.
Kika and Maspalomas
The Currents
(Las corrientes)
(Country: Switzerland, Argentina; Year: 2025; Director: Milagros Mumenthaler; Stars: Isabel Aimé González Sola, Esteban Bigliardi)
When her plans fall through, Sana secretly decides to stay with her twins at her former in-laws home on the Riviera without telling anyone. Six days of sunshine that mark the end of innocence.
Dance Of The Living
(La Lucha)
(Country: Spain, Colombia; Year: 2025; Director: José Alayón; Stars: Yazmina Estupiñan, Tomasín Padrón, Inés Cano, Sara Cano, Aridany Pérez)
On the arid island of Fuerteventura, Miguel and his daughter Mariana try to move on after his wife dies, a loss that has cast them both adrift. Canarian wrestling is their refuge, their way to make a place for themselves in the world.
Donkey Days
(Country: Netherlands, Germany; Year: 2025; Director: Rosanne Pel; Writer: Rosanne Pel; Stars: Jil Krammer, Susanne Wolff, Hildegard Schmahl, Amke Wegner, Carla Juri)
Sisters Anna and Charlotte have always fought for their mother’s attention. As old wounds reopen and suck them back to their family home, they unravel mesmerising mysteries, including anonymous ashes and their mother’s love for a donkey. Will they come to terms with each other?
Emi
(Year: 2025; Director: Ezequiel Erriquez Mena; Writer: Ezequiel Erriquez Mena; Stars: Benicio Mutti Spinetta, Mara Bestelli, Luis Ziembrowski, Sofía Palomino, Alejandro Scaravelli and Miriam Odorico)
Emi lives with his adoptive parents in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. He is trying to find a job to cover his expenses and, at the same time, beginning a search for his biological parents. Over time, he will find work at a repair shop and start associating with both his employer and his family. However, this is no coincidence...
Erupcja
(Country: US, Poland; Year: 2025; Director: Pete Ohs; Writer: Pete Ohs, Charli xcx, Luke Arreguin, Jeremy O. Harris, Josh Godfrey; Stars: Charli xcx, Lena Góra, Will Madden, Jeremy O. Harris, Agata Trzebuchowska, Maja Michnacka, Jan Lubaczewski)
Bethany travels along with her boyfriend, Rob, from London to Warsaw, where she meets her old crush, Nel, and decides to dump him in order to party with her during the weekend. However, every time the two girls hang out, a volcano – quite literally – erupts somewhere on the planet and this time, it is Etna’s turn.
Late Fame and What Marielle Knows
Follies
(Folichonneries)
(Country: Canada; Year: 2025; Director: Eric K Boulianne; Writer: Alexandre Auger, Eric K Boulianne; Stars: Eric K Boulianne, Catherine Chabot, Florence Blain Mbaye, Étienne Galloy, Sarah Chouinard Poirier, Simone Bellemare-Ledoux, Agathe Ledoux, Sophie Letourneur, Antonin Mousseau-Rivard, Ève Landry, Éric Robidoux, Julie Le Breton, Nathalie Coupal, Ambre Jabrane, Carolanne Foucher, Erin Margurite Carter, Jacques L’Heureux, Rose-Anne Déry, Rémi St-Michel)
A couple in a relationship for 16 years and parents of two children, are no longer able to connect sexually. They decide to open up their relationship in order to experience "fun" experiences that will allow them to learn more about themselves. Polyamory, libertinism, BDSM, and sexual fluidity ensue.
Gioia
(Country: Italy; Year: 2025; Director: Nicolangelo Gelormini)
Gioia is a high school teacher who has never known love beyond the suffocating grip of her parents, with whom she still lives. Her life shifts when she encounters Alessio, a student who uses his body as a means to get a few hundred euros to help his struggling mother.
Homo Sapiens?
(Homo Argentum)
(Country: Argentina; Year: 2025; Director: Gastón Duprat, Mariano Cohn)
Satire about a series of characters embodied by the same actor.
