16/06/2025 - The Valencian festival returns with its official feature film section, premieres and the presentation of the Luna de Valencia to Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude

The 40th Valencia International Film Festival Cinema Jove (19-28 June) will present its Luna de Valencia award to Radu Jude in recognition of a tremendously original career on the European film scene: among other awards, Jude has received the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 2021 for Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Jude
film profile], the special Jury Prize at Locarno in 2023 for Don't Expect Too Much from the End of the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Jude
film profile] and Best Screenplay at this year's Berlinale for Kontinental ’25 [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]. “Jude exemplified the original spirit of Cinema Jove: a young creator whose innovative and unprejudiced approach excites the audience,” stated the Festival’s Director, Carlos Madrid. The film-maker will travel to Valencia to collect the award and take part in the retrospective look at his work.

There will also be three Valencian premieres this year: La terra negra [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alberto Morais
film profile], by Alberto Morais (The Mother [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alberto Morais
film profile]), a rural drama released in Malaga starring Laia Marull and Sergi López, portraying a rediscovery of the potential of affection; Pet Peeves [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Javier Polo
film profile], an episodic, colourful film with a sharp black humour directed by Javier Polo (The Mystery of the Pink Flamingo [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]); and Tóxico, the debut feature film by Lorenzo Lerín, a thriller bordering on horror about a group of low-flying drug traffickers who find themselves in a totally unexpected situation when they decided to make their final deal.

This year's edition will open with the Greek film Riviera [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], by Orfeas Peretzis, but in the official feature film section we will find the European films That Summer in Paris [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Valentine Cadic
film profile], by French film-maker Valentine Cadic, presented in the Berlinale Perspectives section, about a young woman’s self-discovery when she travels from Normandy to watch the Paris Olympics in 2024; y Honeymoon [+see also:
film review
interview: Zhanna Ozirna
film profile], by Ukrainian film-maker Zhanna Ozirna, created out of the Biennale College Cinema in Venice, about a pair of newlyweds who have just bought an apartment in a village outside Kiev when the Russian troops start bombing the country.

Also taking part in this section are the Chinese film The Botanist, by Jing Yi, winner of the Grand Jury Prize in Generation Kplus at the Berlinale, which follows a Kazakh boy who finds solace in plants; the Indian coming of age film Bad Girl, by Varsha Bharath, winner of the NETPAC Award in the Tiger Competition at the IFFR, about a young woman trying to find the ideal man despite the moral laws and traditions that stand in her way; another Indian film, Tiger's Pond, by Natesh Hegde, which premièred at the Berlinale Forum, the story of a teenage girl who, after being sexually assaulted, discovers the political intrigues of her village to silence her; the Australian film Fwends, by Sophie Somerville, also seen at the Berlinale Forum, about two friends who reconnect over the course of a weekend; the US film Bunnylovr, by Katarina Zhu, which competed at the Sundance Festival, telling of a cam girl's attempt to escape a toxic relationship while at the same time rebuilding her bond with her dying father; and the Canadian film Measures for a Funeral, by Sofia Bohdanowicz, which premièred at Toronto's Centrepiece, about a student obsessed with a forgotten violinist known as the lady with the golden bow. The section is completed with Montages of a Modern Motherhood, by Hong Kong film-maker Oliver Siu Kuen Chan, about the everyday life of a new mother; and with Boy in the Pool by South Korean Ryu Yeon-su, about first teenage love by the water.

(Translated from Spanish)