David Cronenberg chairs the Official Competition jury, which also includes Argentine filmmaker Milagros Mumenthaler, American filmmaker Charles Burnett, Spanish playwright and theatre director Angélica Liddell, violinist Gidon Kremer and journalist Andrea Camprincoli. The Official Competition features eleven feature films and welcomes several of the filmmakers in attendance, including Valeska Grisebach, Fanny Ardant, Christophe Honoré, Emmanuel Marre and Mario Martone. Their presence offers audiences an opportunity to engage more closely with different perspectives on contemporary cinema, in a programme that brings established auteurs into dialogue with voices that are gaining international recognition.
In the Discoveries section, Barbara Sukowa chairs the jury, alongside Ana Vilaça, Javier Porta Fouz and Yoshio Kitagawa. Among the filmmakers attending the festival are Marie Vermillard and Valentina Maurel. Also noteworthy are the appearances of Brazilian actress Grace Passô and director Ricardo Alves Jr., who will attend the presentation of A Professora de Francês. The competition brings together eleven films showcasing new works and cinematographies less familiar to Portuguese audiences.
The Out of Competition section welcomes a number of filmmakers to LEFFEST, including Fernando Trueba, Florian Zeller, Pascal Bonitzer, Simon Stone, Marie Kreutzer and Albert Serra, who will be present to introduce their films. Tiago Guedes will attend the retrospective dedicated to his work, which includes the premiere of Aquí, an adaptation of J. M. Coetzee’s Jesus trilogy, and the first theatrical screening of the series Glória.
One of this edition’s highlights is the presence of Kelly Reichardt, one of the leading figures in contemporary American cinema, who will accompany the retrospective dedicated to her work. The programme offers an opportunity to revisit films such as Old Joy, Wendy & Lucy, Certain Women and First Cow, tracing Reichardt’s attention to society’s margins, human relationships and the landscapes that shape her characters’ experiences. LEFFEST will also welcome Sophie Letourneur, who will present her complete filmography, being shown in Portugal for the first time with the exception of L’Aventura, one of the most prominent films of her recent career. The tribute to actress Barbara Sukowa includes a conversation with David Cronenberg about M. Butterfly, the 1993 film in which she stars. The German actress, whose career includes notable collaborations with directors such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Margarethe von Trotta, will also be celebrated through three emblematic performances in Lola, M. Butterfly and Hannah Arendt.
The festival will also present a complete retrospective of Lars von Trier, the most comprehensive to date, bringing together feature films, short films, television series, commercials and music videos, alongside appearances by several of his long-standing collaborators. Among them is actor Willem Dafoe, who returns to LEFFEST for the fifth time to take part in a conversation with Stacy Martin following the screening of the first volume of Nymphomaniac: Director’s Cut at Culturgest, at 21h15 pm, on 8 November. The following day, he will lead a masterclass entitled Working with Lars von Trier at Cinema Medeia Nimas, at 11pm. The retrospective will also welcome cinematographer Manuel Alberto Claro; Anders Refn (who collaborated with von Trier for over 30 years, both as an assistant director and as an editor); Ida Harper Jeppesen (representing Zentropa Productions, the production company founded by Lars von Trier); and Maj-Britt Paulmann (who was part of the production team on several of Lars von Trier’s works). Actors Jean-Marc Barr and Barbara Sukowa will also be present for a discussion with audiences following the screening of Europa. These encounters offer audiences an opportunity to engage with the different facets of a filmography that has consistently challenged aesthetic, narrative and moral conventions.
The (im)moralities cycle brings together films, discussions and other artistic events exploring moral, political and aesthetic transgression. Among the festival’s guests, Abel Ferrara and Béatrice Dalle will present Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975). Ferrara will also return to the festival with Bad Lieutenant (1992), which will be screened in his presence as part of the The Death of the Devil cycle. The programme combines film screenings with discussions, readings and performances, including readings by Catarina Wallenstein, Béatrice Dalle and Angélica Liddell, alongside other special events.
Charles Burnett, a central figure in the L.A. Rebellion movement and African-American independent cinema, will also be in Lisbon. The festival will screen a 4K restoration of My Brother’s Wedding, offering audiences the opportunity to discover a singular work of American cinema. Frédéric Bonnaud, director of the Cinémathèque française, will also present Orson Welles’s The Stranger and Paula Delsol’s La Dérive, both in 4K restorations.
From 6 to 15 November, LEFFEST transforms Lisbon into a meeting place for filmmakers, artists and audiences, celebrating the collective experience of cinema and fostering direct dialogue with those who make it.