The Ivy
(Hiedra)
(Country: Ecuador, Mexico, France, Spain; Year: 2025; Director: Ana Cristina Barragan; Writer: Ana Cristina Barragán; Stars: Simone Bucio, Francis Eddú Llumiquinga)
Azucena, a 30-year-old woman, spies on the teenagers of a group home. In their games and sense of brotherhood, she searches for fragments of her own past.
Jimpa
(Country: Australia, Netherlands, Finland; Year: 2025; Director: Sophie Hyde; Writer: Matthew Cormack, Sophie Hyde; Stars: Aud Mason-Hyde, Olivia Colman, John Lithgow, Eamon Farren, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Cody Fern, Daniel Henshall, Kate Box, Deborah Kennedy, Bryn Chapman Parish, Melany Maximus, Hanna van Vliet, Romana Vrede, Ani Sidzamba, Aarne Lehti, Nicholas Brown)
Hannah takes her nonbinary teenager, Frances, to Amsterdam to visit their gay grandfather, Jim - lovingly known as Jimpa. But Frances’ desire to stay abroad with Jimpa for a year means Hannah is forced to reconsider her beliefs about parenting and finally confront old stories about the past.
Lost Land and Mother
Jone, Sometimes
(Jone, batzuetan)
(Country: Spain; Year: 2025; Director: Sara Fantova; Writer: Sara Fantova, Núria Dunjó, Nuria Martín; Stars: Olaia Aguayo, Josean Bengoetxea)
During the Semana Grande annual festival 20-year-old Jone falls in love with Olga. And while experiencing the heady rush of joy, she is simultaneously tormented by the fear of losing her father, who has Parkinson's disease.
Kika
(Country: Belgium; Year: 2025; Director: Alexe Poukine; Writer: Alexe Poukine, Thomas van Zuylen; Stars: Manon Clavel, Suzanne Elbaz, Makita Samba, Thomas Coumand)
A grieving new mother, while struggling to make ends meet for her family, uncovers an unexpected passion within herself.
Kokuho
(Country: Japan; Year: 2025; Director: Sang-il Lee; Writer: Satoko Okudera, Shûichi Yoshida; Stars: Ai Mikami, Takahiro Miura, Emma Miyazawa, Nana Mori, Masatoshi Nagase, Kyûsaku Shimada, Mitsuki Takahata, Min Tanaka, Shinobu Terajima, Ken Watanabe, Ryûsei Yokohama, Ryô Yoshizawa)
A boy born into a family of gangsgters is taken in by a kabuki theatre actor and finds a talent for the craft.
Late Fame
(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Kent Jones; Writer: Samy Burch, based on the novel by Arthur Schnitzler; Stars: Willem Dafoe, Greta Lee, Edmund Donovan)
Ed Saxberger, a forgotten New York poet, works in the post office. After an eager and flattering young admirer appears on his doorstep, Saxberger is beckoned into a coterie of twentysomething admirers who anoint him as a rediscovered genius.
Left-Handed Girl
(Country: Taiwan, France; Year: 2025; Director: Tsou Shih-Ching; Writer: Sean Baker, Tsou Shih-Ching; Stars: Janel Tsai, Nina Ye, Huang Teng-Hui, Ma Shi-Yuan, Akio Chen, Chao Xin-Yan)
A single mother and her two daughters return to Taipei to open a night market stand. Three generations of family secrets begin to unravel after the youngest daughter who’s left-handed is told by her traditional grandfather to never use her "devil hand”.
Lesbian Space Princess and Cactus Pears
Lesbian Space Princess
(Country: Australia; Year: 2025; Director: Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese; Writer: Emma Hough Hobbs, Leela Varghese; Stars: Shabana Azeez, Richard Roxburgh, Madeleine Sami, Mark Samual Bonanno, Gemma Chua-Tran, Jordan Raskopoulos, Aunty Donna, Bernie Van Tiel, Demi Lardner, Kween Kong, Reuben Kaye)
An introverted space princess is forced to leave her planet to rescue her ex.
