New Directors/New Films 2025

Presented by The Museum of Modern Art and Film at Lincoln Center, the 54th edition of New Directors/New Films (ND/NF) takes place from April 2 through April 13, 2025.

Familiar Touch

Sarah Friedland

Familiar Touch

2024|

U.S.|

91 minutes

Love, levity, tenderness, and staggering humanity shine through Sarah Friedland’s debut, starring an astonishing Kathleen Chalfant as an octogenarian transitioning to assisted living. Winner of three top prizes in the 2024 Venice Film Festival Orizzonti Competition.

Lurker

Alex Russell

Lurker

2025|

U.S. / Italy|

100 minutes

Alex Russell’s irresistible psychological thriller about a loner (Théodore Pellerin, Genesis) who contrives his way into the entourage of an up-and-coming musician (Archie Madekwe, Saltburn) captures the whirlwind rush of stardom and the unsettling chill of obsession.

The Assistant

Wilhelm Sasnal

The Assistant

2025|

Poland / U.K.|

124 minutes|

Polish with English subtitles

Piotr Trojan’s star-making turn anchors this visually and sonically riveting character piece that mines the conflicts between worker and boss, man and spirit.

Blue Sun Palace

Constance Tsang

Blue Sun Palace

2024|

U.S.|

116 minutes|

Mandarin, English, and Min Nan with English subtitles

The inimitable, indispensable Lee Kang-sheng stars in Constance Tsang’s exemplary debut feature that shines as immigrant tale, relationship drama, workplace comedy, and New York story. Winner of the Cannes Critics’ Week jury’s French Touch Prize.

Cactus Pears

Rohan Parashuram Kanawade

Cactus Pears

2025|

India / U.K. / Canada|

112 minutes|

Marathi with English subtitles

Western India’s stunning, cascading landscapes background Rohan Parashuram Kanawade’s debut feature of familial bereavement and queer longing that earned Sundance’s World Cinema Grand Jury Prize.

CycleMahesh

Suhel Banerjee

CycleMahesh

2024|

India|

61 minutes|

Odia, Marathi, and Hindi with English subtitles

A young cyclist’s flabbergasting efforts to reach home form the foundation of a stirring docufiction about the great lengths we go for freedom. Winner of IDFA’s Best First Feature.

Drowning Dry

Laurynas Bareiša

Drowning Dry

2024|

Lithuania / Latvia|

88 minutes|

Lithuanian with English subtitles

This time-shuffling, doom-laden drama from ND/NF veteran Laurynas Bareiša is compelling from first moment to last—and never quite what it seems. Winner of Locarno’s Best Director and Best Performance awards.

Fiume o morte!

Igor Bezinović

Fiume o morte!

2025|

Croatia / Italy / Slovenia|

112 minutes|

Croatian, Italian, Fiuman with English subtitles

Italian warrior-poet Gabriele D’Annunzio’s strange, bloody rule of a small Croatian city is examined in Igor Bezinović’s high-energy hybrid documentary that holds a mirror to contemporary fears of fascism. Winner of the top prize at this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Grand Me

Atiye Zare Arandi

Grand Me

2024|

Belgium / Iran|

80 minutes|

Farsi with English subtitles

Unthinkable selfishness and incredible resilience collide with tremendous force in Atiye Zare Arandi’s documentary of an Iranian girl’s pursuit for family. Winner of the Next:Wave Award at CPH:DOX.

The Height of the Coconut Trees

2024|

Japan|

100 minutes|

Japanese with English subtitles

Cinematographer-turned-director Du Jie makes a seamless transition with this sumptuous, piercing relationship drama that charts fate, regret, and heartbreak across a stunning Japanese countryside.

Holy Electricity

Tato Kotetishvili

Holy Electricity

2024|

Georgia / Netherlands|

95 minutes|

Georgian with English subtitles

Like a 21st-century Paper Moon bolstered by its distinctly Georgian sense of humor, Tato Kotetishvili’s Locarno Golden Leopard winner never misses the opportunity to exploit a moment’s comedic, dramatic, and emotional potential.

Invention

Courtney Stephens

Invention

2024|

U.S.|

72 minutes

Callie Hernandez’s one-of-a-kind presence drives Courtney Stephens’s investigation into a family man’s uncertain past, journeying through a backwoods America of oddballs, cretins, and the occasional sweetheart. Winner of a Best Performance Prize in Locarno’s Concorso Cineasti del Presente.

Kyuka Before Summer’s End

Kostis Charamountanis

Kyuka Before Summer’s End

2024|

Greece / North Macedonia|

105 minutes|

Greek with English subtitles

Greece’s piercingly blue seas, verdant flora, and glowing sunsets background Kostis Charamountanis’s emotionally vibrant, formally audacious family drama that recalls festival favorites Aftersun or Murina.

