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Visions du Réel 2025 Review: “Afternoons of Solitude”

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Albert Serra’s Afternoons of Solitude is a provocative, and unsettling documentary that explores the ‘art’ of bullfighting. While the ethicality of bullfighting hovers constantly over the film, Serra resists direct moralizing. He offers a raw, sensorial exploration of masculinity, performance, and spectacle, letting the audience sit with their own judgments. It becomes a strange, gorgeous character study of one man, bullfighter Andrés Roca Rey, and the hypermasculine, flamboyant culture that celebrates and consumes him.

Cinema du Réel 2025 Dispatch: Jessica Sarah Rinland, James Benning, Lee Anne Schmitt & More

Cinéma du Réel, the esteemed international documentary film festival held annually in Paris, France, has long been celebrated for its commitment to showcasing non-mainstream, intellectually, and artistically stimulating documentaries. The competition of the festival’s 2025 edition, running from March 22 to 29, continues this tradition by presenting a diverse program that blurs the lines between feature-length films and short shorts, treating each with equal reverence and attention. This egalitarian approach highlights the festival’s dedication to exploring the myriad forms and expressions within non-fiction cinema, providing a platform for both emerging and established filmmakers to present their unique visions. Below are a couple standouts of this year’s edition.

Berlin 2025 Review “What Does That Nature Say To You”

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Hong Sang-soo’s latest film, What Does That Nature Say to You, reaffirms the prolific Korean director’s status as a filmmaker capable of uncovering profound insights within the mundane. With this being his 32nd feature film, Hong continues to explore themes of life, art, work, and healing.

Berlin 2025 Review: “Home Sweet Home”

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Frelle Petersen’s Home Sweet Home is naturalistic yet deeply touching exploration of the often-overlooked world of home care, showing the emotional and physical demands placed on caregivers and the elderly people who require care. The film offers an authentic portrayal of the balance between professional responsibilities and personal life.

Berlin 2025 Review: “No Beast. So Fierce.”

_{© Lukasz Bak / Port au Prince Pictures-Goodfellas-Sommerhaus Filmproduktion}

Burhan Qurbani’s No Beast. So Fierce. is a daring contemporary reimagining of Shakespeare’s Richard III, transforming the classic tale of ambition and treachery to the story of a woman among the gang-controlled streets of Berlin. The film centers on Arab lawyer Rashida York, portrayed with mesmerizing intensity by Kenda Hmeidan, as she maneuvers through a patriarchal underworld to seize power.

Rotterdam 2025 Review: “And the Rest Will Follow”

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And the Rest Will Follow, Turkish director Pelin Esmer’s first fiction film in seven years, explores the relationship between personal aspiration, storytelling, and artistic creation. The film introduces us to Aliye, portrayed by Merve Asya Özgür, a 25-year-old housekeeper in the small Turkish town of Söke. Dissatisfied with her monotonous life and a stifling home environment, Aliye finds solace in the world of cinema, particularly in the works of renowned filmmaker Levent, played by Timuçin Esen, and seeks to forge a connection with him.

IFFR 2025 Review: “The Tree of Authenticity”

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Sammy Baloji’s The Tree of Authenticity is an experimental and multi-layered essay film that seeks to explore Belgian colonialism in the Congo, connecting historical records to personal memory and environmental discourse.

Rotterdam 2025 Review: “Blind Love”

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Julian Chou’s Blind Love presents an affecting intersectional critique of patriarchal family structures, queerphobia, and the suffocating effects of societal expectations. Adapted from a short story by celebrated Taiwanese writer Essay Liu, originally centered on a daughter’s forbidden love with her father’s ex-boyfriend, Chou’s adaptation reimagines the narrative through a gender swap. By shifting the focus to Shu-yi (Ariel Lin), the film shifts its focus to highlight the societal pressures imposed on women and queer individuals within a relatively progressive place like Taiwan.

Rotterdam 2025 Review: “Orenda”

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Pirjo Honkasalo’s Orenda, which premiered at the 2025 International Rotterdam Film Festival, invites viewers into a world both intimate and wide in thematical scope. It’s a meditation on grief, guilt, faith, and identity, wrapped in a narrative that unfolds with deliberate pacing and quiet intensity. While it may not appeal to those seeking immediate clarity or conventional storytelling, Orenda offers a rewarding experience for those willing to engage with its complexities.

Rotterdam 2025 Review: “John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office”

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In John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office, directors Michael Almereyda and Courtney Stephens closely into the enigmatic life of neuroscientist John C. Lilly, whose unconventional experiments with dolphins, humans and psychedelics sought to expand the boundaries of human consciousness. Narrated by Chloë Sevigny, the film uses archival footage, cultural clips, and interviews to explore Lilly’s controversial methodologies, far-reaching ideas, cultural context and legacy.