Yesterday, the Palm Springs International Film Festival (2-12 January) revealed the full programme for its 37th edition, confirming a distinctly European flavour across its high-profile selections, which include a slew of Oscar contenders. On this occasion, Maryam Touzani’s Calle Málaga will open proceedings, whilst Brian Cox's Scottish drama Glenrothan will close the event.

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This year, the desert gathering will showcase 168 films from 72 countries, including 53 premieres and 44 titles vying for the Oscar for Best International Feature Film, many of them from Europe – plus a raft of European Film Awards contenders. The Californian event remains one of the key North American showcases for European cinema, strategically positioned in early January, when awards season is in full swing.

Touzani’s Calle Málaga – fresh from its European festival run and widely tipped in the awards race – stars Carmen Maura as an ageing Spanish woman living in Tangier, whose daughter plans to sell the family home. The closing film, Glenrothan, sees Cox and Alan Cumming portray estranged Scottish brothers forced back together by the legacy of their family’s whisky distillery. The cast also boasts Shirley Henderson, Alexandra Shipp, Joanne Thompson and Nicole Ansari-Cox.

Beyond the opening and closing selections, several European productions and co-productions will receive significant exposure. Among the most notable are Elvira Lind’s King Hamlet (USA/Denmark), Teemu Nikki's 100 Liters of Gold (Finland), Mstyslav Chernov's 2000 Meters to Andriivka (Ukraine/USA), Ugo Bienvenu's Arco (France/USA), Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value (Norway), Gianfranco Rosi's Below the Clouds (Italy), Francesco Costabile's Familia (Italy), Gabriel Mascaro's The Blue Trail (Brazil/Mexico/Chile/Netherlands), Alejandro Amenábar's The Captive (Spain/Italy), Agnieszka Holland's Franz (Czech Republic/Germany/Poland/France), Tereza Nvotová's Father (Slovakia), Hana Jušić's God Will Not Help (Croatia/Italy/Romania/Greece/France/Slovenia), György Pálfi's Hen (Greece/Germany/Hungary), Jafar Panahi's Palme d'Or winner It Was Just an Accident (France/Luxembourg/Iran), Petra Volpe's Late Shift (Switzerland), Urška Djukić's Little Trouble Girls (Slovenia), Anders Thomas Jensen's The Last Viking (Denmark), Oliver Laxe's Sirāt (Spain), Tarik Saleh's Eagles of the Republic (Sweden), László Nemes' Orphan (Hungary), Sergei Loznitsa's Two Prosecutors (France/Germany/Romania/Latvia/Netherlands/Lithuania) and Rebecca Zlotowski's A Private Life (France).

Meanwhile, the festival will also introduce a new retrospective strand, called Gateway Films and curated by actress Diane Kruger, critic Leonard Maltin, Paul Feig, programmer Therese Hayes and the late Udo Kier – the latter a legendary European figure whose legacy the festival continues to honour.

“We can’t wait for audiences to feel that spark that only cinema brings,” said Lili Rodriguez, artistic director of the Palm Springs International Film Society. “From family fun to bold new voices, from international masters to exciting first-time filmmakers, this year’s selections reflect the range and energy of world cinema today.”

Alongside the screenings, the festival will host its high-profile film awards gala on 3 January, with honourees including Ethan Hawke, Michael B Jordan, Adam Sandler, Leonardo DiCaprio, Chloé Zhao and Hamnet leads Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, as well as the ensemble cast of Sentimental Value.

The full programme is available to peruse here.