Bath Film Festival marks its 35th anniversary this October with a ten-day celebration of international cinema, running from Friday 17th to Sunday 26th and presenting more than 50 films, events and experiences across the city in a choice of historic and unexpected venues.
As well as classics of world cinema, bold documentaries, queer voices, F-rated retrospectives, filmmaker Q&As and immersive screenings, the festival’s birthday edition will also provide unrivalled chances to preview a selection of the most talked-about upcoming films before general release.
Highlights of the 2025 line-up include advance showings of
- Die, My Love, directed by Lynne Ramsay and starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson.
- Rental Family, with Brendan Fraser in an unexpected comic turn.
- Private Life, featuring Jodie Foster in a French-language performance.
- If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You, with Rose Byrne in a career-defining role as a mother pushed to breaking point.
- Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, a raw portrait of The Boss starring Jeremy Allen White.
- From five times Oscar nominee Yorgos Lanthimos, his much-anticipated new film Bugonia, starring Emma Stone.
Tickets for the full line-up go on public sale at 10am on Friday 12 September and can be booked via www.filmbath.org.uk or by phoning 01225 463362 visiting Bath Box Office, The Forum, BA1 1AG. A flexible pricing policy is in place to ensure maximum access.
Festival director Jasmine Barker said, “This year we celebrate 35 years of Bath Film Festival – and we’ve created a programme that really showcases the power of film in allowing us to see the world through a news lens.
“From previews of the year’s most talked-about films to intimate Q&As and screenings in Bath’s most atmospheric spaces, the festival is a playground for film lovers. We’re proud to champion new voices, celebrate diverse perspectives, and reimagine how cinema can be experienced together.”
Other highpoints of the programme include
In Conversation
Audiences will also have the chance to go beyond the screen with an outstanding line-up of Q&As, including:
- Ralph Fiennes – in conversation following a screening of The Invisible Woman, which he both directed and starred in, reflecting on his acclaimed career on stage and screen.
- Reid Davenport – director of Life After, joining to discuss his sharp, provocative perspective on disability, representation, and the ethics of assisted dying.
- Max Porter – local author of the best-selling novel adapted into The Thing with Feathers, appearing after the screening to talk about the process of seeing his book transformed into a Benedict Cumberbatch-led film.
- Alberto Sciamma – Spanish filmmaker and director of Cielo, a surreal and moving Bolivian-set drama, discussing the inspirations and challenges behind the film.
- Lyndsey Marshal and Benedict Turnbull – lead actress and producer of Restless, a taut psychological thriller, taking questions on bringing this intense story to the screen.
- Hilary Powell and Dan Edelstyn – creative duo behind the documentary Power Station, joining online to share their experience of turning a London street into a community-powered solar grid.
International Dramas
This year’s international dramas traverse borders, identities, and generations to tell deeply human stories.
- From Nigeria, My Father’s Shadow follows two brothers navigating Lagos during the turbulent 1993 election.
- In Chile, Cuerpo Celeste sees a young woman return to the site of personal tragedy, uncovering how landscapes and lives shift with time.
- Resurrection, from China, imagines a haunting near future where humanity has lost the ability to dream.
- From Iran, It Was Just an Accident depicts a former political prisoner confronting the man he believes once tortured him.
- And in Brazil, The Secret Agent follows a teacher on the run during carnival week in Recife.
- Audiences can also discover more than 20 other international titles from France, India, Mexico, Guatemala, Palestine, Spain and beyond.
Bold Queer Voices
In partnership with Queer Vision, Bath Film Festival continues its commitment to LGBTQ+ storytelling with a vibrant strand that challenges, celebrates and reimagines queer lives on screen.
- Ponyboi is a gripping thriller centred on an intersex sex worker.
- Pillion offers a tender yet gritty portrait of desire and danger within a biker gang.
- Cherub discovers affirmation and community in an unexpected queer subculture.
- Lesbian Space Princess takes audiences on a playful, irreverent sci-fi adventure.
- Closing the queer strand with a bang, Queens of the Dead pits drag queens against zombies in a gloriously camp, blood-splattered battle for survival.
Documentaries that Spark Conversation
The festival’s documentary strand celebrates stories of resilience, creativity, and community from around the world.
- Strange Journey charts the extraordinary rise of The Rocky Horror Show and its enduring cultural legacy.
- Palestine Comedy Club follows performers bringing laughter to unexpected places.
- How to Build a Library honours two Kenyan women transforming a colonial relic into a hub for local learning.
- In Comparsa, a vivid portrait of Guatemala’s street carnivals comes alive.
