Philadelphia Film Festival Unveils First Wave of 35th Edition Lineup

Martin McDonagh's "Wild Horse Nine," Cristian Mungiu's "Fjord" and Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi's "La Bola Negra" headline the first wave of programming for the 35th Philadelphia Film Festival, which runs October 15-25.

The announcement, made by the Philadelphia Film Society, fills out a slate that also includes Danny Boyle's "Ink," Sundance Grand Jury winner "Josephine" directed by Beth de Araújo, Simon Stone's "Elsinore" starring Andrew Scott, and "Behemoth!" from director Tony Gilroy.

The festival will host four world premieres in its Filmadelphia section: "Big Phan" directed by Hoag Kepner, "Gentle By Birth" directed by Doree Simon Hatfield, "I Don't Want to Drink Your Blood Anymore" directed by Andrew Sullivan, and "Joy Will Prevail" directed by Max Korman.

The documentary lineup features "Naza" by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, "Jean-Michel Basquiat" by Quinn Whitney Wilson and Viridiana Lieberman, "When a Witness Recants" by Dawn Porter, "Seized" by Sharon Liese, "The Match" by Juan Cabral and Santiago Franco, "The Last Critic" by Matty Wishnow, and "The Oldest Person in the World" by Sam Green.

The 53-film first wave draws heavily on the international festival circuit while reserving space for Philadelphia-made work. Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's "All of a Sudden," Pedro Almodóvar's "Bitter Christmas," Paweł Pawlikowski's "Fatherland," Hirokazu Kore-eda's "Look Back," Lee Chang-dong's "Possible Love," Andrey Zvyagintsev's "Minotaur" and Lukas Dhont's "Coward" anchor the auteur contingent. Florian Zeller's "Bunker," Andrew Haigh's "A Long Winter," Mike Leigh's "Tender Loving Care" and Radu Jude's "The Diary of a Chambermaid" add further name recognition.

Julia Loktev arrives with a two-part work, "My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow" and "My Undesirable Friends: Part II — Exile." Siân Heder, whose "CODA" won the Best Picture Oscar, screens "Being Heumann."

The full PFF35 lineup will be announced October 7.

J. Andrew Greenblatt, CEO and executive director of the Philadelphia Film Society, framed the selection as a statement of intent for the anniversary edition. "This year's films bring together extraordinary filmmakers from around the world, from new films from modern masters to major discoveries from debuting filmmakers and everything in between," Greenblatt said. "We're thrilled to feature some of the most celebrated and highly anticipated titles from the international festival circuit alongside work created right here in Philadelphia. It's exactly the kind of breadth and ambition we want this milestone Festival to represent."

With premieres, festival-circuit prizewinners and local productions sharing a single program, PFF35 positions Philadelphia as both a destination for autumn's most traded titles and a launchpad for hometown filmmakers — a balance the October 7 announcement will complete.