Little Trouble Girls
(Kaj ti je deklica)
(Country: Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Serbia; Year: 2025; Director: Urska Djukic; Writer: Urska Djukic, Marina Gumzi; Stars: Jara Sofija Ostan, Mina Svajger, Sasa Tabakovic, Natasa Burger, Marko Mandic, Lotos Sparovec, Sasa Pavcek, Branko Zavrsan, Casson Matia, Popovic Stasa, Frlic Spela, Tomazin Irena, Strle Mateja)
During a weekend of rehearsals with the school choir at a convent, an introverted teenager begins to view the world from a new perspective.
Lost Land
(Harà Watan)
(Country: Japan, France, Malaysia, Germany; Year: 2025; Director: Akio Fujimoto; Stars: Shomira Rias Uddin Muhammad, Shofik Rias Uddin)
In the hope of reuniting with their scattered family, four-year-old Shafi and his nine-year-old sister Somira leave a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh on a perilous journey to reach Malaysia.
Mad Bills To Pay (or Destiny, Dile Que No Soy Malo)
(Country: US, UK; Year: 2025; Director: Joel Alfonso Vargas; Writer: Joel Alfonso Vargas; Stars: Juan Collado, Destiny Checo, Yohanna Florentino, Nathaly Navarro)
Rico’s summer is a mix of chasing girls and hustling homemade cocktails out of a cooler on Orchard Beach, the Bronx. But when Destiny, his teenage girlfriend, crashes at his place with his family, it’s only a matter of time before his carefree days come spiraling down.
Maspalomas
(Country: Spain; Year: 2025; Director: Jose Mari Goenaga, Aitor Arregi; Writer: Jose Mari Goenaga, Aitor Arregi; Stars: Jose Ramon Soroiz, Nagore Aranburu, Kandido Uranga)
An accident forces a septugenarian to return to his home town and the daughter he abandoned years before.
We Believe You and Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes
(Le Bambini)
(Country: Italy, Switzerland, France; Year: 2025; Director: Valentina Bertani, Nicole Bertani; Writer: Maria Sole Limodio, Valentina Bertani, Nicole Bertani; Stars: Mia Ferricelli, Agnese Scazza, Petra Scheggia, Clara Tramontano, Milutin Dapčević, Cristina Donadio, Jessica Piccolo Valerani, Matteo Martari)
1997 Linda is eight years old, has few teeth, a very rich grandmother and a beautiful, dangerous and disruptive mother. It will be the encounter with two peers, sisters Azzurra and Marta, that will teach her how to become a child.
Mother
(Country: Belgium, North Macedonia; Year: 2025; Director: Teona Strugar Mitevska; Writer: Goce Smilevski, Teona Strugar Mitevska, Elma Tataragić; Stars: Noomi Rapace, Sylvia Hoeks, Nikola Ristanovski)
Mother Teresa biopic.
Once Upon A Time In Gaza
(Country: France, Palestine, Germany, Portugal; Year: 2025; Director: Arab Nasser, Tarzan Nasser; Stars: Majd Eid, Nader Abd Alhay, Ramzi Maqdisi)
Gaza, 2007. Yahya, a young student, forges a friendship with Osama, a charismatic restaurant owner with a big heart. Together, they start peddling drugs while delivering falafel sandwiches, but they are soon forced to grapple with a corrupt cop and his oversized ego.
On The Road
(En El Camino)
(Country: Mexico; Year: 2025; Director: David Pablos; Writer: David Pablos; Stars: Victor Prieto, Osvaldo Sanchez)
A drifter forges a relationship with a long-distance trucker.
Out Of Love
(Les Enfants Vont Bien)
(Country: France; Year: 2025; Director: Nathan Ambrosioni; Writer: Nathan Ambrosioni; Stars: Camille Cottin, Juliette Armanet, Monia Chokri, Féodor Atkine, Myriem Akheddiou, Guillaume Gouix)
After many years, Suzanne and her two children unexpectedly show up at the home of her sister Jeanne. It initially looks like Suzanne is tentatively attempting to re-establish a relationship with her sister. But this illusion is shattered with the morning light: Suzanne is gone and Jeanne is forced to become a mother to children she barely knows.