- Power Station captures one London couple’s mission to turn their street into a solar-powered community. These films highlight the power of documentary to capture resilience, reimagine futures and spark essential conversations.
F-rated Retrospectives
Bath Film Festival prides itself on its very own F-Rating, which guarantees that at least 50% of the films in the programme are directed and/or written by women. First introduced at Bath in 2014, the F-Rating has since been adopted by festivals and cinemas worldwide as a benchmark for gender equality in film.
As part of this commitment, the festival presents a series of F-rated Retrospectives at the Everyman, revisiting classics that reshaped cinema. This year’s line-up features Mary Harron’s cult satire American Psycho, Kathryn Bigelow’s visionary Strange Days, Susan Seidelman’s screwball comedy Desperately Seeking Susan and Agnès Varda’s radiant masterpiece Le Bonheur (Happiness).
Immersive Film Experiences
Stepping outside the cinema, the festival offers a series of unforgettable film experiences across the city, including:
- Wings (1927) + Live Organ Score – Bath Abbey becomes the setting for William Wellman’s silent World War I epic, brought to life by Dr Rebekah Okpoti beneath the Peace Doves installation.
- Godzilla (1954) + Introduction by Steven Sloss – A rare screening at the Museum of East Asian Art, exploring trauma and post-war identity in Japanese cinema, in partnership with Bath Archaeo-Heritage Film.
- Rope (1948) + Macramé Workshop – Hitchcock’s thriller meets craft night at Burdall’s Yard, hosted by queer horror collective Reel Life Monsters.
- Big Night (1996) + Italian Feast – Stanley Tucci’s beloved film about two brothers risking everything on one spectacular meal is paired with a themed supper from Bath Community Kitchen.
- Selma (2014) + Q&A with Roger Griffith MBE – Ava DuVernay’s civil rights drama at the American Museum & Gardens, followed by a discussion on activism and legacy.
- Move Ya Body: The Birth of House (2025) + Leap & Dance Party – At Roseberry Road Studios, discover the origins of house music, followed by a VJ chillout space and a house-fuelled dance party.
- Wild Swimmers (2025) + Director Introduction – Under Bath’s historic Colonnades, local filmmaker Ric Rawlins introduces his supernatural thriller set on the River Avon.
The Shape of Water (2017) – Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar-winning romance screened riverside at the Colonnades with wireless headphones.
These one-off experiences transform Bath into the festival’s stage, blending film with music, food, history and place.
Industry Day & IMDb Awards
Supporting emerging talent is at the heart of Bath Film Festival. On Wednesday 22 October, the IMDb Awards return to Komedia with a refreshed format, showcasing the next generation of filmmakers through finalist short films and live readings of shortlisted scripts. Industry judges and audiences will come together to select the winners, offering bold new voices a platform that extends far beyond Bath.
On Thursday 23 October, the festival hosts its annual Film Industry Day in the Forum’s historic Ballroom and Coffee House, bringing together creatives from across the South West.
Highlights include panels on funding, animation and taking a story from script to screen, alongside BFI Film Hub South West’s Members Meet-Up, Script Club with Center Frame, Curate This: Cinema Reimagined in the South West, and a short film screening of Wormholes followed by a Q&A with past IMDb Award Winner Jonathan Skinner.
Long- time supporter Col Needham, Founder & Executive Chair of IMDb, said, “Bath Film Festival is a wonderful celebration of cinema, combining international films, filmmaker Q&As and immersive events with the IMDb Awards, which give a vital platform to new voices in film. I’m delighted to see the festival continue to champion both world-class cinema and the next generation of storytellers.”
Bath Film Festival would not be possible with out the support of our volunteers, board members and freelancers who make the festival possible, as well as our partners and sponsors: IMDb, BFI FAN Audience Network, Visual Impact, Mechanical Mouse, Emery, Freestyle Designs, TSL Consulting, Rodolfi & Hall, Red Central, Mallorys, Bath BID, Bath Recreation, Boom Battle Bar, Independent Spirit, The Raven, GWR, Apex Hotels, Bath Box Office, American Museum & Gardens, Archeo-Heritage Film, Bath Community Kitchen, Bath Friends of Palestine, Bath Abbey, Bath Spa University, Bristol Palestine Film Festival, Everyman, Boston Tea Party, Komedia, The Little Theatre Cinema, Museum of East Asian Art, Polymathic, Queer Vision, Reel Life Monsters, Roseberry Road Studios, South West Silents, The Forum, The Jesters and WIG!
