Twelve Cannes 2025 films to arrive in Romanian cinemas this year

Twelve standout titles from this year’s Cannes Film Festival will hit Romanian cinemas later in 2025, distributed by Independența Film. The selection spans both official competition and major parallel sections, featuring established auteurs such as the Dardenne brothers, Richard Linklater, and Christian Petzold, alongside new cinematic voices from Latin America, Japan, and France.

Among the most acclaimed titles are The Secret Agent (O Agente Secreto) by Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho, which won Best Director and Best Actor at Cannes. Set in 1970s Brazil, the political thriller follows a scientist and father forced to conceal his identity to escape an assassination attempt during the country’s military dictatorship.

Also awarded was Young Mothers (Jeunes Mères), the latest film from Belgian auteurs Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, which received the prize for Best Screenplay. The drama follows five young women navigating life in a shelter for mothers, highlighting themes of female solidarity and dignity in the face of systemic neglect and hardship.

The upcoming lineup also includes Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague (New Wave), a playful and melancholic homage to the French New Wave and the spirit of the 1960s, and Vie Privée (A Private Life) by Rebecca Zlotowski, starring Jodie Foster as a psychoanalyst grappling with her own vulnerabilities after the mysterious disappearance of a patient.

Christian Petzold returns with Miroirs No. 3, a psychological exploration of trauma and identity starring Paula Beer. Italian director Mario Martone presents Fuori, a gritty drama about five women recently released from prison in 1980s Rome, led by Valeria Golino.

In La Venue de l’Avenir (Colours of Time), French director Cédric Klapisch tells the story of four cousins uncovering family history through a house and its forgotten objects, while Exit 8, a nightmarish Japanese thriller by Kawamura Genki based on a video game, traps a man in a seemingly endless underground passage.

Egyptian-Swedish director Tarik Saleh’s Eagles of the Republic is a political satire set in Cairo, where an actor is coerced into portraying president Al-Sissi in a state-sponsored propaganda film. Raoul Peck’s documentary