13/01/2026 - Bursting with 104 works, both feature films and shorts, the Genevan festival will once again reiterate the virtues of independent cinema

Silent Friend by Ildikó Enyedi

As in every year, the Black Movie International Independent Film Festival in Geneva (running 16 to 25 January) is inviting audiences to discover a different kind of cinema, which sits outside of traditional forms; a kind which courageously unpicks our increasingly hectic everyday lives. Composed of films hailing from all over the world, the Genevan festival’s line-up is rich (boasting 11 sections, 48 feature films, 56 shorts and 15 filmmakers on the guest list), but it’s also sharp and surprising. And as if that weren’t enough, the festival will also be welcoming Chinese actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai, an icon of Asian cinema and the "poster boy" – to quote the press release - of Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi’s Silent Friend [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ildikó Enyedi
film profile].

A number of European productions and co-productions can be found among the eleven sections showcasing this pedigree panorama of independent cinema. In The Brave Ones line-up, focusing on men and woman struggling for justice, audience’s will be treated to Two Prosecutors [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sergei Loznitsa
film profile] by Ukraine’s Sergei Loznitsa, Far From Anger by Ivorian director Joël Akafou and The Guest [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Poland’s Zvika Gregory Portnoy and Zuzanna Solakiewicz. The Forest Trilogy section, inviting viewers to embrace life in all its forms, will offer up the afore-mentioned Silent Friend alongside The Tree of Authenticity [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Congo’s Sammy Baloji. Jostling in the A Beautiful and Sad World section, which will shine a light on men and women who try to find glimmers of light and humanity in practically unbearable realities, are To the West, In Zapata [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Cuban director David Bim and Kabul, Between Prayers [+see also:
film review
interview: Aboozar Amini
film profile] by Afghan director Aboozar Amini. The Metamorphoses line-up, meanwhile, will present changing heroes and heroines, guided by private and revolutionary upheavals. Stand-out jewels within this section include Portugal’s Bulakna [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Leonor Noivo and I Only Rest in the Storm [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pedro Pinho
film profile] by Pedro Pinho.

The On Air line-up, which invites the audience to acknowledge the other side of cinema, will welcome Habibi Hussein by Palestine’s Alex Bakri, The Return of the Projectionist [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Orkhan Aghazadeh
film profile] by Azerbaijan’s Orkhan Aghazadeh and Death and Life Madalena by Brazil’s Guto Parente. In the Love Streams section, reflecting upon the concept of family, viewers will enjoy Karlovy Vary’s Crystal Globe winner Better Go Mad in the Wild [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Miro Remo
film profile] by Slovenia’s Miro Remo, Caravan [+see also:
film review
interview: Zuzana Kirchnerová
film profile] by Czech director Zuzana Kirchnerová, Kani Lapuerta’s tender and overwhelming movie Niñxs [+see also:
film review
film profile], and Shadowbox [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Indian filmmakers Tanushree Das and Saumyananda Sahi. Within the  (No) Future line-up, which urges the public to get under the skin of protagonists who still believe in the future, audiences will get to sink their teeth into U Are the Universe [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pavlo Ostrikov
film profile] by Ukrainian director Pavlo Ostrikov and the 2005 title Les Saignantes [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Cameroon’s Jean-Pierre Bekolo. Last but not least, the Blissful Outlets section, homing in on humanity’s delectably obscure side, will invite viewers to discover Sorella di Clausura [+see also:
film review
interview: Ivana Mladenović
film profile] by Serbian director Ivana Mladenović.

(Translated from French)