Jimpa and Little Trouble Girls
Peter Hujar’s Day
(Country: US, Germany; Year: 2025; Director: Ira Sachs; Writer: Ira Sachs; Stars: Ben Whishaw, Rebecca Hall)
A recently discovered conversation between photographer Peter Hujar and his friend Linda Rosenkrantz in 1974 reveals a glimpse into New York City’s downtown art scene and the personal struggles and epiphanies that define an artist’s life.
The Piano Accident
(L'Accident De Piano)
(Country: France; Year: 2025; Director: Quentin Dupieux; Writer: Quentin Dupieux; Stars: Adèle Exarchopoulos, Jérôme Commandeur, Sandrine Kiberlain, Karim Leklou, Morena Gosset, Gabin Visona)
Magalie, a famous social media influencer, retreats to a chalet in the mountains after an accident occurs on the set of her latest video.
Plainclothes
(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Carmen Emmi; Writer: Carmen Emmi; Stars: Tom Blyth, Russell Tovey, Maria Dizzia, Christian Cooke, Gabe Fazio, Amy Forsyth)
A promising undercover officer assigned to lure and arrest gay men defies orders when he falls in love with a target.
A Private Life
(Vie Privée)
(Country: France; Year: 2025; Director: Rebecca Zlotowski; Writer: Anne Berest, Gaëlle Macé, Rebecca Zlotowski; Stars: Jodie Foster, Virginie Efira, Mathieu Amalric, Daniel Auteuil, Vincent Lacoste, Luàna Bajrami, Sophie Letourneur)
A psychiatrist investigates a patient's death after becoming convinced they were murdered.
Punku
(Country: Peru, Spain; Year: 2025; Director: JD Fernández Molero; Stars: Marcelo Quino, Maritza Kategari, Ricardo Delgado, Hugo Sueldo, Juan Carlos Molero, Maruja Sueldo, Yorguen Carreño, Anelí Tapia, Celeste Torres, Milagros Medina)
Set in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, the film follows Meshia, a determined young woman who discovers Iván, a boy who has been missing for two years. She brings him to the city for urgent eye surgery, but what begins as an act of compassion evolves into a complex relationship marked by trust, fragility, and unspoken wounds.
Out Of Love and Weightless
Queerpanorama
(Country: Hong Kong, China, US; Year: 2025; Director: Jun Li; Writer: Jun Li; Stars: Arm Anatphikorn, Jayden Cheung, Zenni Corbin, Sebastian Mahito, Erfan Shekarriz, Phillip Smith, Ko-Yuan Wang)
A gay man impersonates men he has sex with and brings his new persona to his next hook up.
Rains Over Babel
(Llueve sobre Babel)
(Country: Colombia, Spain, US; Year: 2025; Director: Gala del Sol; Writer: Gala del Sol; Stars: Jhon Narváez, Sofia Buenaventura, John Alex Castillo, Saray Rebolledo, Felipe Aguilar Rodríguez, Celina Biurrun, Jose Mojica, Jhon Bayron Quintero Valencia, Mairen Valoyes, William Hurtado, Jacobo Velez, Johan Zapata, Román Escobar, Santiago Ortiz, Christian Calles)
A group of misfits converges at Babel, a legendary dive bar that doubles as purgatory, where La Flaca - the city’s Grim Reaper - presides. Here, souls gamble years of their lives with her, daring to outwit Death herself.
Real Faces
(Country: Belgium; Year: 2025; Director: Leni Huyghe)
A young photographer who arrives in Brussels struggles with her life.
Renoir
(Country: Japan, France; Year: 2025; Director: Chie Hayakawa; Writer: Chie Hayakawa; Stars: Yumi Kawai, Lily Franky, Ryôta Bandô, Charlie St. Cyr, Hikari Ishida, Ayumu Nakajima, Yui Suzuki)
Suburban Tokyo, 1987. Eleven-year-old Fuki’s father, Keiji, is battling a terminal illness, and in and out of hospital. Her mother, Utako, is constantly stressed out from caring for Keiji while holding down a full-time job. Left alone with her rich imagination, Fuki becomes fascinated by telepathy and falls ever deeper into her own fantasy world…
Rose Of Nevada
(Country: UK; Year: 2025; Director: Mark Jenkin; Writer: Mark Jenkin; Stars: George MacKay, Callum Turner, Rosalind Eleazar, Francis Magee, Mary Woodvine)
A mysterious boat returns to a village 30 years after vanishing. Two men join its crew hoping for better fortune. After one voyage, they find themselves transported back in time, mistaken for the original crew.
