IFF Art Film 2025 brings an exclusive line-up to Košice: titles that have turned heads this year at Cannes, the Berlinale, Sundance, Rotterdam and beyond. Audiences can look forward to works by renowned auteurs as well as striking new voices, many screening in Slovakia for the very first time.
From the screens of these prestigious festivals straight to Košice, four features will compete in the International Competition of Feature Films section. Sorry, Baby (2025) by director Eva Victor is a black comedy about a university professor trying to recover after a sexual assault; the debut premiered at Sundance 2025, where it won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, and went on to Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes.
Also traveling from Sundance is DJ Ahmet (2025), following a fifteen-year-old from North Macedonia who, after his mother’s death, must bend to his strict father’s rules, finding refuge in music and a forbidden romance. The film won the Sundance Audience Award and a Special Jury Award for Creative Vision in the World Cinema Dramatic section.
Competing for the Blue Angel in Košice is the Lithuanian drama Toxic (2024), a coming-of-age tale of two girls navigating toxic relationships and body image. It swept Locarno with four prizes, including the Golden Leopard, and was nominated for the European Discovery – FIPRESCI Prize.
The competition line-up also features Little Trouble Girls (2025), the feature debut of Urška Djukić, in which introverted sixteen-year-old Lucia begins to question her convictions during a choir retreat. The visually lush, sensual drama won the FIPRESCI Prize at Berlinale 2025.
The popular non-competitive Panorama section—showcasing the past year’s stand-out world cinema—offers several high-profile festival hits. Viewers can look forward to It Was Just an Accident (2025) by Jafar Panahi, winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2025, a sharply satirical exploration of revenge, forgiveness and justice in a repressive society.
Cannes also hosted the world premiere of Sergei Loznitsa’s Two Prosecutors (2025), a chilling historic drama set amid Stalin’s Great Purge.
Set in contemporary Russia, the documentary Mr. Nobody Against Putin (2025) won the Special Jury Award at Sundance 2025; it offers a gripping look at state propaganda through the lens of a teacher risking everything for his values.
Norwegian entry Love (Sex, Dreams) (2024), the second instalment of Dag Johan Haugerud’s trilogy, confirmed Scandinavia’s frankness about intimacy by taking both the Golden Bear and the FIPRESCI Prize at Berlinale 2025.
Gabriel Mascaro’s dystopian odyssey The Blue Trail (2025) premiered at Berlinale, winning the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize and the Ecumenical Jury Award; it follows 77-year-old Teresa’s illicit Amazon journey in search of newfound freedom.
The long-standing Love & Anarchy section, home to the festival’s boldest, most innovative works, will this year screen two top award winners. The Message (2025), Silver Bear Jury Prize winner at Berlinale 2025, is a melancholy road movie about young Anika, who believes she can talk to animals while her foster parents exploit the gift for profit.
Rotterdam Tiger-winner Fiume o morte! (2025), Igor Bezinović’s hybrid comedic docudrama, gleefully deconstructs the absurd 1919 occupation of Rijeka by the decadent poet-warrior Gabriele D’Annunzio.
This year’s IFF Art Film line-up proves the festival remains a gateway for Slovak audiences to encounter the most exciting, up-to-the-minute world cinema—first, and in an atmosphere like no other.
31st IFF ART FILM is made possible thanks to
Organizer: ART FILM FEST s.r.o.;
Co-organizers: Mesto Košice, K13 – Košické kultúrne centrá, Visit Košice, ART FILM FEST n.o., LGM s.r.o., FORLIVE;
Financial support: Audiovizuálny fond a Nadácia SPP
The festival is co-financed by Košický samosprávny kraj through the Terra Incognita programme;
Main partners: národná lotériová spoločnosť TIPOS, Slovenská elektrizačná prenosová sústava a.s., CODES Brand House;
Main media partners: TV JOJ, Pravda, Eurotelevízia;
Automotive partner: Moris Slovakia
Advertising partners: Best Press, U. S. Steel Košice, ANTIK telecom, Kino Úsmev, LOKO TRANS Media, CORE Labs, Technická univerzita v Košiciach;
Technology partners: NOV, ZEBRA, Deutsche Telekom Systems Solutions Slovakia, T4H, LEDGO, DELTA OnLine, ARICOMA, TelekomCLOUD;
Official suppliers: DKC Veritas, Kaviareň Slávia, PLOOM, Krušovice BOHÉM, pramenitá voda Lucka, DOMOS SLOVAKIA, Reštaurácia Contessa, Aupark Shopping Center Košice, Pierre Baguette, Julius Meinl, Red Fox Golf Club; Official wine: Kubbo Select a Ostrožovič;
Media partners: JOJ play, JOJ 24, Film Europe, Rádio KOŠICE, Aktuality.sk, Forbes, Startitup.sk, Korzár, Slovenka, SITA, TASR, Mediaboard, See & Go, ČSFD, BigMedia, Košice City Guide, Košice v skratke, Film.sk, diva.sk, koktejl.sk, zenskyweb.sk, MOJAkultúra, kino Sterio, Dopravný podnik mesta Košice, AHOJ TV;
Partners: JOJ Cinema, Jojko, Veľvyslanectvo Indie v Bratislave, Carmeuse Slovakia, DDDental, TINY Houses, ECO Technologies, Letisko Košice, Local Nomad Tours, Slovenský filmový ústav, Taper, YumEarth, Puella vône, Kvety Garomi, čLOVEčina hra, Rakúske kultúrne fórum, TESCO Store SK, CPK Transport, Tabačka Kulturfabrik, King Media, Východoslovenské múzeum v Košiciach, Letní filmová škola, KPK Reklama, MIHYRING, Zoberma taxi, Hair Factory Košice, Velvyslanectví České republiky v Bratislavě;
Gastronomic partners: Pub u Kohúta, El Nacional, OhniskO Fire Dining & Brew Bar, Maiko Sushi, Macarons Košice, šum vináreň, Café de Paris, Casa Trade – Casablanca cafe, TATRATEA, Moritz Eis.
