10 Films to Watch at New Directors/New Films 2025
Throughout its five-decade run, New Directors/New Films has introduced the works of many of today’s notable auteurs, including Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Wong Kar-Wai, Kelly Reichardt, Denis Villeneuve, Michael Haneke, Guillermo del Toro, RaMell Ross, Laura Poitras, Yorgos Lanthimos, and Christopher Nolan – among many more. The festival’s 54th edition will be held from April 2 – 13 at NYC’s Film at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art, where it will screen 24 features and 9 shorts by various breakout filmmakers from all over. It is an exciting opportunity for NYC-based cinephiles to experience boundary-pushing new works from some exciting new voices in cinema. More information about this year’s ND/NF can be found here. Check out our top picks below.
Writer-director Constance Tsang won the French Touch Prize at last year’s Cannes for her feature debut, a tender, contemporary immigrant tale. Blue Sun Palace, set mainly in Queens, explores the lives of Pacific Asian immigrants in a post-COVID world who seek comfort with one another in times of turmoil. Veteran Taiwanese actor Lee Kang-sheng, known for his collaborations with Tsai Ming-liang, stars as an immigrant who makes a connection with two fellow migrants and massage parlor workers whose lives are impacted by an act of violence. Tsang, who herself grew up in New York, not only brings an air of authenticity to this tale, but also a sense of sublimity through the profound performances and captivating cinematography from Norm Li. A must-see portrait of the New York immigrant world today. (M.J. O’Toole)
Laurynas Bareiša’s formally daring film will excite adventurous cinephiles, though it may be too detached for a broad audience. A story about altered memories, and how the choices we make can impact our loved ones forever. It shares a producer, Matiss Kaza, with the Oscar winning animated film Flow, the Latvian Oscar entry–this film was Lithuania’s entry. Bareiša conjures an eerie atmosphere with his camera (he’s also the cinematographer), and the family dynamics feel authentic. Drowning Dry comes to ND/NF after winning Best Director and Best Performance at Locarno. (Matt Delman)
A meditation on aging that should resonate with a wide audience: those aging beyond the ability to be self-reliant, those now dealing with aging parents or partners whose needs go beyond what they can manage alone, and just about anyone looking ahead to a future of either concern (or both). Starring Kathleen Chalfant (Old) as Ruth, a woman in her eighties moving into an assisted-living facility, Familiar Touch, from director Sarah Friedland, promises to be an assured debut, offering varied takes on the drama awaiting us all at the end of life. It won Best Director and Best Actress at the 2024 Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti Competition. (Chistopher Llewyn Reed)
Writer-director Rohan Parashuram Kanawade’s semi-autobiographical debut Cactus Pears is, without a doubt, one of the best love stories you will see this year. Set in the director’s native India, it follows Anand (Bhushaan Manoj), a thirty-something man who returns to his family’s village following the passing of his father for an obligatory 10-day mourning period that strands him in the countryside he left long ago for Mumbai. While struggling with grief and familal obligations/pressures, his hidden desires come to the surface when he reunites with childhood friend Balya (Suraaj Suman), culminating in a secret, yet tender romance. This Sundance World Dramatic Grand Jury Prize winner is a sensual and humane story filled with a calm and peaceful air. What starts out as a portrait of grief beautifully transitions into an intimate examination of love and breaking free. (MJ)
Another Locarno breakout, Callie Hernandez and Courtney Stephens’ Invention is billed as “a unique hybrid of metafiction and archival footage.” A rumination on grief following the passing of her father, played by Hernandez’ real-life dad via vintage footage. I have yet to see the film, but the runtime is 72 minutes, which is always a plus, and the initial reviews (from respected critics such as Richard Brody) are overwhelmingly positive with Rory O’Connor of The Film Stage noting, “the film succeeds as much as entertainment as it does on aesthetic and conceptual terms.” It will play April 5th at the Walter Reade Theater, April 6th at MoMa, followed by a weeklong run at the Metrograph beginning April 18. (MD)
