WOMEX is proud to unveil the 2025 Film Programme: a curated lineup of 16 music documentaries — featuring premieres, previews, and new releases — all taking place in Tampere.
This year’s line-up features intimate portraits of legends, including a reflective film on late innovator and WOMEX 24 Award laureate Hermeto Pascoal, and Christine Turner’s new Sun Ra biopic. Alongside them are stories of rising artists like Bad Gyal and Fado Bicha, grappling with fame, scrutiny, and discrimination.
Other films highlight the preservation of culture in times of conflict: Malanka and Christmas captures Ukrainian traditions before the invasion; Cosmic Balance follows Anggi’s faith in Reak; and Dancing Palestine explores dabke as resistance and remembrance.
The Syrian Cassette Archives revive the country’s cassette era, where music, memories, and dissent traveled beyond borders—earning this year’s WOMEX Professional Excellence Award.
Further highlights include Sound Dreams of Istanbul’s avant-garde performances, Angolan indie musical The Adventures of Angosat, Cameroon’s Jail Time Records project inside Douala’s central prison, and Long Live the Dead!, where Stevo Atambire brings solace through funeral songs.
The WOMEX 25 Film Programme is divided into Public Screenings, Market Screenings and the Film Library, a physical space that features an extended selection of films independent of a scheduled screening and can be watched by WOMEX delegates on-demand at any time. Information about the programme formats is here.
Here is the list of films in the WOMEX 25 Film Programme (in alphabetical order).
PUBLIC SCREENINGS (accessible to the general public and delegates)
La Joia: Bad Gyal, directed by David Camarero
Sun Ra: Do the Impossible, directed by Christine Turner
The Water Eyed Boy, directed by Lírio Ferreira and Carolina Sá
MARKET SCREENINGS (accessible to delegates only)
6SENSE, directed by Amilcar Patel & Chris Kets
Cosmic Balance, directed by Andreas Johnsen
HAIYU - Rebel Singer Mariem Hassan and the Struggle for a Free Western Sahara, directed by Anna Klara Åhrén, Brahim B. Ali, Mohamedsalem Werad, Alex Veitch
Long Live the Dead!, directed by Sofie Hanegreefs & Kris Pannecoucke
Steve Happi, Freedom Beats from Douala, directed by Dione Roach
The Adventures of Angosat, directed by Resem Verkron & Marc Serena
FILM LIBRARY (accessible to delegates only)
Dancing Palestine, directed by Lamees Almakkawy
Il Soffio dell'Anima, directed by Luzia Johow
Malanka and Christmas, directed by Mykola Nosok
Singing to the Winds, directed by Adelina Sasnauskaite
Sound Dreams of Istanbul, directed by Anıl Eraslan
Syrian Cassette Archives on Film, directed by Yamen Mekdad
Them Fado Bicha, directed by Justine Lemahieu
article posted by:Piranha Arts