Neuchâtel 2025: Swiss Fantastic Film Festival Announces Full Programme

NIFFF 2025 – FINDING THE THRILLS IN THE CRACKS OF REALITY

 

Today,  the  Neuchâtel  International  Fantastic  Film  Festival  (NIFFF,  4-12  July)  has  announced  the full  program  of  its  24th  edition.  With  127  works  from  all  5  continents  and  a  total  of  42  countries represented,  the  2025  line-up  gives  pride  of  place  to  filmmakers  that  have  become  staples  of  the festival and of fantastic films, all while putting many new talents in the spotlight. A perfect overview of the diversity of global genre cinema.

 

For its 24th edition, the NIFFF is thrilled to offer an exhilarating overview of the best genre films from around the world. Fostering a sense of inclusion and global community, the line-up includes works from young artists –  Julia Kowalski, Addison Heimann, Emilie Blichfeldt, Nuhash Humayun, Albert Birney, Louise Hémon  – as well as features from established talents. Some have become part of the festival’s history, such as Lucile Hadžihalilovi ć , Ari Aster, Julia Ducournau, Bruno Cattet & Hélène Forzani, Gabriele Mainetti,  and  Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

 

In 2025, several relevant sociopolitical themes emerge from the program’s various categories, such as parenthood, aging, or mental health. These themes echo those highlighted in our special sections ( TAKE CARE!, FOREVER YOUNG ) and implicitly draw the portrait of doubt-ridden societies, but the films from our selection are also full of hope, escapism, and thrills.

 

 

 

OPENING AND CLOSING CEREMONIES

 

The 2025 edition will start on Friday, July 4th, with the international premiere of Yann Gozlan’s newest film,  THE RESIDENCE . Belgian actress  Cécile de France  will be in Neuchâtel to present this sci-fi thriller which tackles the dangers of artificial intelligence. The festival will conclude on Saturday, July 12th, with the  European  premiere  of   HI-FIVE ,  a  highly  anticipated  supernatural  comedy  from  Korea  that’s  part buddy-movie, part superhero blockbuster.

 

The official selection includes  12 world premieres, 9 international premieres, 4 European premieres, and 51 Swiss premieres . The members of the International Jury are  Emil Ferris  (US),  John Hsu  (TW), Jean-Baptiste Del Amo  (FR),  Hélène Frappat  (FR), and  Olivier Theyskens  (BE). They will announce the winner of the prestigious H.R. Giger ‘Narcisse’ award (CHF 10,000 from the  City of Neuchâtel ) during the closing ceremony. The best Swiss short film will also receive its own H.R. Giger ‘Narcisse’ award (CHF 10,000 from  SSA  and  SUISSIMAGE ).

 

 

 

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

 

The 14 films in this year’s International Competition are a testament to the dynamism of genre cinema worldwide. We are thrilled to be showing new films by directors that have become part of the festival’s history. In  THE ICE TOWER , Lucile Hadžihalilovi ć  transforms Marion Cotillard into a cold, venomous movie star. Bruno Cattet and Hélène Forzani are back with  REFLECTION IN A DEAD DIAMOND , a spellbinding stylistic  exercise  that  borrows  from  James  Bond  and  DIABOLIK  alike.  As  for  Addison  Heimann,  he makes  his  return  to  the  NIFFF  (three  years  after  the  disturbing HYPOCHONDRIAC)  with   TOUCH  ME , a  fevered,  sensual  exploration  of  personal  traumas.  Other  intimate  stories  take  shape  through  genre tropes.  In   THE  THING  WITH  FEATHERS ,  for  instance,  a  riveting  Benedict  Cumberbatch  explores  the pangs of parenthood in a story of grief influenced by gothic aesthetics. Post-partum paranoia is studied 

in  MOTHER’S  BABY ,  while  the  exquisitely  retro   OBEX   shines  a  light  on  the  very  modern  loneliness  of the 80s gamer. New voices and powerful visions further develop feminine and queer identities and representations, for instance in  THE UGLY STEPSISTER , an off-the-wall and cruel reimagining of the Cinderella  fairy  tale.   HER  WILL  BE  DONE   is  Julia  Kowalski’s  radical,  compelling  manifesto  against  a  dying patriarchy. Ukrainian space opera  U ARE THE UNIVERSE  and Kazakh fable  SASYQ  deliver their own  takes  on  genre  cinema,  from  industries  that  seldom  explore  such  territories.   A  USEFUL  GHOST  summons the ghosts of Thailand’s political history in a story of reincarnation that is delightfully absurd and surprising... Last but not least, four years after TITANE made a splash (Palme d’or winner in Cannes), Julia Ducournau is back with  ALPHA , a rich, vivid metaphor of 1980s France in which a deadly, seemingly inescapable virus is tearing through the population.

 

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

 

 

 

 

 

ASIAN COMPETITION

 

Composed of vastly different films, the Asian Competition perfectly illustrates the remarkable diversity of Asian cinema:  EXIT 8 , the highly anticipated adaptation of the cult video game, focuses on a character trapped in an anxiety-inducing time loop in a (nearly) empty metro passageway; there is also the horror thriller  NOISE ,  a  paranoia-infused  take  on  neighbor  relations;  three  years  after  DEMIGOD,  Taiwanese studio Pili and their spectacular puppets are back with  THUNDERBOLT FANTASY : SWORD SEEKERS ; Japanese horror  DOLLHOUSE  conjures up a particularly decaying atmosphere to offer its own spin on the haunted doll genre; melancholic Korean thriller  THE OLD WOMAN WITH A KNIFE  is unafraid of giving the spotlight to a female assassin in her sixties in a story of rage and redemption; the surreal, darkly humorous  NEW GROUP  confirms the advent of a unique talent in the person of filmmaker Yuta Shimotsu, who delivers a biting critique of conformism in his sophomore feature; romantic comedy  REWRITE  will delight fans of time loops and paradoxes; and Bangladeshi anthology  DUI SHAW  (originally designed as a series) proves once and for all that filmmaker Nuhash Humayun has become one of the new masters of horror. Finally, mystical feminism and folk horror meet in Indian coming-of-age horror film  BOKSHI .