Dictators are on the rise, so perhaps it’s a good time to look back at the 20th-century’s authoritarian playlist in all its miserable glory. In his hybrid documentary Fiume o morte!, director Igor Bezinović examines the life and political career of Gabriele D’Annunzio, who in the early 1900s was the tyrannical leader of the Rijeka, a seaside city in Croatia. Over the course of 16 months, he pursued a violent agenda that still bears violent fruit to this day (Mussolini apparently modeled himself in part after D’Annunzio). As a fan of the hybrid-documentary approach to storytelling, I look forward to seeing how Bezinović approaches his subject. The film won both the Tiger and FIPRECI Awards at the 2025 International Film Festival Rotterdam. (CLR)
One of the best movies to come out of year’s Sundance was writer-director Alex Russell’s stalker-thriller Lurker. Russell, who was a writer on Beef and The Bear, puts the same level of intense dark comedy in ND/NF’s Closing Night film that shines a new light on influencers in today’s music industry. Théodore Pellerin stars as Matthew, a Los Angeles-based clothing store clerk who finds himself in the orbit of rising musician Oliver (Archie Madekwe) and his posse. As Oliver gains more success and fame, backstabbing and manipulation ensue, Matthew refuses to give up his position in this group (or his closeness with Oliver) without a twisted fight. Aside from Pellerin and Madekwe’s knockout performances, don’t count out the rest of the young, breakout cast that includes Havana Rose Liu (Bottoms), Sunny Suljic (Mid90s), Zack Fox (Abbott Elementary), and Daniel Zolghadri (Funny Pages). MUBI picked up the film following its Sundance premiere. If they are trying to find their Gen Z audience, Lurker is a great start. Leave your expectations by the theater entrance and prepare to be jaw-dropped. (MJ)
First time filmmaker Alexandra Simpson won a special jury mention at the Venice film festival for her slice of life ensemble Florida tale No Sleep Till. The real-world drama of an impending hurricane takes the place of a traditional narrative. The project was birthed by the Omnes Collective, which also made Carson Lund’s recent hit Eephus (Music Box) and Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve at Miller’s Point (IFC). Taormina is a producer on the film, which Simpson edited herself. In a conversation with Mubi, she explains, “I wanted to make a film that was, in large part, about hanging out in the face of a looming threat. But I also felt that I wanted to see people dealing with wait and boredom. Which was extremely liberating because that’s also what I search for and admire about the films I love.” (MD)
Writer-director-star Fabian Stumm examines the trickiness of filmmaking and parenthood in the TIFF-selected Sad Jokes. This tragicomedy follows gay director Joseph (played by Stumm), who has a baby with his best friend, Sonya (Haley Louise Jones). As he juggles parenthood and trying to help Sonya with her mental health struggles, he writes a comedy that his producer doesn’t find funny at all – a sort of tongue-in-cheek plot point that is the essence of the film itself. Stumm’s exploration of the human condition in this genre-defying film makes for a truly compelling watch from a breakout voice in German cinema.(MJ)
There has been no dearth of documentaries about the conflict in Ukraine in recent years. The brutal invasion of that country by its larger Slavic cousin to the East is still very much ongoing, and who knows how it will end. If you can stomach a live-from-the-epicenter look at the devastation, then Timestamp might be for you. We must not avert our gaze, and director Kateryna Gornostai’s movie should offer enough variety of voices and locations to present an engaging, if devastating, glimpse of Ukraine’s fierce battle against its would-be oppressor. Given the transactional politics of America’s current president, perhaps the brave onscreen characters may soon find themselves beholden to not one, but two foreign masters. Time will tell. In the meantime, this “timestamp”—the recipient of CPH:DOX’s Eurimages New Lab Outreach Award—provides a record of the here and now with raw immediacy. (CLR)
– M.J. O’Toole, Christopher Llewellyn Reed, & Matt Delman
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