This section serves up nine highlights from major festivals in Berlin, Cannes and Venice, featuring international stars like Mads Mikkelsen, who shines in THE LAST VIKING in a rather unaccustomed performance – on top of that, there are trashy covers of ABBA and Beatles songs. In the courtroom drama RE-CREATION from Irish filmmaking legend Jim Sheridan, Vicky Krieps plays a juror plagued by doubt. With URCHIN, acting star Harry Dickinson delivers an unusual directorial debut that deals with individuals on society’s margins. Croatia’s 2025 Academy Award submission BEAUTIFUL EVENING, BEAUTIFUL DAY delves into untold history, as former partisan fighters who now work as filmmakers in the propaganda department fall out of favour with the party due to their sexual orientation. PERLA from Austria and Slovakia is a heart-rending psychological drama set in the Cold War era, and CONFIDENTE from Turkey is based on real-life events at an erotic call centre in 1999. The haunting drama THE PUPIL sheds light on the abuse of vulnerable individuals in sport. NOBODY LIKES ME tells a heart-breaking story of unrequited love, and in the comedy THE DOLL, a doll has to serve as a substitute for a real woman, a state of affairs she doesn’t really like.