13/11/2025 - The gathering welcomes names familiar to cinephiles such as Radu Jude, Valérie Donzelli, Richard Linklater, Ira Sachs and Lluís Miñarro, alongside numerous intriguing debutants

The Gijón/Xixón International Film Festival (FICX), running from 14-22 November, is offering a rich and varied line-up in which its Albar and Retueyos official competitions take centre stage. The former is dedicated to masters of contemporary arthouse cinema, while the latter focuses on discovering bold, fresh voices on the international scene.

In Albar, three of the festival’s most beloved filmmakers return to the Asturian city: South Korean director Hong Sang-soo with What Does that Nature Say to You, where he explores the latent tensions that surface during a family gathering; Romanian helmer Radu Jude with Kontinental '25 [+see also:
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interview: Valérie Donzelli
film profile], the Venice-lauded portrait of a successful photographer who abandons everything in order to devote himself to his true vocation - writing. Alongside them, leading indie filmmakers Richard Linklater and Ira Sachs will take part with their new movies, Blue Moon [+see also:
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Joining them, Belgian director Laura Wandel cements her auteur style with her second feature, Adam's Sake [+see also:
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interview: Laura Wandel
film profile], a humane, moving tale about care and bureaucracy; French helmer Léonor Serraille will present Ari [+see also:
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interview: Léonor Serraille
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interview: Stéphane Demoustier
film profile], about the architect who created the Grande Arche de La Défense in Paris. Fellow French director Anna Cazenave Cambet is bringing along her second feature, Love Me Tender [+see also:
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interview: Anna Cazenave Cambet
film profile], the story of a woman who loses custody of her son after confessing to her ex-husband that she is in relationships with women; German filmmaker Frédéric Hambalek is taking part with his sophomore outing, What Marielle Knows [+see also:
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interview: Frédéric Hambalek
film profile]; and Iranian director Ali Asgari returns with Divine Comedy [+see also:
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film profile], a satire about bureaucracy and censorship in his country. The selected first features are Reedland [+see also:
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film profile] by Dutch helmer Sven Bresser, a movie about the latent evil lurking in the most unsuspected places; the dazzling The Girl in the Snow [+see also:
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interview: Louise Hémon
film profile] by France’s Louise Hémon, winner of the Jean Vigo Prize; Anemone [+see also:
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As for the Spanish participants, the section will feature the (co-)productions Emergency Exit, a moving tribute by Catalan director Lluís Miñarro to late actress Marisa Paredes; The Dashed Lines by Anxos Fazáns; Nothing Personal by Javier Marco, a feature-length adaptation of his short film Face to Face; And So the Night Fell by Ángel Santos (see the news); and To the West, in Zapata [+see also:
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For its part, the Retueyos competition, devoted to the most ground-breaking voices, will host titles such as one of the most impressive debuts of the year, Wind, Talk to Me [+see also:
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interview: Stefan Đorđević
film profile] by Serbian director Stefan Djordjevic, winner of the Heart of Sarajevo; the Locarno-awarded hybrid film White Snail [+see also:
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interview: Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter
film profile] by Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter; the US comedy Magic Farm by Spanish-Argentinian filmmaker Amalia Ulman; the Cannes-screened titles A Light That Never Goes Out, the debut by Finnish helmer Lauri-Matti Parppei, and Love Letters [+see also:
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film profile] by French director Alice Douard; and the Asturian production Plaza Mayor, directed by Marcos M Merino, among others.

Lastly, among the festival’s many other strands, we once again find the Semilleru industry days, aimed at professionals in the sector and organised in co-production with the Asturias Paraíso Natural Film Commission. This year, the programme focuses on directing and production workshops, round-table discussions on new narratives and audiovisual trends, and talks on legal aspects and co-production opportunities, among other topics. It also hosts the regular project laboratory, Semilleru Lab.

(Translated from Spanish)