Among the first titles in the programme are some of the most outstanding films of the year, works by essential directors, but also by new emerging filmmakers who have made a name for themselves on the international scene, with essential names such as Werner Herzog, Claire Denis, Alexandre Koberidze, Hlynur Pálmason and Milagros Mumenthaler. Twelve films premiering in Catalonia present an overview of the most innovative, daring and cutting-edge cinema of the moment, offering a plurality of themes and perspectives that reflect the state of auteur cinema today and look to the future. This is a small preview of what is to come in the 16th edition of the D’A – Barcelona Film Festival.
Barrio triste is the striking debut of Colombian Stillz, the very young director of music videos for Rosalía and Bad Bunny, in one of the freest and most extreme films of the year, produced by Harmony Korine and with a soundtrack by Arca.
Veteran director Werner Herzog embarks on Ghost Elephants in another of his adventures, which this time takes him to encounter the mysterious ghost elephants of Angola. Impossible dreams, vital reflections and extraordinary images in a documentary premiered at the 2025 Venice Biennale.
Hlynur Pálmason will be present twice at the D’A – Barcelona Film Festival, where he won the Talents award in 2020 with A White, White Day. In Joan of Arc, the director films his own children in a playful film about the passage of time, while in The Love That Remains, he follows a couple with three children throughout a year in which their marriage falls apart.
Georgian director Alexandre Koberidze, one of the most prominent young directors in European cinema, returns after his outstanding What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? He will present Dry Leaf at the festival, a masterful film about time, memory and human bonds. Special mention from the Locarno Festival Jury.
The Sound of Falling by Mascha Schilinski is one of the most eagerly awaited films of the year, after winning the Jury Prize at Cannes 2025 (ex aequo with Sirât). A fascinating and phantasmagorical kaleidoscope about memory and its mechanisms.
Also eagerly awaited is the film Las corrientes (The Currents), the return of Argentine director Milagros Mumenthaler (La idea de un lago), with a powerful portrait of a woman adrift, which caused a sensation at the 2025 San Sebastián Film Festival, where it won the RTVE Otra Mirada Award.
The great Claire Denis, one of the leading figures at D’A, which dedicated a retrospective to her in its first edition, delves into the darkest corners of neocolonialism in Le Cri des gardes (The Fence) with a chilling thriller starring Matt Dillon and Tom Blyth (Benediction). With a soundtrack by Tindersticks.
Mark Jenkin is one of the most original directors in British cinema, having become a cult figure after Enys Men, a psychological horror film that was screened at Sitges. In Rose of Nevada, he continues to captivate audiences with an impossible combination of existential science fiction and marine ethnography. It stars George MacKay (Captain Fantastic) and Callum Turner (Emma).
Finally, two films that have triumphed at international festivals. Two Seasons, Two Strangers by Shô Miyake, winner of the Golden Leopard at Locarno 2025. A poetic and melancholic diptych that places its author in the footsteps of Ryûsuke Hamaguchi or Hong Sangsoo’s meta-cinema.
And finally, A Sad and Beautiful World by Lebanese director Cyril Aris, a major work that has won more than fifteen awards, including the audience award in Venice and Valladolid. A film marked by war, in which a couple is forced to decide whether to stay in the country and start a family in that context or choose exile.
Let’s get started!