On Friday 29 September 2025, Festival Events Asbl confirmed that the 16th British & Irish Film Festival Luxembourg 2025 Autumn Edition will feature 16 feature-length films representing a wide range of genres, mainly from independent cinema, with most screenings taking place at Ciné Utopia and one at Kinepolis-Kirchberg.

The core festival dates are set for 14 to 21 September, with additional screenings scheduled both before and after these dates, offering audiences a unique opportunity to discover new films from Britain and Ireland. The 2025 Autumn Edition includes sixteen feature-length films from a cross-section of genres and representing mainly independent cinema. In addition, the programme will include some short films, among them a ten-minute documentary by the winners of the Young Filmmakers Competition 2024/25, as well as the launch of the Young Filmmakers Competition 2025/26. 

The British & Irish Film Festival Luxembourg (BIFFL) 2025 Autumn Edition will have “Brides” as its official Opening Screening, a British drama, and will close with “Re-Creation”, the long-awaited Luxembourgish-Irish coproduction about a fictional trial surrounding the real-life murder of Sophie Toscan Du Plantier. All films will be receiving their Luxembourg premiers during the festival.

Shorts Evening

The winners of the Young Filmmakers Competition 2024/25 will have their documentary “Echoes of Galway” screened as part of this evening, along with six other short films of between 3 and 22 minutes, in an 87-minute programme, as follows: 

  • Vinny (animation, 3 mins, by Declan Boyle): An old vinyl record is dejected after being discarded, only to wait for the "golden age" to be rediscovered. 
  • Retirement Plan (animation, 7 mins, by John Kelly, starring Domhnall Gleeson): In the throes of his overstimulated, energy poor midlife, Ray fantasises about everything he'd love to do in retirement, once he finally has the "time." 
  • Dive (drama, 7 mins, by Amy-Joyce Hastings, starring Alison McGirr, Faye Kinsella, Amy-Joyce Hastings): High above the Atlantic, Jess stands at a precipice between memory and momentum - where the past and future crash like the waves below. While contemplating a high dive, see reflects on her journeys of loss, grief and life. 
  • Cogar (drama, 16 mins, by Elaine Kennedy, starring Amy-Joyce Hastings, Ally Ni Chiarain, Pádraig Ó Se, Gearoid Kavanagh): A woman returns to a family funeral to find out the truth about her father. In Irish with EN sub-titles. 
  • Trasna na Líne (comedy, 17 mins, by Niamh Bryson, starring Heather O'Sullivan, Siobhán O'Kelly, Brid Ní Chumhaill): A comedy drama about the first day of term at Dublin's "best" gaelscoil. New student teacher Emma reveals her secret; she lied on her CV and can't speak any Irish at all. In Irish with EN sub-titles. Winner of Best Irish Short Film award at the Dublin International Film Festival 2025. 
  • A Friend of Dorothy (drama, 22 mins, by Lee Knight, starring Stephen Fry, Miriam Margolyes, Oscar Lloyd, Alistair Nwachukwu): A lonely widow's quiet life is upended when a teenage boy accidentally kicks his football into her garden. It had its world premiere at the Raindance Film Festival in London in June. 
  • Echoes of Galway (documentary, 15 mins, by Nina Zimmer & Salomé-Ange Wilk): The winners of the British & Irish Film Festival Luxembourg Young Filmmakers Competition 2024-25 had the opportunity to travel to Galway for one week in July 2025, during which time they were given free rein to shoot a documentary. "We dismantled the omnipresence, importance and magic of music through conversations with strangers and wander around the city”.

Special Guests 

The organisers have announced that a number of Special Guests will attend the 2025 Autumn Edition, including: 

  • Spilt Milk, Cillian Sullivan (actor) - CONFIRMED 
  • Re-Creation: Clair Johnston (actor); Gilbert Johnston (actor) - CONFIRMED
  • Flight 149: Hostage of War: Charles Kristiansson (actor) – CONFIRMED
  • A Sip of Irish: Frank Mannion (director)
  • Fran the Man: Amy Huberman (actor)
  • The Negotiator: Trevor Birney (director)
  • Mrs Robinson: Aoife Kelleher (director)
  • Re-Creation: Jim Sheridan (co-director, writer, actor)

Special Screenings

The festival is teaming up with Ciné Utopia for two special BIFFL Presents… screenings:

 - Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale on Tuesday 9 September; 

 - Plainclothes on Tuesday 7 October. 

In addition, the festival will partner with CinEast for an Irish-Ukrainian-French co-production that has just been confirmed as Ireland’s official entry to the 2026 Academy Awards (Oscars):

 - Sanatorium, on Friday 10 October 2025.

