Films to fall for: Vanity Fair’s 20 most anticipated films for Autumn 2025
When you think of autumn, you think of cosying up on the couch, sipping a hot chocolate or even a pumpkin-spiced latte if you’re feeling fancy, and watching a good movie with the sound of the crisp fall wind blowing outside.
Now, thanks to Vanity Fair, we know the 20 films we must add to our watch list this season, drawing on what they believe have the most promise in the upcoming festivals.
Film News Blitz writer Evie Scroggie takes us through their choices.
Film festival buzz
The Autumn film festivals are the crossover we movie fanatics look forward to, where the crunchy orange leaves meet the glamorous red carpet.
Coming up, we have the Venice International Film Festival, the Telluride Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the New York Film Festival – and Vanity Fair has highlighted something for everyone.
With projects from expert filmmakers such as Guillermo del Toro and Noah Baumbach, and the anticipated return of directors such as Kathryn Bigelow, who hasn’t released a film for eight years, it seems we have many cinematic masterpieces to look forward to.
Vanity Fair's top 20
1. After the Hunt (Luca Guadagnino): A thriller about a college professor who gets tangled in the ethics of campus life.
2. A House of Dynamite (Kathryn Bigelow): An American presidential administration having to deal with an impending missile attack, likely to be devastating.
3. The Wizard of the Kremlin (Olivier Assayas): An adaptation of a novel about a reality TV producer turned highly connected official in Russia’s government.
4. Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro): A movie adaptation of Mary Shelley’s famous science fiction novel.
5. No Other Choice (Park Chan-wook): A man who has been laid off from his job decides to kill the other candidates for a new position he’s hoping to land.
6. Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos): The English-language remake of Jang Joon-hwan’s 2003 South Korean film ‘Save the Green Planet!’
7. Jay Kelly (Noah Baumbach): Following the friendship of a famous actor and his manager as they travel through Europe and reflect on their lives.
8. Father Mother Sister Brother (Jim Jarmusch): Estranged siblings reunite and confront unresolved conflicts and evaluate their relationships with their emotionally distant parents.
9. The Smashing Machine (Benjamin Safdie): Biographical sports drama, exploring the life of MMA champion Mark Kerr.
10. Dead Man’s Wire (Gus Van Sant): An American historical crime based on the true story of a 1970s kidnapping.
11. Hamnet (Chloé Zhao): A historical drama telling the story of Agnes, William Shakespeare’s wife, as she struggles to come to terms with the loss of her only son, Hamnet.
12. Ballad of a Small Player (Edward Berger): Based on Lawrence Osbourne’s 2014 novel, a gambling addict trying to lay low in Macau encounters a kindred spirit.
13. Christy (David Michôd): Based on the true story of Christy Martin, a barrier-breaking female boxer who rose to prominence in the ’90s.
14. Hedda (Nia DaCosta): A woman torn between the ache of a past love and the suffocation of her current life wreaks havoc in one night, sending her and those around her into a dramatic spiral.
15. The Lost Bus (Paul Greengrass): Based on the devastating Camp Fire in Northern California, a school bus driver attempts to rescue elementary school children from a deadly fire.
16. The Choral (Nicholas Hytner): A World War I movie about a choir director helping a wounded, shell-shocked veteran find his voice again.
17. The Christophers (Steven Soderbergh): A crime comedy revolving around art forgery.
18. Anemone (Ronan Day-Lewis): A former soldier reunites with his brother after living in isolation in the English woods for 20 years.
19. Is This Thing On? (Bradley Cooper): A comedic drama of a man who’s facing a divorce and ends up stumbling into a career as a stand-up comic.
20. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (Scott Cooper): A biographical musical drama following Bruce Springsteen in the early stages of his career as he struggles to balance the pressures of success with the ghosts of his past.
Summary
So when you feel the sensation of that cold crisp air finally rolling in, don’t let the stress of deciding what to watch dampen your cosy autumnal mood.
Simply refer back to this list of incredible films, and your at-home cinema is set for the season.
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