10 To Watch: Our Top Picks at the 2025 Adelaide Film Festival

Running from October 15 to October 26, the festival will screen over 123 films including 27 world premieres and 37 Australian premieres. Expect everything from Cannes winners to Australian indie projects and a strong continigent of foreign films with creative teams from 27 countries represented.

There’s a lot to choose from, but these 10 films are our top picks.

For a small family drama: Jimpa

Kicking off the festival is Jimpa, directed by Adelaide-born filmmaker Sophie Hyde ( 52 Tuesdays, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande*) and filmed on location in Adelaide, Amsterdam and Helsinki. The film stars Oscar winner Olivia Colman, playing a fictionalised version of Hyde, who travels to Amsterdam with her non-binary teenage child to visit her father, played by screen legend John Lithgow. The film, which also features Hyde’s child Aud Mason-Hyde playing the fictionalised version of themself, explores intergenerational relationships and the complexity of queer life.

Jimpa makes its Australian premiere at Capri Theatre, Goodwood on Wednesday October 15. Tickets are available online.

For lovers of film history: Nouvelle Vague

Director Richard Linklater ( Before trilogy, Boyhood ) has two films screening at Adelaide Film Festival. The first, Blue Moon, will delight musical theatre fans, and Nouvelle Vague is a treat for cinephiles. The film is an exploration of the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless. Set in 1959 Paris, the film captures the chaotic brilliance of the French new wave movement that still shapes cinema today.

Nouvelle Vague is playing at Palace Nova Eastend on Thursday October 16 and Saturday October 25. Tickets are available online.

For lovers of gothic horror: Frankenstein

If you loved last year’s Nosferatu, brace yourself for Frankenstein. Off the back of a 15-minute standing ovation at Venice Film Festival, Frankenstein is a long-time passion project by Guillermo del Toro ( Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water ). It stars Oscar Isaac as Dr Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as his monster. Del Toro’s darkly stylish take on Mary Shelley’s 1818 classic focuses on toxic family dynamics between fathers and sons (or between obsessive scientists and re-animated corpses). The film is already receiving Oscar buzz.

Frankenstein is playing at The Regal Theatre in Kensington Park on Thursday October 16 and Saturday October 18. Tickets are available online.

For a captivating desert tragedy: Sirât

The winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes, Sirât, is a Spanish-language Moroccan desert drama from French Spanish director Oliver Laxe. The film was inspired by the Islamic concept of the Sirât bridge (the narrow path between heaven and hell), and follows a father and son as they search for their missing daughter/sister, who was last seen at an illegal desert rave. The film unfolds slowly as the characters navigate the borders, politics and mysteries of Morocco.

Sirât is premiering at Palace Nova Eastend on Friday October 17 and also playing on Saturday October 25. Tickets are available online.

For a darkly surreal take on motherhood: If I Had Legs I’d Kick You

Rose Byrne is riveting as Linda, an unravelling mother navigating stress, desperation and exhaustion in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. Directed by Mary Bronstein, the film follows Linda as she clashes with her therapist (played by Conan O’Brien in a rare acting role) and drifts through a surreal, often unsettling world. The story is a heavy one, as audiences are pulled into Linda’s haze of drinking, drug use and despair, as she grasps to hold every fragile moment together.

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is playing at Capri Theatre, Goodwood on Friday October 17 and at The Regal Theatre, Kensington Park on Saturday October 25. Tickets are available online.

For a vibrant political thriller: The Secret Agent

The Secret Agent has been cleaning up on the festival circuit, including winning Best Actor and Best Director at Cannes. Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho ( Bacurau, Aquarius ), the Brazilian film is a political thriller set in 1977, during the country’s military dictatorship. Wagner Moura stars as a former teacher who, fleeing persecution, heads to his hometown of Recife, where he navigates Carnival chaos and political corruption.

The Secret Agent is playing at Palace Nova Eastend on Saturday October 18 and Thursday October 23. Tickets are available online.

For punk-horror fans: Penny Lane Is Dead

The directorial debut of artist Mia’kate Russell, Penny Lane Is Dead delivers on its gore promises. Filmed in South Australia, the film is set in 1986 at a celebration in a remote beach house. The film revels in “cabin in the woods” tropes while serving up a bloody and darkly witty story that comes to the consensus that men always ruin the vibes.

Penny Lane Is Dead is screening at The Piccadilly, North Adelaide on Saturday October 18 and at Palace Nova Eastend on Tuesday October 21. Tickets are available online.

For politically charged cinema: It Was Just an Accident

Palme d’Or winner It Was Just an Accident is the latest from director Jafar Panahi ( The White Balloon, Taxi ), whose own imprisonment informs the film’s exploration of political repression. The film follows Vahid (Vahid Mobasheri) as he confronts the officer who once tortured him. The thought-provoking piece is tipped to be a contender this awards season.

It Was Just an Accident is screening at the Capri Theatre, Goodwood on Sunday October 19 and at Palace Nova Eastend on Sunday October 26. Tickets are available online.

For intergenerational drama: All That’s Left of You

Cherien Dabis’s All That’s Left of You traces 75 years of Palestinian history through the story of one family. The American Palestinian filmmaker examines the inherited trauma of a once-middle-class Jaffa family who were uprooted in 1948. The film moves through defining historical moments between 1978 and 2022. It’s a quietly powerful exploration of family, memory, strength and resilience.

All That’s Left of You is screening at the Odeon Star, Semaphore on Sunday 19 October and at The Piccadilly, North Adelaide on Saturday 25 October. Tickets are available online.

For a personal musical journey: Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds

Directed by Ursula Grace Williams, Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds follows singer-songwriter Marlon Williams as he releases an album entirely in Te Reo Māori. The documentary is a personal and artistic exploration of Williams’s heritage. Set against the backdrop of New Zealand’s stunning landscapes, the film is a quiet and intimate portrait of an artist in the midst of self-discovery.

Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds is screening at The Piccadilly, North Adelaide on Wednesday October 22 and at The Odeon Star, Semaphore on Saturday October 25. Tickets are available online.

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