LEFFEST – Lisboa Film Festival

The best contemporary cinema is screened at the 19th edition of LEFFEST, which this year takes place in Lisbon and Amadora. Premieres, retrospectives, new directors and established filmmakers, cinema from Central Asia and Spain, exiles, revolutions and tributes are the highlights of the festival.

Twelve feature films by young directors and established filmmakers compete side-by-side. Highlights include: Blue Moon, by Richard Linklater, which earned Andrew Scott the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Actor in Berlin; Songs of Forgotten Trees, by Indian director Anuparna Roy, which won the Best Director award at the Venice Film Festival in the Orizzonti Competition; and The President’s Cake, by Hasan Hadi, a moral fable depicting Iraq in the 1990s.

One of the most anticipated moments of the festival is the preview screening of various films produced worldwide. Among them is the opening film Father Mother Sister Brother, a comedy about family relationships by Jim Jarmusch, which won the Golden Lion in Venice. Also presented in this section is The Chronology of Water, marking actress Kristen Stewart’s directorial debut. Also noteworthy is the Sex, Dreams, Love trilogy by Dag Johan Haugerud.

The Tributes of this edition include the first major European retrospective of Hal Hartley, a key figure of American independent cinema, accompanied by the European premiere of his latest film Where to Land. The festival also honours Brazilian actor and director Wagner Moura, who recently won the Best Actor Award in Cannes for his role in O Agente Secreto (2025); and British actress Miranda Richardson, whose exceptional career spans four decades. All will be in Lisbon to present their films.

Full programme here.

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