Opening Film Screening IFFWW 2025
London Premiere
Sanatorium
Directed by Gar O'Rourke
Ireland, Ukraine, France/ 2025 / 1 hour 30 min / Ukrainian / Documentary
At a decaying Soviet-era health resort near Odesa, visitors seek wellness through unconventional treatments, from mud baths to electric therapy, while pursuing personal connections during a quiet summer season.
6.11 | THURSDAY | 18:00 - 21:00 |
Prince Charles Cinema
Feature Fiction
UK Premiere
Perfect Shared House + QA session
Directed by Ami Michelle Sakurai
Japan / 2025 / 1 hour 47 min / Japanese / Sci-Fi, Love Story, Hunan Drama, Mistery
Feature Fiction Competition
4 young resident chosen by an experimental a shared house of the reclaimed land lived. They do not know where the place is either. The administration company obliges them to the streaming as the happy para-couple. The blind heroine had a doubt of the sex violence from a share mate. The relations of 4 people turned worse. At the last night when share life is over, they confess their surprising real identity. This is an SF-like human drama about the size of the influence that sex violence gives to the life.
UK Premiere
10.11 | MONDAY | 17:00 |
Embassy of the Czech Republic
The War Between + QA session
Directed by Deborah Correa
United States / 2025 / 1 hour 37 min / English / Western, War, Drama, Historical
Feature Fiction Competition
UK Premiere
Set in April 1862 in Arizona Territory, The War Between follows two enemy soldiers and a Chiricahua Apache outcast, who must rely on each other to survive the unforgiving Sonoran Desert.
As a Union soldier with no memory struggles to reclaim his identity, the trio confronts their beliefs, prejudices, and the harsh realities of a divided nation. Set against a little-known Civil War campaign in the American Southwest, this intimate epic explores how survival, identity, and connection are forged in the face of war.
UK Premiere
The Memory of Butterflies
Directed by Marta Viña
Spain / 2024 / 1 hour 17 min / Catalan / Drama, social
Feature Fiction Competition
Maria, a woman with a difficult childhood, and Anne, her adopted child, will face a process of family integration and learn to accept themselves.
London Premiere
Due Dating + QA session
Directed by Daniel Pacquette
United Kingdom / 2025 / 1 hour 27 min / Romcom, Romantic Comedy, Comedy, Pregnancy film, Pregnancy, Prenatal, ivf
Feature Fiction Competition
Blogger COLE faces losing his job unless he changes his wild lifestyle and can learn to write from the female perspective. After learning about CHERRY, a pregnant woman who is dating in her third trimester, he decides to make her the subject of her story and asks her out. Who is the father? And why is she dating? And does a pregnant woman really have the right to her own autonomy?
Due Dating was written and produced by the lead actress Jade Asha who was 7 months pregnant at the time of filming.
London Premiere
Blind Vacation
Directed by Valeria Fadieieva
Ukraine / 2025 / 1 hour 50 min / Ukrainian / Drama, comedy
Out of Competition
By a twist of fate, a successful and rather audacious businesswoman ends up in a small house in the heart of the Carpathians instead of an expensive spa resort. Accustomed to luxury and control, the young executive must adapt to life in a rural cottage. However, the house's owner - military serviceman Nazar — unexpectedly returns, and their shared living arrangement becomes a real test for both of them.
Nawi + QA session
Directed by Kevin Schmutzler, Toby Schmutzler, Apuu Mourine, Vallentine Chelluget
Kenya/ 2024 / 1 hour 39 min / German, Swahili / Drama
Feature Fiction
13-year-old Nawi finds out her father is selling her to a much older man for a herd of goats. Instead of obeying tradition she chooses to fight her impending marriage and embarks on a journey to reclaim her dream of joining high school.
Documentary Films
UK Premiere
The Fable of the Turtle and the Flower + QA session
Directed by Carolina Campo Lupo
Uruguay / 2024 / 1 hour 19 minutes / Spanish / Documentary, Feature
Feature Documentary
When Eliana - my best friend since childhood- told me that she had terminal cancer, I suggested that we make a film together. What seems like an attempt to abolish the rules of nature becomes an emotional journey that confronts us with our own fragility.
The camera goes from hand to hand as an instrument that unites adults and children, a companion and confidant that records the beauty of a cracking world. In the face of death, the meaninglessness of everyday life becomes transcendent, and love is revealed as the only thing that can sustain us.
London Premiere
Dad's Lullaby + QA session
Directed by Lesia Diak
Ukraine/ 2024 / 1 hour 18 minutes 25 seconds / Ukrainian / Documentary
The unseen damage inflicted by war on personal relationships pushes war veteran Serhiy away from his family. Haunted by loss and war, he battles to reconnect with his wife, Nadiia, and their three sons, Sasha (11), Artem (8) and Nikita (3).
The film takes an unexpected turn when Serhiy turns the camera on the director herself. This role reversal creates a space for vulnerable dialogue about love and human relationships as the filmmaker shares her own experiences of a breakup with another Ukrainian war veteran. The trust and empathy built between the protagonist and the filmmaker not only convey war’s lasting emotional toll but also showcase the healing potential of storytelling and documentary filmmaking.
UK Premiere
Queens of Joy + QA session
Directed by Olga Gibelinda
Ukraine/ 2025 / 1 hour 30 minutes / Ukrainian / Documentary
Feature Documentary Competition
Diva Monroe and the drag queens Marlene and Aura, in search of their identity and commitment to freedom and hedonism, challenge the horrors of war in Ukraine. They join together to organize a charity drag show to help their homeland.
