The 2025 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) showcases a vast and diverse program of over 275 films, including a compelling selection of 25 multilingual, multinational productions where France participates through co-production rather than language. Having already explored the Chantal Akerman retrospective, films in French, and multilingual films spoken in French in earlier articles, this article highlights international co-productions that feature France as one of the producing countries but without French as one of the languages.
Visionary directors including Jafar Panahi, Pedro Pinho, and Hlynur Pálmason lead a vibrant program, with performances as thrilling as they are touching. Cannes-lauded entries rub shoulders with quirky genre-benders and offbeat shorts, exploring themes of identity, freedom, and resilience—often with a generous dose of wit, whimsy, or hope.
These films span continents and languages—from Bleat!, a Tamil fable about a miraculous goat and Icelandic family dramas like The Love That Remains to energetic tales of self-discovery such as Left-Handed Girl, playful coming-of-age stories like Renoir, and comedies infused with social satire like Loynes.
While many films dazzle with wit, whimsy, or poetic warmth, MIFF 2025’s slate also confronts reality with powerful, sometimes unsettling narratives. Audiences will encounter intense political thrillers like Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident, sweeping allegories on oppression such as The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, and meditative dramas exploring trauma and survival in films like Sanatorium and Two Prosecutors. The program’s diversity ensures that moments of levity are in conversation with profound stories of struggle, resistance, and transformation.
SHORT FILM
Director: Anath Subramaniam
Countries: Philippines, France, Malaysia
Languages: Tamil
When a male goat who was raised to be a sacrificial offering falls pregnant, a remote Tamil community wonders if it’s a curse or a miracle.
I Only Rest in the Storm / O Riso e a Faca
Director: Pedro Pinho
Countries: France, Portugal, Romania, Brazil
Language: Portuguese, Creole
Garnering an acting award at Cannes for Cleo Diára, this sprawling low-key odyssey puts First World assumptions about international aid in the crosshairs.
Director: Tarik Saleh
Countries: Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden
Language: Arabic
When he takes on one leading role too many, an Egyptian celebrity becomes a pawn for an oppressive regime he believes can’t touch him. It stars French actress Lyna Khoudri.
Director: Gianluca Matarrese
Countries: France, Italy, Switzerland
Language: Italian
The humanity and diversity of both trans people and those undergoing IVF are foregrounded in this intimate documentary centred on a passionate doctor.
Director: Scandar Copti
Countries: Germany, France, Italy, Qatar, Palestine
Languages: Arabic, Hebrew
Ripples of social coercion flow in this tense, cleverly structured Palestinian family drama.
Director: Athina Rachel Tsangari
Countries: USA, UK, Germany, Greece, France
Language: English
A magnetic Caleb Landry Jones stars in this moody medieval parable adapted from a Booker Prize-shortlisted novel.
SHORT FILM
Director: Tawfeek Barhom
Countries: Greece, France, Palestine
Language: Arabic
The winner of this year’s Short Film Palme d’Or at cannes is a tale of two brothers returning to the island of their childhood – and to the buried secrets that await.
Director: Jafar Panahi
Countries: France, Luxembourg, Iran
Language: Afghan Persian
Winning the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, Jafar Panahi’s revenge thriller is both a broadside and real-world triumph against authoritarian oppression.
Directors: Shahrokh Bikaran, Ilyas Yourish
Countries: France, Belgium, Afghanistan
Language: Afghan
The death of a young woman leads a Hazara family to look for answers and pursue justice on the eve of the Taliban’s takeover.
Director: Shih-Ching Tsou
Countries: France, Taiwan
Languages: Mandarin, Taiwanese
A single mum and her two daughters navigate the margins of Taipei in Shih-Ching Tsou’s Cannes-awarded solo directorial debut, co-written and edited by Sean Baker.
The Love that Remains/ Ástin sem eftir er
Director: Hlynur Pálmason
Countries: France, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden
Language: Icelandic
An intimate and at times surreal dramedy from the director of Godland (MIFF 2022) about an unconventional family separation.
SHORT FILM
Director: Dorian Jespers
Countries: Belgium, France, North Macedonia, UK
Language: English
From Cannes comes this singularly bizarre mix of history and nightmare, in which a 19th century corpse is pulled from the mud and put on trial before a delirious Liverpool courtroom.
