Brain Film Fest 2025

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With overcoming fears as its leitmotiv, the eighth edition of the Brain Film Fest features more than forty productions including 11 feature films and 21 short films in the two official competitive sections. A program of talks, workshops and round-table discussions expand the cinematic experience to explore fear as a human tool for overcoming and a driving force for change.

The acceleration of today's world and its deep inequalities generate reasons for anxiety that are difficult to control. This year, the Brain Film Fest delves into its effects with five titles and various talks about the risks of the digital environment, the suffering of the undocumented, the rise of authoritarianism and the impact of anxiety on working life. 

The relationship between the mechanisms of the brain and cinematic narrative is also one of the festival's focuses this year. Horror films attract us because they activate the fear circuits in the brain, releasing adrenaline and dopamine, substances associated with excitement and pleasure, in a safe environment. With the conference Adrenaline in the Cinema, Dr. Jesús Porta Etessam, president of the Spanish Society of Neurology, will analyze this emotional experience, so stimulating and addictive.

2025 Program

Documentary filmmaker Nicolas Philibert, winner of the Special Prize at this year's festival and author of a transformative trilogy on mental health shot in psychiatric centers in Paris, will collect the award at the opening of the festival, where his latest film, The Typewriter and Other Headaches, will be screened, the final documentary of the trilogy that began in 2023 with On the Adamant (Sur l’Adamant, 2023), winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlinale, and continued in 2024 with Averroès & Rosa Parks, both also present in the program.

Other notable titles in the program include Anxiety Club, by Wendy Lobel, a film that captures behind the scenes the efforts of a group of American comedians to overcome anxiety; the British production 2073, by Asif Kapadia, presents us with a dystopia about very real threats, such as democratic recession, the rise of neo-fascism, climate catastrophe and the intrusion of surveillance technology; Boris Lojkine's L’histoire de Souleymane tells the real-life story of a Guinean immigrant who has left his country in search of a better life; and Familiar Touch, by Sarah Friedland, shows us the transition of an octogenarian woman with Alzheimer's to life in an assisted residence as she faces the conflictive relationship with herself and her caregivers, amidst her changes in memory and identity regarding age and her desires.

And that's just the beginning!

Tickets

The BFF film sessions are free of charge, but prior registration is required; tickets can be reserved through the festival’s website: brainfilmfest.com

Spring Film Festivals in Barcelona

Barcelona boasts a wide variety of renowned film festivals each spring, and 2025 promises to be another spectacular edition. Check out our article Spring Film Festivals in Barcelona where you'll discover festivals dedicated to fashion docs, films inspired by literature and history, astounding cinematic works that delve into the creativity, mystery and resilience of the human brain and films that explore the LGBTIQ+ experience.

For more events check our online events calendar.