2025 Critics' Week

<p>Toni, a 15-year-old Roma boy, lives in the largest illegal slum in Europe, on the outskirts of Madrid. Proud to belong to his family of scrap dealers, he follows his grandfather everywhere. But when demolition companies start closing in on their land, the family is divided: while some decide to move to the city, his grandfather refuses to abandon their land. Night after night, Toni must make a choice: leap into an uncertain future, or hang on to the world of his childhood.</p>

<p>I received a land in Pankissi, Georgia, a valley at the foot of the Caucasus, right by the Chechnyan border, where I was born. In exile, I am thinking of building a house in this remote place, inhabited by descendants of my Chechen clan. But how could I possibly live in such a place?</p>

<p>While pregnant with her second child, Kika faces the sudden death of her partner. Totally heartbroken, and broke, she sets her priorities straight: stay strong and make money fast.</p>

<p>A single mother and her two daughters relocate to Taipei to open a night market stall, each navigating the challenges of adapting to their new environment while striving to maintain family unity.</p>

<p>Three days in the life of Nino &ndash; the wanderings of a young man in Paris, as he is torn between his yearning for solitude and his need for other people.</p>

<p>When reed cutter Johan discovers the lifeless body of a girl on his land, he is overcome by an ambiguous sense of guilt. While taking care of his granddaughter, he sets out on a quest to track down evil.</p>

<p>A happily married couple, and their seven-year-old son Dot. Nat dies of respiratory disease caused by air pollution.</p>

<p>Tatiana, an unemployed woman, spends her days selling her personal things in order to survive. Today she has an important deadline and she might end up selling a piece of her body in order to keep a roof over her head.</p>

<p>Yujin breaks her glasses and visits an optician. During an eye exam, she sees a house in a field and finds herself inside. There, she meets three shadow selves, reconciles with them, and gains a new perspective. Finally, she leaves the house and gets new glasses.</p>

<p>During a train ride, Ariel and Paul pass the time sketching their deepest fears. Their game takes an unexpected turn when Gilda, a mysterious passenger, intrudes on their exchange. Yet, her relationship with fear seems far less innocent than their playful drawings.</p>

<p>An elderly Malaysian-Tamil couple discovers their male goat, set for ceremonial slaughter, is pregnant. Torn between faith and the expectations of their community, they struggle to decide whether to slaughter it or face the wrath of the gods.</p>

<p>In the aftermath of a mysterious disaster, the few humans left find themselves unable to reproduce the species. All hope lies in the hands of five women who have developed the technology to create human life outside the body. But the researchers cannot reach an agreement on how and if to release it. In the absence of consensus, they immerse themselves in the study of pleasure.</p>

<p>Lila welcomes her friend Agathe, who is moving in as a roommate. Lila must also get rid of the bulky drum kit left behind by her ex. Should she sell it or give it away? To whom and how? Agathe and Lila share their ideas. Lila decides to be generous and gives it away on an online platform, unaware that this simple gesture will lead her into a series of adventures.</p>

<p>Inspired by the events around the life of Lev Rebet, Ukrainian author and editor-in-chief of the Munich-based exile newspaper &quot;Ukrainian Independist&quot;, Critical Condition portrays the fates of the Ukrainian diaspora in the past and present.</p>

<p>A mining town in Morocco faces a decline in its fortunes until all mining is ceased in 2001.</p>

<p>Northern England, August 1995. Siobhan, 8, and her older brother Rory are waiting for just one thing: to find out whether Oasis or Blur will win the Britpop battle tonight. But Siobhan defies her brother and escapes, finding herself alone in the night. Determined to find a way to watch the battle of the century on television, she wanders the city and plunges into the strange world of adults.</p>

<p>Against hospital protocol and court restrictions, a compassionate nurse finds herself caught between helping a distraught mother and maintaining professional standards of care.</p>

<p>Sprite, 25, is desperate to find a job. To work, he needs a driver&rsquo;s licence; and to pay for his driver&rsquo;s licence, he needs a job. He is hired by a startup that cleans villas after parties; but how can he possibly commute late at night in suburbs with insufficient public transportation? On the advice of Marie-Charlotte, his driving instructor, he signs up for a dating app to charm young women living close to the houses he has to clean. One small problem: Sprite is not really one to seduce.</p>

<p>C&eacute;line is expecting her firstborn. But she&rsquo;s not the one who&rsquo;s pregnant. In three months, her wife Nadia will give birth to their daughter. Under the gaze of her friends, her mother, and the law, C&eacute;line looks for her place and sense of legitimacy.</p>

<p>Dendelion, Baraban, L&eacute;onto and Taraxa, four dandelion achenes rescued from nuclear explosions that destroyed the Earth, find themselves projected into the cosmos. After landing on an unknown planet, they start searching for a suitable soil to perpetuate their species. But they will have to overcome the elements, the fauna, the flora and the changing climate.</p> <p>Rescued from Earth&#39;s nuclear annihilation, four friends crash-land on an unknown planet and courageously set out to locate a new home capable of sustaining their species.</p>

<p>During Rio&#39;s Carnival, a street cleaner struggles with the loss of his sister and his work obligations. Amid the celebrations, he finds a lost child and sets out to help him.</p>

<p>In the slow, sticky summer of late-90s Eastern Europe, twelve-year-old Ro sets out to procure a pirated copy of Eraserhead by David Lynch. Her journey&mdash;through crumbling friendships, stolen cigarettes, and VHS-era power games&mdash;unfolds in a world where childhood slips quietly into something else, and cinema becomes the only available glimpse of escape.</p>

<p>The 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Isaac is a sandwich-board man. Cl&eacute;o is a sandwich-board woman. One day, Isaac sees Cl&eacute;o throw a skateboard into the water.</p>

<p>Of Brother, Sister remembers his black eyes, the same hair as hers, slender shoulders like the wings of a bird, and that he knew by heart the path to the river. Of Brother, Sister has forgotten nothing.</p>