View All Posts By Author: Ronen Leibman

Title: Young Mothers Foreign Title:  Jeunes mères Year: 2025 Country: Belgium/France Language: In French with English subtitles Awards: Directors and writer:  Jean-Pierre Dardenne| Luc Dardenne Cast:  The latest film from the Dardenne brothers is another powerful work of social realism, but unlike their previous films, this one carries a faint touch of hope at the end. The story follows five teenage mothers living in a special shelter where they are trained and

Title: The Little Sister Foreign Title: La Petite Dernière Year: 2025 Country: France/Germany Language: In French and Arabic with English subtitles Awards: Director: Hafsia Herzi Cast: Fatima, a young French Muslim woman, is on the verge of graduating high school and continuing her studies. She’s the youngest of three sisters. Though very pretty, she lacks the polished femininity of her older siblings, who, although loving and caring for her, teasingly mock

Title: Silent Friend Foreign Title:  Year: 2025  Country: Germany/France/Hungary Language: In German and English with English subtitles Awards: Director: Ildikó Enyedi Cast: If you choose to watch this film, and I highly recommend that you do, remember that cinema is a time-based art. Ildikó Enyedi, the veteran award-winning Hungarian director, never forgets this, and she uses it masterfully throughout Silent Friend. Although the film doesn’t fully belong to the tradition

Title: Bidad Foreign Title: Bidad Year: 2025 Country: Iran Language: In Farsi with English subtitles Awards: Director: Soheil Beiraghi Cast:  As this is a film about music, it feels right to begin with two musical quotes: “Freedom is just another word for nothin’ left to lose” — Me and Bobby McGee (written by Kris Kristofferson, made immortal by Janis Joplin). “Rich man can’t imagine poor” — The Reckoning Song (written

Title: The Uniformed Shorts Review VIFF2025-25 Foreign Title: Die Uniformierten Year: 2025 Country: Germany Language: In German with English subtitles Awards: Director: Timon Ott Credits:  Armies are often seen as disciplined, organized machines with strict hierarchies and clear purposes. Uniforms erase individuality, submerging the person into the collective. The Uniformed unfolds within this context, during basic training. It follows an 18-year-old recruit who has committed to 17 years of service, training

Title: Wind , Talk to Me Foreign Title: Vetre, pricaj sa mnom Year: 2025 Country: Serbia/Slovenia/Croatia Language: Serbia/Slovenia/Croatia Awards: Director: Stefan Djordjevic Cast: There is hardly anything dramatic in this film, no overt conflict, no heightened drama. The dialogue is sparse, the acting minimal, the shots are long, and the camera doesn’t move much. And yet, it draws the viewer in, making them think and feel. Stefan is mourning the

Title: Ambush Foreign Title: Kameen Year: 2025 Country: Canada/Jordan Language: In Arabic with English subtitles Awards: Director: Yassmina Karajah Credits:  In the backstreets of Amman, Jordan, the old and new collide in a celebration of youth culture. On one rooftop, working-class locals sit smoking hookah, watching as a nearby warehouse transforms into a pop-up techno club. Across the street, a group of younger partiers drink vodka and pop pills. Despite

Title: Miroirs No. 3  Foreign Title:  Year: 2025 Country: Germany Language: In German with English subtitles Awards: Director: Christian Petzold Cast: From the very first frame, it’s clear that something is amiss. Laura, a music student from Berlin, is traveling to the countryside with her inattentive boyfriend. She appears unsettled, unhappy. They join a couple of his friends for the trip, but upon arrival Laura abruptly asks to return home.

Title: Blind Into the Eye Foreign Title: Blind, ins Auge Year: 2025 Country: Iran/Germany Language: In Farsi, German, Kurdish and Arabic with English subtitles Awards: Directors: Atefeh Kheirabadi , Mehrad Sepahnia Cast: The essay film remains one of cinema’s most intricate forms, combining heterogeneous materials—text, sound, and image—into a structure that transcends conventional narrative. Blind – Into the Eye situates itself firmly within this tradition. Using found footage, some captured in

Title: The Blue Trail Foreign Title: O último azul Year: 2025 Country: Brazil/Mexico/Chile/Netherlands Language: In Portuguese with English subtitles Awards: Director: Gabriel Mascaro Cast: Gabriel Mascaro’s Blue Trail is an elusive, genre-defying film that expands the director’s ongoing fascination with the intersection of body, society, and desire. As in his previous films, Neon Bull (2015) and Divine Love (2019), Mascaro keeps exploring themes of rural labor, erotic freedom and faith