IONCINEMA.com’s Top 3 Critics’ Picks offers a curated approach to the usual quandary: what would you recommend I see in theaters this month? Sight unseen, this May we have the highly anticipated Backrooms – the A24 project will be launched at the end of the month and takes the remarkable youtube creation by Kane Parsons from channel to an actual film. This month we find three films from female filmmakers with two of the offerings being directorial debuts. Hungarian filmmaker Ildikó Enyedi‘s eighth feature film Silent Friend premiered in Venice to critical acclaim and would take home FIPRESCI Prize and the Marcello Mastroianni Award for actress Luna Wedler. Also from Venice, but from the 2024 edition, Brazilian filmmaker Marianna Brennand‘s Manas (executive produced by Sean Penn, Walter Salles, and Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) finally drops. It landed the Giornate degli Autori section’s Director’s Award, the section’s main prize. The other debut worth keeping tabs on is Spanish filmmaker Lucía Aleñar Iglesias‘ Forastera – which began its film festival life at TIFF’s Discovery section last year where it won the FIPRESCI Prize.
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Silent Friend – Ildikó Enyedi
May 8th – New York Release
Distributor: 1-2 Special (official site)
Fests: 2025 Venice Film Festival, 2025 Toronto International Film Festival 2025 BFI London Film Festival, 2026 International Film Festival Rotterdam
“In essence, it’s a film which examines progress through our ability to communicate not only with each other but the environment around us, suggesting self-actualization is achieved through our sometimes brief moments whereby harmony is reached by mutual grasping of our interconnectedness.” – Nicholas Bell for IONCINEMA.com
“With an outlook disarmingly poised between the dreamy and the matter-of-fact, it presents a different way of seeing, and indeed feeling, the world around us, and merely invites its audience to follow along.” – Guy Lodge for Variety
“No trees are actually hugged in Silent Friend, but arboreal adoration has never blossomed on screen as lushly as it does in this contemplative, nature-focused feature from Hungarian writer-director Ildiko Enyedi.” – Jonathan Romney for Screen Daily
Manas – Marianna Brennand
May 22nd – New York Release
Distributor: KimStim (official site)
Fests: 2024 Venice Film Festival, 2024 São Paulo International Film Festival, 2025 Stockholm International Film Festival
“….manages to be captivating in spite of some of its thornier, more disconcerting material. It is beautifully constructed, with the cinematography in particular being a highlight – the fluid, dynamic camerawork catches so much detail, exploring every nook and cranny of this corner of the country that is rendered as both expansive and intimate, establishing a very particular tonal quality that the film relies upon in the more dramatic moments.” – Matthew Joseph Jenner for International Cinephile Society
“Brennand demonstrates a rare sensitivity and respect towards all the young women who are victims of abuse, from whom she has collected testimonies during her long years of research.” – Vittoria Scarpa for Cineuropa
Forastera – Lucía Aleñar Iglesias
May 29th – Limited Release
Distributor: Grasshopper Film (official site)
Fests: 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, 2025 Stockholm International Film Festival, 2025 Valladolid International Film Festival
“As far as unforgettable formative summers on screen go, “Forastera” is particularly memorable in chronicling someone at risk of growing up too fast by having too much of a sense of responsibility rather than learning from not having enough of it..” – Stephen Saito for Moveable Fest
“Set on the Spanish island of Mallorca, the ethereal sunshine and crystalline blue of the Mediterranean cast a melancholy haze upon a vacationing family that must suddenly mourn the passing of [its] matriarch.” – Natalia Keogan for Filmmaker Magazine
“Forastera is an atypical ghost story, one that connects the generations and suggests that which might resist, a familiarity and resemblance that we could find too close might be a necessary bridge..” – Shelagh Rowan-Legg for Screen Anarchy