Lesson Learned

Bálint Szimler

Lesson Learned

2024|

Hungary|

119 minutes|

Hungarian with English subtitles

The travails of students, parents, and teachers are put under the microscope in Bálint Szimler’s thrilling, novelistic view of school life. Winner of a Best Performance prize and Special Mention in Locarno’s Concorso Cineasti del Presente.

Listen to the Voices

Maxime Jean-Baptiste

Listen to the Voices

2024|

Belgium / France / French Guiana|

77 minutes|

French and Guianese Creole with English subtitles

Maxime Jean-Baptiste’s feature debut and winner of Locarno’s Special Jury Prize blends ecstatic musical performances, vérité journeys through the streets of French Guiana, and dreamlike visions of the jungle. Winner of a Special Jury Prize and Special Mention from the First Feature jury in Locarno’s Concorso Cineasti del Presente.

Lost Chapters

Lorena Alvarado

Lost Chapters

2024|

Venezuela|

67 minutes|

Spanish with English subtitles

Shedding light on Venezuela’s rich cultural history and troubled present alike, Lorena Alvarado’s feature debut recalls the intellectual obsessiveness of Roberto Bolaño.

Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo)

2025|

U.S.|

101 minutes|

English and Spanish with English subtitles

An unplanned pregnancy causes major rifts and in Joel Alfonso Vargas’s feature debut, which looks to the side of New York—and the New Yorkers—rarely put on-screen to carve a story of quotidian tension.

No Sleep Till

Alexandra Simpson

No Sleep Till

2024|

U.S. / Switzerland|

93 minutes

Everyday Floridians engage in scams, tomfoolery, and romantic pursuits in Alexandra Simpson’s feature debut, which captures the state in all its beauty and strangeness as a hurricane rapidly approaches. Winner of a Special Mention from the jury at Venice Film Festival Critics’ Week.

Sad Jokes

Fabian Stumm

Sad Jokes

2024|

Germany|

96 minutes|

German, English, Italian, and Swedish with English subtitles

When Joseph—a gay filmmaker and father to a young child whose work-life balance inspires little confidence—tries making his first comedy, intense strife and hilarious slapstick bleed so effortlessly it becomes impossible for him (or us) to tell where one stops and another starts.

Stranger

Zhengfan Yang

Stranger

2024|

U.S. / China / Netherlands / Norway / France|

113 minutes|

Mandarin, Cantonese, and English with English subtitles

One of China’s most exciting up-and-coming cinematic talents emerges in this dazzling series of long takes that investigate social, political, and economic identity in a bravura display that recalls Chantal Akerman or Béla Tarr.

Timestamp

Kateryna Gornostai

Timestamp

2025|

Ukraine / Luxembourg / Netherlands / France|

125 minutes|

Ukrainian with English subtitles

Kateryna Gornostai’s documentary is a thorough display of life during wartime, placing us in the shoes of children, parents, and teachers soldiering on mere kilometers from the front lines of the war in Ukraine. Winner of the Eurimages New Lab Outreach Award at CPH:DOX.

Two Times João Liberada

Paula Tomás Marques

Two Times João Liberada

2025|

Portugal|

70 minutes|

Portuguese with English subtitles

Paula Tomás Marques’s feature debut is a dazzlingly intricate film about filmmaking, performance, trans history, and art as the means to make sense of ourselves.

The Village Next to Paradise

2024|

Austria / France / Germany / Somalia|

133 minutes|

Somali with English subtitles

Mo Harawe’s feature debut, the first Somali film to be an Official Selection at Cannes, recalls great works of Italian neorealism, rendering Somali life with stirring music, rich colors, fine textures, and bone-deep sentiment.

The Virgin of the Quarry Lake

2024|

Argentina / Mexico / Spain|

90 minutes|

Spanish with English subtitles

The pleasures, anxieties, and frenzy of teenage life are given center stage in a coming-of-age feature that crosses millennial nostalgia with intense violence.

ND/NF 2025 Shorts Program I

89 minutes

Featuring Alisha Tejpal, Mireya Martinez, and Anoushka Mirchandani’s Landscapes of Longing; Enrique Pedráza-Botero’s You Can’t See It From Here, the U.S. premiere of Daniel Asadi Faezi and Mila Zhlutenko’s In Retrospect, and Maureen Fazendeiro’s The Inhabitants.

ND/NF 2025 Shorts Program II

Jessica Dunn Rovinelli

ND/NF 2025 Shorts Program II

86 minutes

Featuring the U.S. premiere of Jessica Dunn Rovinelli’s Life Story, the North American premiere of Camille Vigny’s Crushed, the world premiere of Julia Sipowicz’s Maidenhair, the North American premiere of Kevin Walker and Irene Zahariadis’s Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World, and the North American premiere of Daphné Hérétakis’s What We Ask of a Statue Is That It Doesn’t Move.

