Cannes Film Festival 2025
David Nixon, DCA's Head of Cinema, shares this year's must-see films
Cannes Film Festival is one of the major cinema events of the year, showcasing hundreds of new films from all over the world and presenting prestigious awards including the famous Palme d'Or. Running alongside the premieres and competition strands is the Marché du Film, a film marketplace for film producers, distributors, buyers, and programmers to preview the year's most exciting films.
Before heading to Cannes, we asked our Head of Cinema, David Nixon, to tell us what he's most looking forward to at the festival this year…
Published
Die, My Love
Lynne Ramsay is one of my favourite filmmakers so I‘m buzzing that her latest is showing in competition at Cannes. It stars Jennifer Lawrence alongside Robert Pattinson, who continues his run of working with great auteurs, and is an adaptation of Ariana Harwicz’s Spanish-language novel Matate, amor.
Romería
I was floored by Carla Simon’s debut feature Summer 1993 and loved her follow up Alcarras, so I can’t wait to see her next film. Her previous two films both premiered at Berlin Film Festival, so it’s interesting to see Romería premiere at Cannes this year.
The History of Sound
Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor, who have both experienced meteoric rises to fame in what feels like such a short period of time, star in this historical romantic drama set in America during WWI. But it isn’t necessarily the actors who are the biggest draw for me, it is the director Oliver Hermanus, whose 2019 film Moffie caught my attention and ran away with it.
The Mastermind
Writer-director Kelly Reichardt is best known for her intimate character studies like Certain Women and Wendy and Lucy, so to see her taking on a 1970s art-heist thriller is an intriguing prospect - even before you consider the film's excellent cast (Josh O'Connor again, alongside Alana Haim and John Magaro).
Alpha
Julia Ducournau shook the city of Cannes back in 2021 when her body-horror Titane won the Palme d’Or. If her latest film Alpha achieves the same success, she’ll be joining an exclusive group of directors to have won Cannes’ highest prize multiple times.
…plus, must-see directorial debuts
I’m also interested to see a few actors take their first step behind the camera, with debut features by Harris Dickinson (Urchin), Kristen Stewart (The Chronology of Water), and Scarlett Johansson (Eleanor the Great) all showing in the Un Certain Regard programme.
Love it! We'll catch up with David on his return from Cannes and find out which film was his top festival highlight.
Meanwhile, two of Cannes' biggest premieres will arrive at DCA Cinema very soon – Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme is booking now, while Tom Cruise's action spectacular Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning hits our screens on Fri 6 June.