 

ASIAN COMPETITION

 

 

 

 

 

THIRD KIND

 

Films in the  THIRD KIND  section exist at the borders of genre cinema. This year, many filmmakers with diverse but deeply personal visions are making their return at NIFFF.  Ari Aster  offers a critique of Covid America with  EDDINGTON , a tragi-comic western that deals with fake news, masks, racial tensions, and underlying violence. With  LA CITTÀ PROIBITA , Gabriel Mainetti delivers an explosive mixture of dolce vita and martial arts in the Eternal City. Babak Anvari (UNDER THE SHADOW) is back with  HALLOW ROAD , a deathly, claustrophobic road movie.  CLOUD  is yet another demonstration by the great Kiyoshi Kurosawa of how expert craftsmanship can produce unrivalled thrills. The section includes a wide variety of genres, from the dark rural thriller  BRING THEM DOWN , in which  Barry Keoghan  and  Christopher Abbott  become rivals defending their family’s honor, to the supernatural drama  CALL OF WATER  starring a spellbinding Cécile  de  France .  As  far  as  the  giants  of  cinema  are  concerned,  Geoffrey  Rush  and  John  Lithgow  play  against  each  other  in  a  no-holds-barred  duel  in  a  nursing  home  ( THE  RULE  OF  JENNY  PEN ).  In  the  disturbing  OPUS ,  John Malkovich  owns the screen as an egotistic popstar that’s 50% Freddie Mercury, 50% Charles Manson. Our line-up will take audience members to all corners of the world, from the isolated French Alps in  THE WOMAN IN THE SNOW  (Louise Hémon) to the fever-inducing Moroccan desert in the powerful techno dystopia  SIRÂT  (Oliver Laxe).

 

THIRD KIND

 

 

 

 

 

ULTRA MOVIES

 

The  ULTRA  MOVIES   section  is  dedicated  to  the  most  radical  genre  films  and  this  year,  just  in  time  for  summer, we are programming a most appetizing Shark Night double feature with the highly anticipated DANGEROUS ANIMALS , a perfect mix of shark flick and brutal slasher, and  HOTSPRING SHARKATTACK , a biting comedy that will have even the most courageous think twice before getting back into a jacuzzi. Fans of American filmmaker  Joe Begos  will be able to discover  JIMMY & STIGGS , an alien invasion neon-lit romp whose praises Eli Roth himself cannot sing loud enough. Old-school slasher fans will not want to miss  CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD  from Eli Craig, director of the cult movie TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL (2010). Animation is not to be outdone, as evidenced by  LESBIAN SPACE PRINCESS , in which a space princess travels across the universe to rescue her beloved from a bunch of incels from the future. Last but not least, the NIFFF is delighted to host the world premiere of Abel Ferry’s new horror thriller  SQUEALERS  (GIBIER), featuring a bone-chilling performance from Olivier Gourmet.

 

ULTRA MOVIES

 

 

 

 

 

SHORT FILMS AND SWISS PRODUCTIONS

 

As  is  now  customary,  the  festival  will  also  present  a  selection  of  short  films  divided  into  several  competitions highlighting the works of emerging talents from around the world: International Shorts, Asian Shorts, and Swiss Shorts. For the second year in a row, the  AMAZING SCHOOLS  program will showcase the best short films from Swiss film schools. The  AMAZING SWITZERLAND  section is dedicated to Swiss genre films (past and present). This year’s selection includes  ELECTRIC CHILD , the latest feature from Simon Jaquemet , in which an all-mighty AI appears to be the answer to misfortune. In partnership with filmo, the festival is also celebrating the 40th anniversary of  AFTER DARKNESS , the first feature film from Neuchâtel-born director Dominique Othenin-Girard, boasting an all-star cast (John Hurt, Julian Sands, and  Victoria  Abril).  The  collaboration  between  the  NIFFF  and  RTS  Archive  Lab  will  give  the  spotlight  to  Geneva-based filmmaker  Pierre Koralnik  and his epic film  PRINCE BARBARE . Finally, the Cinémathèque suisse will take the audience to 1940s Bern with the picturesque  DAS GESPENSTERHAUS .

 

 

 

SPECIAL PROGRAMS

 

The NIFFF is giving carte blanche to  Baghera Jones . The Neuchâtel-born Twitch streamer with 700,000 followers is a regular audience member of the festival. She is coming back to her hometown to present a varied, cinephilic selection of films:  FESTEN  (Thomas Vinterberg, 1998),  STARSHIP TROOPERS  (Paul Verhoeven, 1995), and  THE HOST  (Bong Joon-ho, 2005). The  FOREVER YOUNG  FOCUS explores the question of aging, while the  TAKE CARE!  retrospective is all about the theme of ‘care’ in genre cinema. In collaboration with UniNE,  SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRITS  is a selection of three stories set on school campuses.  And  finally,  the   CLASSICS  RELOADED   section  is  a  perfect  opportunity  to  rediscover  cult  films at our new Halles Obscura Open Air.