The La Roche-sur-Yon International Film Festival unveils its program

The 17th edition will be rich in events and previews.

From October 12 to 18, 2026, the La Roche-sur-Yon International Film Festival returns for a 17th edition which once again focuses on curiosity. Nearly 150 films, around sixty premieres and previews, international discoveries, retrospectives, genre cinema, classics, virtual reality and even an electro evening…No chapels here but a mix of genres and formats, with particular attention paid to unpublished works and new talents.

The International Competition will notably bring together A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra by Jacqueline Lentzou, If I Go Will They Miss Me by Walter Thompson-Hernández, Radio Happiness by Valéry Rosier and the highly anticipated Wild Horse Nine by Martin McDonagh. A selection which will also take you to other cinematographies with The Difficult Bride by Rubaiyat Hossain, Jupiter by Alexandre Smia or Yo (Love Is a Rebellious Bird) by Anna Fitch and Banker White.

Alongside it, the Nouvelles Vagues competition constitutes the programming laboratory. It welcomes films of all lengths and boasts a taste for risk and the unexpected. Among the titles to discover: Atlantic Rhapsody by Zhong Kaifeng, Closure by Michal Marczak, Heat by Jacqueline Zünd, Masayume by Nao Yoshigai or even Object A by Ann Oren. The selection also includes short films with several proposals, including Flim Flam by Siegfried A. Fruhauf and A room of their own by Lucia Martinez Garcia. The winning film of the Nouvelles Vagues Prize will then be screened at the Jeu de Paume in Paris.

The Perspectives section will extend this exploration with films with singular visions. In particular, we will find Extra Geography by Molly Manners, hot water by Ramzi Bashour, Mouse by Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson and River Dreamsfirst feature film by Kazakh director Kristina Mikhailova, who will be present at the festival.

But the big meeting of this edition will undoubtedly be Abderrahmane Sissako. A major figure in African cinema, the director will be the subject of a major retrospective, in his presence. Of Life on Earth has Timbuktupassing through Waiting for happiness, Bamako And Black Teathe public will be able to explore a profoundly humanist work, attentive to questions of exile, immigration and the upheavals of the contemporary world. Several short films will complete this crossing.

This retrospective will also be an opportunity to discover a new side of the filmmaker with Artoua work in virtual reality presented in preview.

Two other personalities will be honored. Argentinian director and producer María Silvia Esteve will benefit from a focus including Mailinpresented in preview, as well as Criatura, Cortex, Sylvia And The Spiral. The festival will also focus on Barbara Kopple, a great figure in American documentary, with American Dream, Harlan County USA And Union Townpresented in French premiere.

The Special Sessions will be an opportunity to extend the bridges with the other arts. Among the proposals announced: Douglas Gordon by Douglas Gordon by Finlay Pretsell, Euphoria by Julian Rosefeldt, Queen at Sea by Lance Hammer, Time and Water by Sara Dosa, Daft Punk’s Electroma or even man down by Gael Garcia Bernal.

The festival will also cultivate its taste for genre cinema with Variété, a section dedicated to fantastic universes, mutations and the most unbridled visions. On the program: Bowels of Hell, The King of the Game by Eric Judor, The Island of Memories, Nervous And Sleep No More.

The program will also take a few detours through the history of cinema with the Anniversaries section, where we can rewatch Modern times by Charlie Chaplin, Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola, Microcosmos by Claude Nuridsany and Marie Pérénnou, Taxi Driver by Martin Scorsese and Trainspotting by Danny Boyle. Tributes will also be dedicated to Frederick Wiseman, Marjane Satrapi, Nathalie Baye, Tony Gatlif, Béla Tarr, Peter Watkins and Patricio Guzmán.

And the Continuities section will allow you to find directors already welcomed at La Roche-sur-Yon, like Clio Barnard with I see buildings falling like lightningNikolaus Geyrhalter with MeltEmmanuel Marre with Our salvation or Mark Jenkins with Rose of Nevada will present their new films there. As for previews, the program notably announces Club Kid by Jordan Firstman, Everytime by Sandra Wollner, The Third Night by Daniel Auteuil and Klara’s Wood by Volker Schlöndorff.

The full festival program can be found on the official website