We're all set for another bumper year of films at DCA, with blockbuster releases including Mickey 17, Elio, Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning, and of course Wicked: For Goodheading our way, as well as plenty of fantastic independent titles from around the world, fresh from the film festival circuit. 

We asked David Nixon, DCA's Head of Cinema, and Michael Coull, our Cinema Programme Assistant and Dundead programmer, which films they're most looking forward to in 2025…

David Nixon, Head of Cinema

There are two important political thrillers from across the world coming out this spring that I want to highlight. Firstly, Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig, a tense and paranoid film in which a family’s division during the 2022 student protests echoes the tensions in Iranian society.

And secondly, I’m Still Here, which is set during the military dictatorship in Brazil in the early 1970s and features a powerhouse performance from Fernanda Torres as a mother trying to keep her family together while searching for her husband.

I also want to put Scottish-set On Falling on your radar. Directed by newcomer Laura Carreira and produced by the team behind Ken Loach’s films, this poignant drama focuses on a Portuguese woman’s struggles with loneliness and alienation in the gig-economy climate.

Lastly, I’m excited to see if 28 Years Later lives up to the first film in the series, coming this summer…

Michael Coull, Cinema Programme Assistant and Dundead programmer

In an age where we increasingly seem to know more and more details about a film’s production and plot before it’s even released, any film which manages to maintain an air of secrecy and anticipation is always interesting. Enter Ryan Coogler’s Sinners – releasing in March. 

The trailer is atmospheric and cryptic, it reunites Coogler with his muse Michael B Jordan (star of many of Coogler’s pictures, from Fruitvale Station to Black Pantherto Creed) this also looks like it will be the first time that Coogler turns his unique sensibilities to the horror genre. I can’t wait.

Further off (and even more mysterious) are The Bride! Maggie Gyllenhaal’s intriguing-sounding adaptation of Bride of Frankenstein with Jessie Buckley as the titular Bride; Mother Mary, the always iconoclastic David Lowery’s new Anne Hathaway musical (tunes courtesy of Charli XCX and Jack Antonoff); and this year should see the eagerly-awaited release of the Jordan-Peele-produced sports-themed horror Him with Julia Fox and a comeback performance from Marlon Wayans.

Finally, Julia Ducournau is one of my favourite filmmakers working today and there’s a chance we could see her latest film, Alpha, released this year.

Thank you David and Michael! Which films are you most excited for? We'd love to check our your lists on Letterboxd - tag us in your lists, reviews and stories.