The Locarno Film Festival’s 2025 lineup includes films starring Willem Dafoe, Judy Greer, and Emma Thompson. Directors premiering films include Abdellatif Kechiche (Blue is the Warmest Color) and Radu Jude (Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of World).
Here’s a breakdown of our favorites coming to the Swiss festival.
Grab your garlic, grab your Crucifixes, the resurgence of Dracula is incoming! Don’t Expect Too Much From the End of the World (2023) director Radu Jude is bringing his take on the legendary character with his next film, Dracula.
The Romanian director is looking to take back the infamous vampire saying:
“It’s only Hollywood that has done it 1,000 times. We shouldn’t let Hollywood dominate our Dracula.”
1,000 times is not that far off! There are multiple recent films centered on the classic monster:
Nosferatu
The Robert Eggers (The Lighthouse) take on the 1922 horror classic starring Lily-Rose Depp (The King) Nicolas Hoult (The Menu), Aaron Taylor Johnson (Bullet Train), and, of course, Willem Dafoe (Poor Things)
Dracula: A Love Tale
A Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) scary fantasy film with Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained) and Caleb Landry Jones (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)
Premiering 2025
Last year, Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World was a social commentary on both cinema, the inner workings of our current society, and their inevitable relation to each other. The innovative black comedy was both internationally acclaimed and one of my favorite films to come out of last year. It will be exciting to see the eccentric filmmaker’s follow-up project as it starts shooting early next year.
His film Dracula is produced by Rodrigo Teixeira (The Witch, Call Me By Your Name, I’m Still Here).
1-2 Special (Distributor: The Poet, Kontinental '25, Mirrors No. 3) has picked up North American Rights.
INDIE FILMMAKER SPOTLIGHT
Abdellatif Kechiche (dir: Blue is the Warmest Color) returns with Pathe’s Mektoub, My Love: Canto Due.
Synopsis:
Amin returns home to the South of France and reconnect with his family, childhood friends, his cousin Tony and his best friend Ophelie. He spends time between his parents restaurant, local bars and beaches frequented by girls on holiday.
This film completes his Mektoub trilogy with the previous installment, Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo, which premiered at Cannes in 2019 and was marred in controversy due to an unsimulated sex scene.
Phantoms of July, from writer/director Julian Radlmaier, centers on:
An East German waitress with a broken heart and an Iranian YouTuber with a broken arm seek solace from loneliness on a ghost hunt in the mountains. A romantic adventure about unlikely friendship and longing for another life.
The film has been picked up by Bendita Film Sales (Toxic).
We love tragic romances. White Snail from writer/directors Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter stands out:
Masha, a model pursuing her dream job in China, and Misha, a painter working in a morgue, form a profound, tragic relationship.
Hair, Paper, Water... is co-directed by Trương Minh Quý. No word on synopsis, but Quý’s previous Viet Nam (2024, Cannes Un Certain Regard Official Selection) was distributed in North America through Strand Releasing.
Here’s the official synopsis:
In the underground coal mines, Nam and Viet, young miners, face danger and darkness. One prepares to leave for a new life, but they must find Nam's father's remains, a soldier lost in a faraway forest, retracing the past through memories.
Marcus Hu, co-president of Strand Releasing, stated:
“Viet and Nam was one of the most mesmerizing films I’ve seen in awhile, romantic, tragic and tender directed with a unique style that embodies the auteurs we cultivate.”
One scene in the film, of the two men walking on the beach, is a sophisticated piece of filmmaking; it is utterly simple, but the craft is dialed in.
Consider the dolly: effortlessly following without so much as a trace.
Consider the color palette: the men almost blend into the sea.
Consider the evocative dialogue:
“The crumbs are the corpses of shells.”
Here’s that clip.
Tidbits:
The writer of Cannes favorite The Grand Tour (2024), Maureen Fazendeiro is directing The Seasons (2025) a doc about the real and invented history of the Portuguese region Alentejo, and the people who live there. It was just picked up by Square Eyes Picks.
A film called Desire Lines (first look image) from director Dane Komljen looks quite intriguing.
THE ACTOR SPOTLIGHT
Brian Kirk (Dir: 21 Bridges starring Chad Boseman) will world premiere The Dead of Winter.
Synopsis:
A woman, travelling alone through snowbound northern Minnesota, interrupts the kidnapping of a teenage girl. Hours from the nearest town and with no phone service, she realizes that she is the young girl's only hope.
Great cast with Judy Greer and Emma Thompson (who looks very lost in this first look image above).
Willem Dafoe goes to a birthday party. The Greek feature The Birthday Party starring Dafoe will world premiere.
No word on who Dafoe will play, but the story centers on a 1970s Mediterranean tycoon throwing a lavish birthday party for his daughter and sole heiress on his exclusive private island.
I dream of Dafoe playing the tycoon, perhaps tilting between his flamboyant charm in The Boondock Saints (1999) and internal torment in Pasolini (2019, trailer).
THE INDUSTRY NEWS
New Europe Film Sales (A24’s Lamb) has picked up God Will Not Help, directed by Hana Jušić.
Synopsis:
A Chilean woman named Teresa arrives at a remote Croatian shepherding community, saying she's their emigrant brother's widow.
Rediance (Prod co: Memoria, Grand Tour) has picked up Mare’s Nest and will serve as the worldwide sales rep.
Synopsis:
A young girl, Moon, travels through a mysterious world free of adults.
It sounds simple, but Rivers' work is ultra cinematic, and with Andrea Queralt (prod: Cannes 3rd place winner Sirât) serving as a producer, this should be good.
Neon’s Together, Neon’s Sentimental Value, and Neon’s It Was Just an Accident Heads will also play at Locarno.
Locarno Film Festival runs August 7th - 17th.
Hey, I’ve started an account where I collect some out of context captions of great films in cinema history. Just wanted to share it with the cinephiles around here : https://substack.com/@pariscinema?r=1x6h4r&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=profile