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Bath Film Festival returns for its 35th festival for 10 days to screen over 50 films across the city of Bath, showcasing a wonderfully diverse selection of cinema from around the world and screening movies in some of Bath’s most unexpected buildings.

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-time Oscar nominee Yorgos Lanthimos, his much-anticipated new film Bugonia, starring Emma Stone.

There will also be an impressive 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. (above)
• 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 two brothers navigating Lagos during the turbulent 1993 election in My Father’s Shadow, to a haunting near future where humanity has lost the ability to dream in Resurrection, from China, and a teacher on the run during carnival week in Recife in The Secret Agent ffrom Brazil. Audiences can also discover more than 20 other international titles from France, India, Mexico, Guatemala, Palestine, Spain and beyond.

Queer voices

In partnership with Queer Vision, FilmBath 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; and 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

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; and 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, while Power Station (above) 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 perspectives

At least 50% of the films in the FilmBath programme are directed and/or written by women. 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 (pictured above), and Agnès Varda’s radiant masterpiece Le Bonheur (Happiness).

More about Film & TV in Bath

Festivals in Bath