Un Certain Regard 2025 Winners: Bold New Visions Take Center Stage

The 78th Festival de Cannes has unveiled the winners of its Un Certain Regard section, a vital showcase for distinctive, daring, and diverse voices in contemporary cinema. This year’s lineup featured 20 films, including 9 first features eligible for the Caméra d’or, and opened with Erige Sehiri’s Promised Sky — a poetic reflection on memory and displacement.

The Un Certain Regard Jury, led by Molly Manning Walker (director of How to Have Sex), included Louise Courvoisier, Vanja Kaludjercic, Roberto Minervini, and Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, all of whom brought their own artistic sensibilities to the deliberation process.

Here are the official 2025 award winners:

Un Certain Regard Prize

La Misteriosa Mirada del Flamenco (The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo)

Directed by Diego Céspedes (Chile) — First Film

A mesmerizing and enigmatic debut, Céspedes’ film enchanted the jury with its lyrical style and haunting visual language. The win marks a significant launchpad for this emerging Chilean talent.

Jury Prize

Un Poeta

Directed by Simón Mesa Soto (Colombia)

Praised for its meditative pace and textured storytelling, Un Poeta captures the conflicted soul of a writer in a society weighed down by violence and beauty.

Best Directing

Arab & Tarzan Nasser

For Once Upon a Time in Gaza (Palestine)

This gripping, emotionally charged film from the Nasser brothers masterfully blends political urgency with personal storytelling — earning them deserved recognition for directorial bravery and depth.

Best Actor

Frank Dillane

For Urchin, directed by Harris Dickinson (UK)

Dillane delivers a raw, riveting performance as a young man adrift in an increasingly surreal urban landscape, bringing vulnerability and edge to a character on the brink.

Best Actress

Cleo Diára

For O Riso e a Faca (I Only Rest in the Storm), directed by Pedro Pinho (Portugal)

Diára’s commanding screen presence and emotional nuance captivated the jury, as she portrayed a woman caught between resilience and resignation in a politically charged narrative.

Best Screenplay

Harry Lighton

For Pillion (UK) — First Film

A beautifully layered script about intimacy, identity, and the quiet revolutions of everyday life, Lighton’s debut feature stands out for its delicately crafted dialogue and narrative restraint.

A Platform for Global Talent

With selections ranging from Gaza to Colombia, Portugal to Chile, and from war-torn cities to surreal landscapes, this year’s Un Certain Regard proved once again why it remains an essential space for cinéma d’auteur. It is a launchpad for bold new voices and a celebration of filmmaking as a tool for empathy, resistance, and renewal.