16/10/2025 - The 47th edition of the festival will unspool in the French city from 17 to 25 October, showcasing 230 titles, including nine fiction features vying for the Golden Antigone

Tomorrow will see François Ozon’s Venetian competitor, The Stranger [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: François Ozon
film profile], opening the 47th Cinemed - Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival (17–25 October), which will, as usual, present a sweeping panorama of thriving film production from across the entire Mediterranean basin. The line-up includes 113 feature films and 119 shorts; tributes to French director Raymond Depardon (21 features and 9 shorts) and to Spanish filmmaker Fernando León de Aranoa (10 films); a spotlight on French actress Sabrina Ouazani; a retrospective dedicated to Italian maestro Dino Risi (20 films); a programme marking the centenary of Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine; and the series The New Years [+see also:
series review
trailer
series profile] by Spain’s Rodrigo Sorogoyen. The line-up is full to bursting with tantalising discoveries, and Cannes competitor Romería [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carla Simón
film profile] by Spain’s Carla Simón is set to close the festival.

Nine fiction features will contend for the 2025 Golden Antigone, to be awarded by a jury presided over by Ariane Ascaride: The Voice of Hind Rajab [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kaouther Ben Hania
film profile] by Tunisia’s Kaouther Ben Hania (awarded the Grand Jury Prize in Venice), Sundays [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alauda Ruiz de Azúa
film profile] by Spain’s Alauda Ruíz de Azúa (the recent recipient of the Golden Shell in San Sebastián), Little Trouble Girls [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Urška Djukić
film profile] by Slovenia’s Urška Djukić (awarded the FIPRESCI Prize in the Berlinale’s Perspectives competition and likewise triumphant in Tribeca), Sweetheart [+see also:
film review
interview: Margherita Spampinato
film profile] by Italy’s Margherita Spampinato (the winner of the Special Jury Prize in Locarno’s Filmmakers of the Present section), Calle Málaga [+see also:
film review
interview: Maryam Touzani
film profile] by Morocco’s Maryam Touzani (which scooped the Venice Spotlight Audience Award), In the Land of Arto [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tamara Stepanyan
film profile] by French-Armenian filmmaker Tamara Stepanyan (unveiled on Locarno’s Piazza Grande), The Flying Meatball Maker by Turkey’s Rezan Yeşilbaş (screened in the IFFR’s Bright Future line-up), A Sad and Beautiful World [+see also:
film review
interview: Cyril Aris
film profile] by Lebanon’s Cyril Aris (handed the Giornate degli Autori Audience Award in Venice) and La petite cuisine de Mehdi by France’s Amine Adjina (read our article).

Likewise in the running for the Audience Award are the eight feature films gracing the Panorama line-up: Aisha Can't Fly Away [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Morad Mostafa
film profile] by Egypt’s Morad Mostafa (screened in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section), Where The Wind Comes From [+see also:
film review
interview: Amel Guellaty
film profile] by Tunisia’s Amel Guellaty (discovered in the Sundance Film Festival), Exile [+see also:
film review
film profile] by fellow Tunisian Mehdi Hmili (screened out of competition in Locarno), The Luminous Life [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: João Rosas
film profile] by Portugal’s João Rosas (discovered in competition at Karlovy Vary), Deaf [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Eva Libertad
film profile] by Spain’s Eva Libertad (the winner of the Berlinale’s Panorama Audience Award), Pieces of a Foreign Life by Syria’s Gaya Jiji, DJ Ahmet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Georgi M Unkovski
film profile] by North Macedonia’s Georgi M. Unkovski (victorious in Sundance) and the documentary And the Fish Fly Above Our Heads by Lebanon’s Dima El-Horr (unveiled in Visions du Réel’s Burning Lights section).

The Documentary Competition will see eight titles jostling for position: The Seasons [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maureen Fazendeiro
film profile] by Portugal’s Maureen Fazendeiro, Little Syria by Romania’s Madalina Rosca and Syria’s Reem Karssli, With Hasan in Gaza [+see also:
film review
interview: Kamal Aljafari
film profile] by Palestine’s Kamal Aljafari, 9-Month Contract [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Georgia’s Ketevan Vashagashvili, Do You Love Me [+see also:
film review
interview: Lana Daher
film profile] by Lebanon’s Lana Daher, 50 Meters by Egypt’s Yomna Khattab, Fiume o Morte! [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Croatia’s Igor Bezinovic and The Inherited Silence by Spain’s Lucía Dapena González.

An array of previews further enhances the Cinemed line-up, including Los tigres [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Spain’s Alberto Rodríguez and Palestine 36 [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Palestine’s Annemarie Jacir, plus five French titles, including You Found Me by Alice Vial.

Rounding things off, among other offerings, is a focus on “young Syrian cinema under reconstruction,” a short films competition and panorama, young-audience screenings (notably showcasing Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake [+see also:
interview: Irene Iborra
film profile] by Spain’s Irene Iborra), and, from 21 to 23 October, the Cinemed Meetings industry days, which Cineuropa will cover in detail at a later date.

(Translated from French)