Leeds International Film Festival Unveil 2025 Line Up
Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon, Lanthimos Bugonia, Ramsey’s Die My Love some of this year’s highlight
Leeds International Film Festival (LIFF) has today launched the Festival programme for its 39th edition. A line up that’s full of weird, wonderful, cult classics and Oscar winning films.
The 2025 line up running from 30th October to 16th November,. 260 films showing at more than 300 screenings at venues across Leeds including Vue in The Light, Everyman, Hyde Park Picture House, Cottage Road Cinema and Howard Assembly Room.
Presented in five distinct programme sections including new feature filmmaking in Constellation, documentary strand Cinema Versa, the UK’s largest festival selection of new genre films in Fanomenon, unique retrospectives in LIFF Spotlights and honouring the tradition of the world’s first short film made in Leeds in 1888 by Louis le Prince, LIFF Shorts.
The opening night film is Richard Linklater‘s Blue Moon. Which sees Ethan Hawke deliver a career-best performance as legendary lyricist Lorenz Hart. With superb performances from Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale, and Andrew Scott as Rodgers, Blue Moon is a witty yet melancholic portrait of friendship, art, and faded glory.
18 days later the closing night film The Love That Remains. Directed by Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason’s follow-up to his acclaimed film Godland and is a tender and playful portrait of a family in flux, shot on luminous 35mm. Pálmason delicately captures the changing seasons and shifting family dynamics with warmth, humour and touches of absurdity, crafting an intimate meditation on love, nature, and unconventional families.
Other highlights include Jafar Panahi’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner It Was Just an Accident. The latest film from Lynne Ramsey, Die, My Love, Mary Bronstein’s dark comedy If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. Paul Andrew Williams’s Dragonfly starring Andrea Riseborough and Nicholas Hytner’s The Choral starring Ralph Fiennes.
Fanomenon presents two competitions, for feature films with seven UK Premieres and for shorts with three packed programmes, plus weird and wonderful family films, Julia Ducournau’s Alpha, Bugonia from Yorgos Lanthimos, Grace Glowicki’s Dead Lover, award-winners The Holy Boy and A Useful Ghost.
This year’s horror marathon Day of the Dead includes two of the most acclaimed independent genre films of the year, Redux Redux and Hellcat, and UK Premieres of The Book of Sijjin and Illiyyin from Indonesia and We Bury the Dead from Australia. The marathon headlined this year by Tina Romero’s Queens of the Dead.
Festival director Chris Fell commented: “We’re presenting our most extensive programme yet at LIFF 2025, with an epic and diverse selection of films from around the UK and across the world over 18 days from 30 October to 16 November. From previews of some of the most anticipated new releases and UK Premieres of exciting new discoveries, to fantastic selections for genre fans and wonderful family films, we offer an exciting line-up for all with accessibility at the core of our programme. LIFF now includes three full weekends to increase opportunities for the audience to access the programme when they are most available, an expanded schedule of accessible screenings and community events, and more free or low-cost ticket offers and great value passes. A huge thank you to our audience, the LIFF team, Leeds City Council, our main funder the British Film Institute, and all our partners including leading venues Vue, Everyman, and the city’s historic independent cinemas Hyde Park Picture House and Cottage Road. We can’t wait to welcome everyone to the 39th Leeds International Film Festival!”
The 39th edition of the Leeds International Film Festival runs from 30th October to 16th November. Head over to the festival’s official website for complete line up and how to buy tickets.
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