AFI Fest 2025 Best Films

AFI Fest brought some of the most highly anticipated international films to Hollywood from the 2025 film festival circuit for a long-weekend celebration of film. AFI Fest gives locals a chance to see a experience a wide range of global stories and film critics a chance to catch up on films from Sundance, Berlin, Venice, and Cannes ahead of any general releases. We broadened our viewing habits this time to include a mix of short films – see our short film recap linked here – to look out for some up-and-coming filmmakers. Our feature film recap below spanned 3 continents – highlighting some stand-out films from Colombia, Armenia, and Spain!

Our Top Three from AFI Fest 2025

1. A Poet (Colombia)

Imagine a tragicomic white-savior movie with the energy of Uncut Gems and you’ll find yourself close to A Poet. Oscar Restrepo, a proud poet fails to recapture his former success in the empty bottles that leave him shouting drunken verses at transients in the middle of the night. To try and reconnect with his teenage daughter, he turns to teaching, and finds an unpolished gem in one of his students to live his dreams through. However, not everyone understands his intentions. Class and race collide in this roller-coaster tragicomedy powered by an anxious, always moving camera, sudden cuts, and Oscar’s winning smile.

2. My Armenian Phantoms (Armenia)

When I think of compilation films, I think of Los Angeles Plays Itself, and the diary films of Jonas Mekas. The first uses archival clips from a wide range of films set in Los Angeles to show how the city has changed alongside Hollywood, whilst Jonas Mekas uses raw personal footage to document his experiences in a diary format. My Armenian Phantoms borrows from both of these styles to take you on a journey through Armenian film history – spinning you onto a bunch of Armenian films to watch next – whilst writing a moving love letter to her father and Armenia itself.

3. Romería (Spain)

Carla Simon is establishing herself as one of the top filmmakers in Spain. This is just her third feature, but watching it feels like she has been making movies for decades. Just like in her Golden Bear winner Alcarràs, Simon creates a incredibly strong sense of setting and fully fleshed characters in such a short time. In Romería, we swing across Spain, displacing the hot summer of Catalonia’s peach harvest for the grey buildings, overcast skies, and frigid Atlantic seas of Vigo. The setting works to hide family secrets as Marina returns to the city in search of her lost past.

Honorable Mentions

We Believe You (Belgium)

Tensions rise and family secrets unravel over the course of a crucial day in a cleverly crafted court-room drama. The director’s choice to shoot this entire film in tightly framed close-ups keeps the full-picture deliberately hidden from us. Just like the civil court judge, we have to make a leap of faith to believe the words of a strained mother fighting for her children.

Young Mothers (Belgium)

Young Mothers is another authentic drama to add to the already impressive filmography of the Dardenne brothers. The film pieces together 5 unique portraits of 5 different girls at a maternal support home near Liège to paint a picture of the social challenges of teenage motherhood.

Kontinental ’25 (Romania)

Radu Jude always has something to say. Whilst Kontinental ’25 may not as politically powerful as his previous films – such as Do Not Expect too Much from the End of the World and I Do Not Care if we Go Down in History as Barbarians – it still contains his very obvious dark humor. It shifts Europe ’51 by laughing at the main character, a bailiff consumed by guilt from an eviction gone wrong, to show the lack of meaningful action taken to reverse the inhumanity of crony capitalism.

Another year, another great slate of films from AFI Fest. We strongly encourage everyone to check out next years edition. Please find previous coverage of AFI Fest here.

Outside of the red carpet film premieres and international film festival circuit darlings, there’s a diverse collection of short films screening at AFI Fest 2025. This is the section where you can find up-and-coming filmmakers aiming to make a name for themselves before they try their luck at a feature length film. It’s also the section where you can see the widest range of film styles. From hand-drawn animation to picturesque documentaries, deeply personal stories paired to dark comedies, there’s something for everyone. Plus as AFI Fest is a qualifying film festival for the short film awards at the Academy Awards, you might just see a future Academy Award winner without expecting it.

Here’s our highlights from the short films at AFI Fest 2025.

The Best Short Films at AFI Fest 2025

Pavilhão (Brazil)

I love short films which take you on a journey into another culture. When you’ve finished watching Pavilhão it feels like you’ve taken a small trip to Brazil and immersed yourself in the world of Samba. The visuals guide you from Samba’s African origins through to the joyous dance and music of the present day carnival culture. Watch to become an honorary part of the movement.

Water Sports (Philippines)

Heat exhausts people mentally and physically. In Manila, a group of high school students go stir crazy in this sexualized social-media-influenced fever dream. Short TikTok style video clips fit the physical context perfectly – who can concentrate in a heat wave – whilst disturbingly colored bottles of water paired with TV hosts telling everyone to stay hydrated convey the city’s inability to confront current and future climate disasters. In Water Sports, all you can do in the face of impending disaster is laugh.

Beneath Which Rivers Flow - AFI Fest 2025

Beneath Which Rivers Flow (Iraq)

Some short films focus completely on the cinematography to craft some truly spectacular shots. Beneath Which Rivers Flow is one of those short films. The look of the film reminded me of Notturno – a beautifully shot documentary feature from AFI Fest 2020 that relied on the visual power of the images to move it’s audience. There’s no dialogue in Beneath Which Rivers Flow as it’s power, like Notturno, comes from the carefully framed shots of the drying marshlands and it’s impact on human life.

My Wonderful Life (Singapore)

If carefully framed shots of natural landscapes is not your thing, and you’re looking for a critique of modern work/life balance and the patriarchal pressure on modern mothers with ever-escalating animated body-horror, My Wonderful Life delivers. The South Park-style animation of an overworked Singaporean mum pushes itself into dark comedy to prove its point.

S The Wolf (Egypt)

Simple, hand-drawn animation can be hugely effective. Just see Don Hertzfeldt’s It’s Such a Beautiful Day. Moving away from the pop-art shock-factor animation of My Wonderful Life, S the Wolf‘s simple hand drawn style is the perfect medium for a stream of consciousness journey through a collection of hair related personal memories. Each short anecdote opens a window into the director’s childhood and explores his relationship with his father accompanied with plenty of deadpan banter.

Once In A Body (Colombia)

Have you ever been to hell!? Like S The Wolf, Once In A Body takes you on a highly personal trip through animation. However, this short swaps humor and hand-drawn style for an exploration of trauma in drawings that dynamically transform from faces and bodies to a literal visit to hell as our narrators journey to hell and back.

Petra and the Sun (Chile)

Stop motion puppets are a unique animation choice. They’re not my favorite style as I find something creepy and deceitful about the uncanny way they look and move. For Petra And The Sun, puppets are the perfect choice to add to the creepy story in which a lonely woman hides her necrophilia as the seasons change and the world gets warmer.

We strongly encourage everyone to check out AFI Fest next year. Please find previous coverage of AFI Fest here and check the official AFI Fest website for news on next year’s schedule!