04.07.2025 > 17.08.2025
Once again this year, our summer lineup blends essential new releases with a wealth of classic titles, revivals, and special event screenings.
Over forty titles will be available to discover, including five unreleased feature films highlighting Belgian talent: Olivier Meys’ L’été de Jahia, Aldine Reinink’s Life Will Give You Pictures, Valéry Rosier and Farellia Tahina Venance’s Rano, Émilie Cornu and Charlotte Nastasi’s Road 190, and Le Mohican, featuring the talented Mara Taquin (who also stars in Rano).
Three main thematic strands emerged and guided our selection: the American dream, the myth of eternal beauty and youth, and stories of sisterhood.
Presented in Competition at Cannes, Eddington is an edifying portrait of contemporary America fueled by fake news during Donald Trump’s first presidency. A master of genre cinema, Ari Aster confronts us with situations all the more horrifying for being rooted in realism. This offers an opportunity to question the American dream—which, beneath a shiny surface, can quickly turn into a nightmare—alongside Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times, Chantal Akerman’s De l’autre côté (From the Other Side), Laura Poitras’s All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice, Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist, Martin Scorsese’s Casino, and Gus Van Sant’s hilariously dark To Die For, featuring a ruthlessly ambitious Nicole Kidman.
Already a cult favorite, Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance was one of the most acclaimed films at Palace in recent months. The relentless pressure exerted on women, particularly actresses, lies at the heart of Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s All About Eve as well as Billy Wilder’s Fedora—an expectation handled with panache by Robert Zemeckis in Death Becomes Her. Genre cinema will also feature prominently with Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face (Les yeux sans visage) and David Cronenberg’s Rabid.
Fortunately, there are many responses to these societal diktats, often woven around stories of sisterhood both in front of and behind the camera. It is with great pleasure that we bring back Noémie Merlant’s dark comedy The Balconettes (Les femmes au balcon), Maura Delpero’s masterful Vermiglio, and Jon M. Chu’s Wicked. It will also be a chance to rediscover Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock, Pedro Almodóvar’s All About My Mother (Todo sobre mi madre), and Céline Sciamma’s aptly named Girlhood (Bande de filles).
Taking advantage of the restoration of several of his films, we will dedicate a retrospective to Japanese master Akira Kurosawa, whose influence on contemporary cinema remains undeniable.
Finally, there will be plenty for younger audiences as well, with a varied program spanning multiple genres and formats.
Nicolas Gilson, Programming