The American Film Institute has pulled back the curtain to reveal the full lineup for AFI Fest 2025.
AFI Fest, presented by Canva (with water sponsor Fiji), will take place Oct. 22–26 at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theatres. It will feature more than 160 films, including seven red carpet premieres, 12 special screenings, 20 world cinema selections, 15 documentaries, six after dark titles, 23 films from the AFI Conservatory Showcase, 14 luminaries selections, and a robust short films competition. As announced, Guillermo del Toro is confirmed as the guest artistic director. The fest will open with Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere starring Jeremy Allen White as the iconic rocker. Other high-profile premieres include Song Sung Blue starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson and The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.
The lineup includes Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother, which won a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month. The film stars Cate Blanchett, Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Vicky Krieps, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Luka Sabbat and Indya Moore. Another Venice winner, Kaouther Ben-Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab, is making the move to Los Angeles. Other films to hit the big screen in Hollywood include Werner Herzog’s Ghost Elephants, Charlie Kaufman’s new short film, How to Shoot a Ghost starring Jessie Buckley, Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grazia, Mascha Schilinski’s Sound of Falling, Charlie Polinger’s The Plague starring Joel Edgerton, Ildiko Enyedi’s Silent Friend, Shih-Ching Tsou’s Left-Handed Girl made in collaboration with Sean Baker, William Means’ Junkie, and Joan Bofill Amargos’ documentary The Hanging of Stuart Cornfeld about the film producer. The latter film features appearances by Jack Black, Mel Brooks, David Cronenberg, Guillermo del Toro, David Lynch, Steven Soderbergh and Ben Stiller.
AFI Fest will also screen new films by Fatih Akin (Amrum), Cherien Dabis (All That’s Left of You), Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Young Mothers), Lav Diaz (Magellan), Annemarie Jacir (Palestine 36), Radu Jude (Kontinental ‘25), Nadav Lapid (Yes), Sergei Loznitsa (Two Prosecutors), László Nemes (Orphan), François Ozon (The Stranger), Amanda Kramer (By Design), Hylnur Pálmason (The Love That Remains), Christian Petzold (Miroirs No. 3), Ira Sachs (Peter Hujar’s Day), Lee Sang-il (Kokuho), Hong Sang-soo (What Does That Nature Say to You), Erige Sehiri (Promised Sky) and Carla Simón (Romería).
The docs section includes Clay Tweel’s Andy Kaufman is Me, Gianfranco Rosi’s Below the Clouds, Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus’s Cover-Up, Ben Proudfoot’s The Eyes of Ghana, Brandon Kramer’s Holding Liat, Daniel Junge and Sam Pollard’s I Was Born This Way, Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s Love+War, Tamara Kotevska’s The Tale of Silyan, Brittany Shyne’s Seeds and Isabel Castro’s Selena y Los Dinos.
As previously announced, the fest lineup features high-profile showings of Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly starring George Clooney as a movie star grappling with his legacy (Oct. 23), James Vanderbilt’s historical epic Nuremberg starring Rami Malek and Russell Crowe (Oct. 24), Gus Van Sant’s ripped-from-the-headlines Dead Man’s Wire starring Bill Skarsgård (Oct. 25), and David Michôd’s Christy toplined by Sydney Sweeney as a boxer fighting for her place in the sport (Oct. 25). Films in the special screenings section include Bad Apples, Bugonia, The Choral, The Chronology of Water, Is This Thing On?, A Magnificent Life, Merrily We Roll Along, Nebraska Live, Rebuilding, Rental Family, The Testament of Ann Lee and Train Dreams.
“With more than 90 features and nearly 70 shorts, AFI Fest 2025 will be our biggest program in recent memory,” said AFI Fest director Todd Hitchcock. “But more importantly, this year’s selection reflects a diversity of viewpoints, artistry and daring from filmmakers across the globe.”
Added AFI Fest director of programming Abbie Algar: “AFI Fest’s unique mix of red carpet premieres, major works from established auteurs and impressive debuts from new talents makes for an action-packed five days of great cinema, which will spark conversation and stir imagination.”
The full lineup can be found here.