Awards & Prizes

This edition also features both an Audience Award as well as an Audience Prize, with two entries winning a Magnum of Crémant from Bernard-Massard / a Hamper from Home from Home, and also a Critics’ Award, with the involvement of members of the Association Luxembourgeoise de la Presse Cinématographique (ALPC).

Tickets

Ticket prices depend on the venue: €10 for Ciné Utopia. Most tickets are available via Luxembourg-Ticket.lu, apart from the BIFFL Presents… screenings in collaboration with Ciné Utopia (tickets for this screening are on sale at Kinepolis.lu) at commercial rates. 

The popular Season Special Tickets are available for €35, and the Documentary Double Bill for €15, by calling Luxembourg-Ticket.lu. Tickets may also be available at the venues prior to screenings, depending on availability.

Partners & Sponsors 

The British & Irish Film Festival Luxembourg is held under the patronage of both the Embassy of Ireland in Luxembourg and the British Embassy in Luxembourg. In addition, we are partnering with the US Embassy in Luxembourg for the screening of THE NEGOTIATOR, a documentary about US Envoy Senator George Mitchell who chaired the peace negotiations that led to the historic Good Friday Agreement in 1998. 

The festival acknowledges its support again for this edition from a number of organisations including the Galway Film Fleadh, the Irish Film Institute, Screen Ireland, Culture Ireland, the Ville de Luxembourg, the Luxembourg Film Fund and Luxembourg’s Ministry of Culture, as well the Œuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte (for the Young Filmmakers Competition) and also the financial contribution of Ireland’s Emigrant Support Programme. 

The festival also enjoys support from its sponsors and all our community partners and our media partners: AraCityRadio, Chronicle.lu, Luxembourg Times and RTL Today. The festival sincerely thanks these organisations for their support through their commitment to supporting community and cultural events through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Programme / Schedule

  • Tue 9 Sep @ 20 :00 @ Kinepolis-Kirchberg : BIFFL Presents… Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (EN, US) 
  • Sun 14 Sep @ 19:00 @ Ciné Utopia: Brides (WA) - OPENING SCREENING 
  • Mon 15 Sep @ 19:00 @ Ciné Utopia: Dragonfly (EN)
  • Mon 15 Sep @ 21 :15 @ Ciné Utopia: Signs of Life (EN) 
  • Tue 16 Sep @ 19:00 @ Ciné Utopia: SHORTS Evening (various), including Young Filmmakers Competition 2025/26 LAUNCH 
  • Tue 16 Sep @ 20 :45 @ Ciné Utopia: A Sip of Irish (IE)
  • Wed 17 Sep @ 19:00 @ Ciné Utopia: Fran the Man (IE)
  • Wed 17 Sep @ We Only Want The Earth (IE)
  • Thu 18 Sep @ 19:00 @ Ciné Utopia: The Negotiator (NI) 
  • Thu 18 Sep @ 21:15 @ Ciné Utopia: Flight 149 : Hostage of War (EN) 
  • Fri 19 Sep @ 19:00 @ Ciné Utopia: Spilt Milk (IE) 
  • Fri 19 Sep @ 21 :30 @ Ciné Utopia: Aontas (IE) 
  • Sat 20 Sep @ 19:00 @ Ciné Utopia: Mrs Robinson (IE) 
  • Sat 20 Sep @ 21 :30 @ Ciné Utopia: Sunphlowers (IE)
  • Sun 21 Sep @ 19:00 @ Ciné Utopia: Re-Creation (IE, LU) - CLOSING SCREENING & AWARDS
  • Tue 7 Oct @ 19 :00 @ Ciné Utopia: BIFFL Presents… Plainclothes (EN, US) 
  • Fri 10 Oct @ 19 :00 @ Ciné Utopia: Sanatorium (IE, EU, FR), in collaboration with CinEast

Geoff Thompson, Festival Organiser and President of Festival Events Asbl, stated: “Following a successful Spring Edition in March, we now have what we believe is a fantastic programme for the 2025 Autumn Edition in September. This time out we have built even stronger community ties, as well as incorporating collaborations with Kinepolis (for two BIFFL Presents… screenings) as well as with CinEast for Ireland’s official entry into next year’s Academy Awards, SANATORIUM. This is just one of five documentaries in this edition’s line-up, with a focus on Mary Robinson, George Mitchell and James Connolly, as well as Ireland’s contribution to the culinary and drinks world, and the 1990 British Airways Flight 149 hostage crisis. We have one Irish-language feature, the thriller AONTAS, and two shorts, and we are also collaborating with Tarantula Distribution for the Avant-Premier of the Luxembourg-Ireland Co-production RECREATION which will be our festival’s Closing Film, with the Welsch-produced drama BRIDES as our Opening Film”.

For further information and ticketing, see https://festivalevents.lu/.