01/10/2025 - The 13th edition of the film festival revolving around war will unspool in Champagne between 6 and 12 October

The final preparations are underway for the 13th edition of War on Screen (running 6 – 12 October), which is the only international festival to focus on filmmakers from all around the world who look to decipher, revisit and transform the depiction of war on screen, and who are only too aware of the vital need to commemorate and reflect upon the causes and consequences of all wars, whether historical conflicts or more current events, such as the situation in Ukraine or Gaza.

This year, the event will welcome Ukrainian maestro Sergueï Loznitsa as its guest of honour, who’ll be delivering a masterclass on 9 October and whose three films are scheduled for screenings (notably his brilliant Cannes competitor, Two Prosecutors [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sergei Loznitsa
film profile]). The festival’s opening and closing slots have been entrusted respectively to Swedish director Tarik Saleh’s Cannes competitor Eagles of the Republic [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tarik Saleh
film profile], and to Abd Al Malik’s Furcy.

Eleven feature films will battle it out in competition, six of which are fiction films, including In the Land of Arto [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tamara Stepanyan
film profile] by French-Armenian director Tamara Stepanyan (discovered on Locarno’s Piazza Grande), My Father’s Shadow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Akinola Davies Jr
film profile] by British-Nigerian filmmaker Akinola Davies Jr. (awarded a Caméra d'Or Special Mention in Cannes), Lost Land [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Japan’s Akio Fujimoto (the winner of the Special Jury Prize in Venice’s Orizzonti line-up – notably co-produced by France and Germany), Le gâteau du président by Iraq’s Hassan Hadi (awarded the Caméra d'Or in Cannes), Under the Volcano [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Damian Kocur
film profile] by Poland’s Damian Kocur (unveiled in Toronto’s Centrepiece section last year) and Edge of Night [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Turkish-German director Türker Süer (unveiled in Venice’s Orizzonti Extra line-up last year).

The competition also boasts an animated movie (The Square by South Korea’s Bo-Sol Kim – the winner of Annecy’s Contrechamp Jury Prize) and four documentaries: the French-Belgian production Imago [+see also:
film review
interview: Déni Oumar Pitsaev
film profile] by Chechnya’s Déni Oumar Pitsaev (which scooped the French Touch Jury Prize in Cannes’ Critics’ Week, as well as the Golden Eye on the Croisette), Militantropos [+see also:
film review
interview: Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gor…
film profile] by Ukrainian directors Alina Gorlova, Yelizaveta Smith and Simon Mozgovyi (screened in the Directors’ Fortnight), With Hasan in Gaza [+see also:
film review
interview: Kamal Aljafari
film profile] by Palestine’s Kamal Aljafari (awarded the Europa Cinemas Label in Locarno) and Under the Flags, The Sun [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Paraguay’s Juanjo Pereira (co-produced by France and Germany, among other countries, and unveiled in the Berlinale’s Panorama line-up).

Two animated movies stand out among the unique works gracing the Points of View section (Allah Is Not Obliged [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Zaven Najjar and the 1986 title When the Wind Blows by Jimmy T. Murakami), together with a wonderful crop of Cannes-screened films (Palme d’Or winner It Was Just An Accident [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jafar Panahi
film profile] by Iran’s Jafar Panahi, Jury Prize winner Sirat [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Óliver Laxe
film profile] by Spain’s Oliver Laxe and the documentary Orwell: 2+2 = 5 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Haiti’s Raoul Peck, among other works) and the movie Marco [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño
film profile] by Spanish directors Aitor Arregi and Jon Garaño, to name just a few.

The remainder of the festival’s ample programme includes a focus on Japanese Fantasy (from the angle of "how to express and heal trauma") and sections entitled "Rock’n’War" (notably showcasing Kneecap [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Red Carpet @ European Film …
film profile] by Irish-British director Rich Peppiat), "Shared Recollections" (screening the documentary Sous la terre by Poland’s Ania Szczepanska, among other works), "Natural Habitat, Paradoxes and Emergencies #4" and "The Press: A daily battle for democracy".

The festival line-up also boasts a short films competition and a “Young Audience” section, screening Ugo Bienvenu’s animated movie, Arco (awarded the Crystal for Best Feature Film in Annecy).

(Translated from French)