General Public
$18
Students, Seniors, and Persons with Disabilities
$15
MoMA and FLC Members
$13
Familiar Touch - General Public
$25
Familiar Touch - Students, Seniors, and Persons with Disabilities
$22
Familiar Touch - MoMA and FLC Members
$20

Presented by The Museum of Modern Art and Film at Lincoln Center, the 54th edition of New Directors/New Films (ND/NF) takes place from April 2 through April 13, 2025. Since 1972, New Directors/New Films has showcased new and emerging filmmakers whose distinctive visions and risk-taking works highlight the vitality and potential of cinema.

ND/NF has maintained a commitment to its founding mission to showcase distinctive new voices and share the gift of discovery with audiences. Directors showcased in past festivals include Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Kelly Reichardt, Pedro Almodóvar, Souleymane Cissé, Jia Zhangke, Spike Lee, Lynne Ramsay, Michael Haneke, Wong Kar-wai, Agnieszka Holland, Denis Villeneuve, Luca Guadagnino, and many others.

This year’s ND/NF presents 24 features and nine short films, including 20 North American or U.S. premieres.

Tickets are are now on sale! Tickets are $18 for the general public; $15 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $13 for MoMA and FLC Members. Opening Night tickets are $25 for the general public; $22 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $20 for MoMA and FLC Members.

See more and save with 3+ Film Package ($16 for general public; $13 for students, seniors (62+), and persons with disabilities; and $11 for FLC Members).

Enjoy the complete ND/NF experience with a VIP Pass, which includes two tickets to every film and two tickets to Opening Night film and the Opening Night Party, for $400 for the general public and $350 for FLC and MoMA Members. 

Dan Sullivan, 2025 ND/NF Co-Chair and FLC Programmer, says, “The lineup for this year’s edition of New Directors/New Films inevitably reflects the uncertainties and tragedies of our global situation in 2025, yet it also evinces the sheer resilience of cinema and the continued emergence of important new talents working within it. A number of films in this year’s lineup take up the challenge of recovering and reconceptualizing human connection as a cherished value, perhaps none more movingly than Sarah Friedland’s Familiar Touch, a sophisticated and boundlessly sensitive subversion of the coming-of-age film that challenges our preconceptions about the subjectivity of the elderly. Likewise, Alex Russell’s stylish and gripping Lurker trains its gaze on Gen Z, posing hard questions about the nature of ambition, fame, and friendship amid a culture that prizes selfish striving to the detriment of the fundamental bonds that unite us and make life worth living.”

La Frances Hui, 2025 ND/NF Co-chair and Curator, Department of Film, MoMA, observes, “Cinema dazzles in the hands of this remarkable class of new directors, who bring astonishing creativity to exploring and interpreting the vast spectrum of human experience. Their films abound with surprising, magical touches, weaving stories of love, family, and anguish, while also delving into themes of identity, history, and conflict. These filmmakers reaffirm the boundless potential of the moving image to regenerate, create meaning, and expand our horizons. Prepare to be captivated by this exceptional collection of new films.”

New Directors/New Films is organized by La Frances Hui (Co-Chair, MoMA), Dan Sullivan (Co-Chair, Film at Lincoln Center), Sophie Cavoulacos (MoMA), Rajendra Roy (MoMA), Francisco Valente (MoMA), Madeline Whittle (Film at Lincoln Center), Tyler Wilson (Film at Lincoln Center), Katie Zwick (Film at Lincoln Center).

New Directors/New Films is presented by The Museum of Modern Art and Film at Lincoln Center. 

Film at MoMA is made possible by CHANEL. Additional support is provided by the Annual Film Fund. Leadership support for the Annual Film Fund is provided by Debra and Leon D. Black, with major funding from The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art, The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), and The Young Patrons Council of The Museum of Modern Art. For more information, visit moma.org and follow @MoMAFilm and @MuseumModernArt on X and @themuseumofmodernart on Instagram.

Rolex is the Official Partner and Exclusive Timepiece of Film at Lincoln Center.

Film at Lincoln Center funding for New Directors/New Films is provided in part by Anne-Victoire Auriault and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Film at Lincoln Center.

Have a question? Contact FLC at [email protected] and MoMA at [email protected].

New Directors/New Films 2025
New Directors/New Films 2025
New Directors/New Films 2025
New Directors/New Films 2025
New Directors/New Films 2025
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New Directors/New Films 2025
New Directors/New Films 2025
New Directors/New Films 2025
New Directors/New Films 2025

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