Left-Handed Girl and Rains Over Babel
The Souffleur
(Country: Austria, Argentina; Year: 2025; Director: Gastón Solnicki; Writer: Julia Niemann, Gastón Solnicki; Stars: Willem Dafoe, Lilly Lindner, Stephanie Argerich, Gastón Solnicki, Imona Mirrakhimova, Claus Philipp, Camille Clair)
A hotelier whose establishment is scheduled for redevelopment tries to cling to the past.
Sunfish (& Other Stories On Green Lake)
(Country: US; Year: 2024; Director: Sierra Falconer; Writer: Sierra Falconer; Stars: Maren Heary, Jim Kaplan, Karsen Liotta, Dominic Bogart, Tenley Kellogg, Emily Hall)
Lives intertwine around Green Lake as a girl learns to sail, a boy fights for first chair, two sisters operate a bed-and-breakfast, and a fisherman is after the catch of his life.
Three Goodbyes
(Tre Ciotole)
(Country: Italy, Spain; Year: 2025; Director: Isabel Coixet; Writer: Enrico Audenino, Isabel Coixet, based on the book by Michela Murgia; Stars: Alba Rohrwacher, Elio Germano, Silvia D'Amico, Galatea Bellugi, Francesco Carril, Sarita Choudhury)
As her partner embarks on a new restaurant venture, a teacher discovers that she's facing serious health problems.
To The Victory!
(Country: Ukraine, Lithuania; Year: 2025; Director: Valentyn Vasyanovych)
Set in Ukraine in the near future, the film portrays a country where the war is over but the wounds remain.
The True Beauty Of Being Bitten By A Tick
(Country: US; Year: 2025; Director: Pete Ohs; Writer: Zoë Chao, James Cusati-Moyer, Jeremy O Harris; Stars: Zoë Chao, Callie Hernandez, Jeremy O Harris, James Cusati-Moyer)
A woman reeling from a tragedy takes some much needed time away with a group of friends at their home in the countryside. After a walk through the woods, what seems like an innocuous tick bite has grotesquely unexpected consequences.
Mad Bills To Pay (or Destiny, Dile Que No Soy Malo) and A Private Life
Weightless
(Vaegtloes)
(Country: Denmark; Year: 2025; Director: Emilie Thalund; Writer: Marianne Lentz; Stars: Marie Helweg Augustsen, Ella Paaske, Joachim Fjelstrup)
A girl finds boundaries tested and broken on a trip to summer camp.
We Believe You
(On vous croit)
(Country: Belgium; Year: 2025; Director: Charlotte Deville, Arnaud Dufeys; Writer: Charlotte Deville, Arnaud Dufeys; Stars: Myriem Akheddiou, Ulysse Goffin, Adele Pickaers, Alisa Laub, Laurent Capelluto, Marion de Nanteuil, Natali Broods, Mounir Bennaouim)
A mother does everything she can to protect her children from their father at a custody hearing.
What Marielle Knows
(Was Marielle Weiß)
(Country: Germany; Year: 2025; Director: Frédéric Hambalek; Writer: Frédéric Hambalek; Stars: Julia Jentsch, Felix Kramer, Laeni Geiseler, Moritz von Treuenfels, Mehmet Atesci, Sissy Höfferer)
Julia and Tobias discover that their daughter Marielle has suddenly developed telepathic abilities and can see and hear everything they do. This leads to situations ranging from the awkward to the absurd as uncomfortable truths are revealed.
White Snail
(Country: Austria, Germany; Year: 2025; Director: Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter; Writer: Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter; Stars: Marya Imbro, Mikhail Senkov)
A Belarusian model dreaming of a career in China finds herself drawn to a mysterious loner who works the night shift at a morgue. A fragile love story.
59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground
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