Shorts Films
You Can Call Me Lou - Directed by Georgia Zeta Gkoka
Greece, United Kingdom / 2025 / 12 minutes 30 seconds / English / LGBTQ+
"You Can Call Me Lou" is a personal and transformative story of Louise, an ex-dancer who transitioned in the 1980s, navigating her journey of self-expression and identity. A former member of a dance group called Pyramid Dancers, Louise was part of the legendary London club scene during its most iconic era of the 80s and 90s. Through rare archival footage and Super8mm film, the documentary transports us back to those electric nights, offering an intimate look at how those years shaped Louise's identity and how her love for dance fueled her journey towards self-acceptance and authenticity.
Will we allways have Paris? - Directed by Rona Soffer
Israel / 2025 / 4 minutes 52 seconds / Hebrew / Documentary, Experimental, Short
This is an experimental film as part of a journey of three not-so-ordinary people who are going to discover a new world and try to figure out where their place is in this world. Immigrants and disabled. The film raises questions about a sense of belonging, identity, immigration, family, and all those things that make up the word “home.”
The Metamorph - Directed by Saeid Mohammadi + QA session
Iraq / 2025 / 4 minutes 48 seconds / Kurdish / human story, experimental, documentary, women
This film is not just about vitiligo - it’s about how we see, how we judge, and how we can begin to reimagine what beauty truly means. It’s a portrait of one woman’s transformation, but also of my own evolving understanding of perception and human dignity.
I Gaze at the Sky - Directed by Alexandra Strunin
Poland / 2025 / 23 minutes 46 seconds / Russian, Ukrainian / Short, Student
London Premiere
The early days of the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian children displaced by the conflict are brought to a Russian elementary school. One of them turns out to be the long-lost nephew of Victoria, a music teacher of Ukrainian descent. Victoria awakens from the slumber of Russian propaganda and begins a desperate fight to save the boy.
Uplift (G3,7) - Directed by David García Díaz, Rut García Díaz
Spain / 2024 / 17 min / Spanish / Comedy, social, drama, woman, musical
Inés is looking for a new bra and Marta is an expert at selling them, or Raúl believes so, her novice companion. What no one expected is having to grab her tits well to free yourself from complexes. A musical fable ready to embrace everyone.
MAMACAR - Directed by WING MAN DORIS LAU
Hong Kong/ 2025 / 18 min 30 sec / Yue Chinese (Cantonese) / Short
Kelly accidentally discovered from the dashcam that her husband, Jim, was cheating on her. She took her daughter and car away, but she was still hesitant about getting a divorce. To make a living, Kelly became a ridesharing driver. However, she received several complaints from passengers about her poor driving skills, and she fell into financial difficulties due to mounting tickets. Just when she was about to give up, a few encounters with various passengers made her reconsider her decision. While Jim pursued reconciliation, Kelly faced the choice: to give Jim another chance or continue to raise her daughter alone.
Terra 84 - Directed by Freddie Saj
France / 2025 / 10 minutes 40 sec / French / Short
Two women from another dimension where society is matrilineal meet again in a version of earth similar to ours.
Hide and Seek - Directed by Baysalt Gui
Germany, Ukraine, United Kingdom / 2024 /
14 min 58 sec / German, Ukrainian / War, politics, Therapy, Drama
This documentary follows two long-lost Ukrainian friends, Arsalan and Nastya, as they reconnect in Germany after the full-scale invasion against Ukraine. Arsalan, an actor now in Frankfurt after time in a refugee camp, and Nastya, a journalist who stayed in Kyiv, reflect on the divergent paths their lives have taken due to the war. Through their conversations and therapy sessions, the film explores themes of displacement, identity, and the emotional impact of war on youth.
Arena - Directed by Simin Zeng
United Kingdom / 2025 / 14 minutes / English / Short, Student
A non-binary young actress faces a brutal audition where creative freedom masks coercive control, forcing her into a battle not just for a role, but for her very sense of self.
Holding On - Directed by Valérie Kosmidis + QA session
United Kingdom / 2025 / 6 minutes 18 seconds / Experimental, Documentary, Autofictional
Valeria is adjusting to her new life in the UK, trying to cure her insomnia while being haunted by daily war news and her own survivor guilt.
M+L - Directed by Yana Petrykova
Ukraine / 2025 / 18 minutes 47 seconds / Ukrainian / Feature, Student, Short
Two sisters, Miechka and Lilichka, come to their "shelter" for the summer. Here, at their grandmother's house, each of them is hiding from an important decision. One is hesitant about moving to Australia, while the other is trying to figure out her relationship.
The old house, the overgrown apple garden, the warm evenings by the fire - everything seems frozen in time... But summer can't last forever. Based on “Ask Miechka” by Eugenia Kuznetsova.
UK Premiere
She - Directed by Evgen Matviyenko
Ukraine / 2025 / 20 min / Ukrainian / Documentary
In the fourth part of the VARTA project, Ukrainian female combat medics and soldiers reveal their courage and humanity on the frontline. Filmed amidst the war, She captures the resilience, pain, and unbreakable spirit of women defending Ukraine’s freedom.
Gala Award IFFWW 2025
Eleanor the Great
Directed by Scarlett Johansson
USA / 2025 / 1h 38m / English / Drama
After seventy years with best friend, Eleanor moves to New York City for a fresh start. Making new friends at ninety proves difficult. Longing for connection, she befriends a 19-year-old student.