It’s Halloween night and we couldn’t let it pass without spotlighting some bone-chilling features coming up at our 70th edition.
We also highlight short films from across the world in our International Shorts strand – bite-sized gems that are eligible for our Grand Prix International Short Award and Grand Prix Documentary Short Award, both Oscar®-qualifying categories meaning the winners will be long-listed for the Academy Awards®, from Cork to Hollywood.
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THRILLERS AT CIFF2025
For the spooky night that’s in it, here are some truly chilling new features from around the world which you can see first or rediscover at our 70th edition. From lonely gravediggers to supernatural battles, with a nod to J-horror for good measure, there will be plenty to keep the fear factor alive well after Halloween.
Clockwise from top left:
Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli | Canada | 2025 | 113 mins | Fiction
SAT 8 | TRISKEL | 20:00
Following a traumatic incident, Diana and Homer arrive at a remote clinic deep in the woods, hoping the radical therapy will cure Diana’s memory loss. But then Diana begins to see things that aren’t there…
David Kittredge | United States | 2025 | 112 mins | Documentary
TUE 11 | TRISKEL | 17:15
After the success of Point Blank and Deliverance, Warner Brothers offered John Boorman the chance to direct a sequel to their smash hit, The Exorcist. The result was a critical and financial failure that nearly ended Boorman’s filmmaking career.
Grace Glowicki | Canada | 2025 | 82 mins | Fiction
FRI 7 | TRISKEL | 20:30
MON 10 | TRISKEL | 14:45
A lonely gravedigger, reeking of the corpses she buries, finally meets the man of her dreams in a dandy who is excited by her odour. But when their romance is cut short by a tragic accident, the gravedigger will stop at nothing to bring her lover back.
Don Coscarelli | United States | 1979 | 114 mins | Fiction
SUN 16 | TRISKEL | 20:00
Orphaned teen Mike uncovers more than he bargained for when spying on his older brother’s friend in the local graveyard, plunging himself and brother Jodie into a supernatural battle with a mysterious mortician.
Yuriyan Retriever | Japan | 2025 | 113 mins | Subtitled | Fiction
WED 12 | ARC CINEMA | 15:00
SAT 15 | ARC CINEMA | 20:45
Local legend tells of a curse where a two-metre tall female ghost known as Mag Mag haunts the men she falls in love with, terrifying them to death. Japan’s comedy sensation Yuriyan Retriever takes the traditional J-horror tropes and gives them an invigorating shake in her surreal, hilarious debut.
Yeon Sang-Ho | Republic of Korea (South Korea) | 2025 | 102 mins | Subtitled | Fiction
SUN 9 | EVERYMAN | 20:15
Im Yeong-gyu is a visually impaired yet extraordinarily skilled seal engraving master known as a living miracle. When his wife’s skeletal remains, thought to have been missing for 40 years, are finally discovered, his son Im Dong-hwan is determined to uncover long-buried truths surrounding her mysterious death.
International Shorts
International premieres are eligible for Grand Prix International Short Award and Grand Prix Documentary Short Award. Films eligible for the Redbreast UNHIDDEN Short Award are indicated with [RU]. All films are from 2025 except where indicated.
INTERNATIONAL SHORTS 1: DOCUMENTARY
MON 10 | ARC CINEMA | 16:00 | 91 mins
From small steps taken in a museum in Kyiv to giant steps in Neil Armstrong’s ancestral home, stories of evolution and revolution.
PALEONTOLOGY LESSON- Sergei Loznitsa
BLIND, INTO THE EYE – Atefeh Kheirabadi, Mehrad Sepahnia
I’M RECORDING – Ina Knap
HAPPILY EVER AFTER – Élodie Beaumont Tarillon
NEIL ARMSTRONG AND THE LANGHOLMITES – Duncan Cowles [RU]
INTERNATIONAL SHORTS 2
MON 10 | ARC CINEMA | 18:00 | 91 mins
Behind the surface of the world we see, there is another world…
WHAT IF WE RUN OUT OF STONES? – Nora Štrbová [RU]
WORLD AT STAKE – Susanna Flock, Adrian Jonas Haim, Jona Kleinlein [RU]
ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF LOVE – Gabriel Abrantes [RU]
S THE WOLF – Sameh Alaa
WONDERWALL – Róisín Burns
LITTLE REBELS CINEMA CLUB – Khozy Rizal (2024)
INTERNATIONAL SHORTS 3: DOCUMENTARY
TUE 11 | ARC CINEMA | 14:00 | 91 mins
Stories in which the world isn’t always what it seems. Perception and reality collide in extraordinary ways.
THIER EYES – Nicolas Gourault
CORRECT ME IF IM WRONG – Hao Zhou [RU]
I SAW THE FACE OF GOD IN THE JET WASH – Mark Jenkin
THE CLOUD FACTORY – Hannes Lang [RU]
INTERNATIONAL SHORTS 4
TUE 11 | ARC CINEMA | 16:00 | 91 mins
Life in the city…
A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY FOR THE LADY AVENGERS – Birdy Wei-Ting Hung (2024)
NEKO – Inês Oliveria
INFLATABLE BEAR, HOURLY – Elisabeth Werchosin
RAW + POROUS – Ágata de Pinho
HOT PINK – Angie Polkovich
FROM GROUND ZERO+
A collection of short stories from Gaza, portraying life in the besieged territory, through the eyes of local filmmakers.
THU 13 | ARC CINEMA | 20:00
France-based Coorigines Production collaborates with the Masharawi Fund for Films and Filmmakers in enabling Gazan directors and film crews to illustrate the continuity of the effects of war, not only with numbers and grim news, but with faces, names, and with art. Making these films becomes resistance, and an act of survival for the many people trapped in Gaza for almost two years.
VERY SMALL DREAMS
Etimad Washah | France, Palestine | 2025 | 21 mins
In a refugee camp in Gaza, women strive to preserve their dignity and health in inhuman
living conditions, where even the most basic needs become unattainable dreams.
HASSAN
Muhammad Al-Sharif | France, Palestine | 2025 | 30 mins
A teenager breaks the siege of Gaza to save his family from starvation, facing arrest, the horrors of war, and forced separation, all the while dreaming of returning home and rebuilding his shattered life.
COLOURS UNDER THE SKY
Reema Mahmoud | France, Palestine | 2025 | 20 mins
Two young women, Amal and Aya, use art and music as silent weapons against the war
in Gaza, finding refuge in their creations while dreaming of peace and returning home.