Director : The Maw Naing
Countries : France, South Korea, Norway, Singapore, Myanmar, Qatar
Language: Burmese
Textile factory workers on strike reflect a greater political resistance in this stirring cir de Coeur set amid the military occupation of Myanmar.
Directors: Arab Nasser, Tarzan Nasser
Countries : Germany, France, Portugal, Qatar, Palestine
Language : Arabic
A young Palestinian man learns that revenge isn’t just a vicious circle – it’s cinematic.
Director: Raoul Peck
Countries: USA, France
Language: English
War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. 1984 Is 2025.
Director: Chiye Hayakawa
Countries: Japan, Philippines, France, Singapore, Indonesia
Languages: English, Japanese
This Cannes Competition highlight is a tender, memoir-etched coming-of-age portrait of formative loneliness and loss.
Director: Bi Gan
Countries: USA, France, China
Language: Wu Chinese
Winner of the Cannes Prix Spécial, the third feature from Bi Gan is a sweeping sensorial odyssey and a meditation on human and film history.
Director: Gar O’Rourke
Countries: France, Ukraine, Ireland
Language: Ukranian
War rages outside, but within the walls of an ex-Soviet spa in Ukraine, the health kick continues.
The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo/La Misteriosa Mirada del Flamenco
Director Diego Céspedes
Countries: Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, Chile
Language: Spanish
The winner of the 2025 Cannes Un Certain Regard Prize, this AIDS-era allegory follows a young girl and her found family as they confront a hostile, fearful society.
Director: Kleber Medonça Filho
Countries: Germany, France, Netherlands, Brazil
Language: Portuguese
Winner of three major awards at Cannes, Kleber Medonça Filho’s bravura political thriller set during Brazil’s military dictatorship is a wild widescreen odyssey.
SHORT FILM
Director: Rand Beiruty
Countries: France, Jordan
Languages: Arabic, German
A 14-year-old runaway mother races through the crowded Baghdad airport, fleeing the dark past that stands between her and freedom.
Director: Alireza Khatami
Countries: France, Canada, Türkiye, Poland
Language: Turkish
In this cerebral thriller from Sundance Directing Award winner Alireza Khatami, a Turkish university professor sets out to avenge his deceased mother.
Director: Sergei Loznitsa
Countries: Germany, France, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands
Languages: Russian, Ukranian
Adapted from a Soviet Gulag survivor’s story, Sergei Loznitsa’s return to fiction is a Kafkaesque fable that echoes loudly amid contemporary political corruption.
Director: Sandra Desmazières
Countries: France, Netherlands, Portugal
NO DIALOGUE
In this heart-warming, heartbreaking tale of maternity, love and loss, a free diver reminisces on a lifetime spent underwater.
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Countries: France, Iran
Language: Farsi
Reeling from a tragic event, a widowed mother swears revent on the men who’ve wronged her.
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In these international co-productions at MIFF 2025, audiences will find laughter, bittersweet joy, and humanity in abundance throughout the festival’s global parade. From the intimate to the epic, MIFF 2025 highlights both the dramatic vitality and the playful, life-affirming spirit at the heart of international cinema today.
KEY INFO FOR MIFF 2025
WHAT: Melbourne International Film Festival 2025 (MIFF 2025)
WHERE: Various cinemas in Melbourne
WHEN: 7 to 24 August 2025
HOW: Purchase your tickets to the films via the links above. You can purchase your MIFF Multi passes via this link
HOW MUCH: If you’re planning on seeing more than one film, or even going to one film with a few people, you may find the Multi passes to be good value.
Individual tickets
Full $28
Concession $25.20
Group of 10+ $23.80 each
BlakTix $14
Multipass-3
Full price: $79.80
Concession: $71.90
MIFF Members: $67.90
Multipass-6
Full price: $151.20
Concession: 136.10
MIFF Members $128.60
Multipass-12
Full price: 285.60
Concession: $257.10
MIFF Members $242.80
Festival Passport
A single ticket to every standard session at MIFF 2025. It’s available exclusively as part of a Deluxe Membership. A Deluxe Membership costs $650.
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Which films are you planning to see at MIFF 2025?
MORE MIFF 2025 CONTENT
13 films in French from France and the Francophonie coming to MIFF 2025
A Chantal Akerman retrospective is coming to Melbourne International Film Festival 2025 this August
