Custody, Sympathy for the Devil, Alcarras, Happening… Since its creation, with its focus on first and second feature films, the Saint-Jean-de-Luz International Film Festival has presented scores of blossoming, talented young directors. Between 6 and 12 October, the 12th edition of the Basque event will continue to plough this high-quality furrow, notably offering up a competition comprising 10 feature films (one enjoying a world premiere and nine in French premieres) which are set to be pored over by a jury led by Hugo Becker (and further including Leyla Bouzid, Mara Taquin, Stéphane Ly-Cuong and Fanny Disney).

Five first feature films stand tall among the movies battling it out for the 2025 Grand Prize: The Girls from Above by Belgium’s Bérangère McNeese, Sauvons les meubles by fellow Belgian Catherine Cosme, and three titles by French filmmakers in the form of Élise sous emprise by Marie Rémond (screening in a world premiere), The Girl Without a Name by Nicolas Keitel and Morade Aïssaoui’s thriller The Night Bus.

They’re joined by five second feature films: the Chinese title Le temps des moissons by Huo Meng (awarded the Silver Best for Best Director in Berlin), Sukkwan Island by Vladimir de Fontenay (acclaimed at the Sundance Film Festival), The Good Sister by Germany’s Sarah Miro Fischer (discovered in Berlin’s Panorama line-up), A Year of School by Laura Samani (awarded the Best Actor Orizzonti Prize in Venice last month) and Pieces of a Foreign Life by the Syrian-born, French-based director Gaya Jiji.

Ten additional feature films will round things off out of competition, notably the French movies La petite cuisine de Mehdi by Amine Adjima (article), which is opening the festival today, The Richest Woman in the World by Thierry Klifa, stealing the closing slot, Furcy by Abd Al Malik, Mrs. by David Roux, Ferris Wheel by Julien Hosmalin, the documentary Dites-lui que je l’aime by Romane Bohringer (unveiled in a Cannes Special Screening) and Vache Folle by Hugo Diego Garcia and Lorenzo Bentivoglio, which is also showcasing in a Special Screening. We’ll likewise see the Belgian works Wild Foxes by Valéry Carnoy (also discovered on the Croisette, in the Directors’ Fortnight) and On the Edge by Guérin van de Vorst and Sophie Muselle, as well as The New West by US director Kate Beecroft (awarded the Audience Award in Sundance).

Last but not least, a Young Audience line-up will showcase Arco by Ugo Bienvenu (unveiled in Cannes and awarded Annecy’s Grand Prize) and The Songbirds’ Secret by Antoine Lanciaux, among other titles, with an array of short films also gracing the agenda, both in and out of competition.