From October 28 to November 2 under the starry dome of Politeama Rossetti, great science fiction cinema returns: the 25th edition of the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival, organized by La Cappella Underground, brings the best fantasy and sci-fi productions to the Julian capital, featuring over 50 premiere screenings including world, international, and national premieres, as well as three competitions in the presence of directors, actors, and authors from around the world. This year, the sci-fi festival once again offers a galaxy of non-cinematic extra events: video games, literature, comics, music, visual and performing arts make up the extremely rich program of an edition ready to explore all the wonders of the possible. Opening the 2025 edition of the festival will be the film “L’Homme qui rétrécit” (France/Belgium, 2025) by Jan Kounen, in collaboration with Rai Cinema, based on the cult novel by Richard Matheson in which a man—played by Academy Award© winner Jean Dujardin—begins to shrink following a mysterious contamination and finds himself fighting for survival in a world that has become gigantic and dangerous, which will be screened as an Italian premiere on opening night Tuesday, October 28 at 20:00 at Politeama Rossetti in the presence of the director. The evening will continue, also at Rossetti, with the premiere in collaboration with I Wonder Pictures of “The Ugly Stepsister”(Sweden/Denmark/Romania/Poland, 2025) by Emilie Blichfeldt, a body horror reimagining of the Brothers Grimm's Cinderella, scheduled for 22:30. Thursday, October 30 at 20:00 it will be time for the Italian premiere of “Egghead Republic” (Sweden, 2025) by Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja, previous winners of the Asteroide Award at the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival 2019 with “Aniara”, who helm a dystopian work in which the Cold War never ended and a journalist must produce a report in a zone contaminated by an atomic bomb. Also as an Italian premiere, on Friday, October 31 at 20:00, Rossetti will screen “Bulk” (United Kingdom, 2025) by Ben Wheatley, acclaimed British director of “Sightseers” and “A Field in England”, who presents a genuine midnight movie at the festival: a sci-fi horror film driven by car chases, shootouts, science fiction, and romance. Straight from the official selection of Cannes 2025 comes to Trieste, in collaboration with I Wonder Pictures, the striking animated feature “Arco” (France, 2025) by Ugo Bienvenu, starring little Iris, who must help a mysterious rainbow boy return home, scheduled at the sci-fi festival on Saturday, November 1 at 17:00. Also scheduled for Saturday at Rossetti at 20:00 is the international premiere of “Orion” (USA, 2024) by Jaco Bouwer, recipient of the Asteroide Award in 2021 thanks to the ecological horror “Gaia”, here tackling an intense sci-fi thriller in which a counterintelligence expert is tasked with helping an astronaut suffering from amnesia to discover who killed his crew. The closing film of the 25th Trieste Science+Fiction Festival will be “Chien 51” (France, 2025) by Cédric Jimenez, which will be screened out of competition at Rossetti on Sunday, November 2 at 20:30: a dystopian thriller showing Paris divided into three zones based on social classes where an artificial intelligence named “ALMA” revolutionizes police work, until its inventor is murdered, forcing two police officers to investigate. Among the unmissable cinematic events are also the documentaries “John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office” (USA, 2025) by Michael Almereyda, bringing to Trieste an essay film on the story of neurophysiologist and “psychonaut” John C. Lilly and his experiments with dolphins and psychedelic substances, scheduled at Teatro Miela on Wednesday, October 29 at 20:00 in the presence of the director, and “Orwell 2+2=5” (USA/France, 2025) by Raoul Peck, a reflection on the authoritarian drift of contemporary society starting from the novel “1984” and the diary of its author George Orwell, directed by the director of “I Am Not Your Negro” and “The Young Karl Marx” and produced by Academy Award© winning documentarian Alex Gibney (“Taxi to the Dark Side”), which will be screened at Miela on Thursday, October 30 at 20:00.
“For its 25th edition, the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival has put together a diverse and multifaceted program that, once again, will innovate, provoke, excite, amaze, and naturally entertain” – declared Festival Artistic Director Alan Jones – “As always, the festival draws on the vivid imaginations of a global community of filmmakers, artists, and writers — new, independent, and established — who are always ready to passionately discuss their work, both on and off stage. And as always, wherever these visionary minds lead us, reality is never too far behind, as the ever-evolving science fiction genre continues to offer sharp commentary on the starkest present through the lens of an extraordinary future.”
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Numerous guests are also expected for the 25th edition of the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival, including Gabriele Mainetti, acclaimed director of “They Call Me Jeeg”, “Freaks Out” and “La città proibita”, who will preside over the jury of the Asteroide Award, and award-winning science fiction writer Ted Chiang, author of the novella “Story of Your Life” which inspired Denis Villeneuve's cult movie “Arrival” and one of the most influential people in the world in the field of artificial intelligence.
During the event in Trieste, Gabriele Mainetti will also participate in two public events: at 18:15 on Friday, October 31, the director will host a public panel as part of IVIPRO DAYS, an annual gathering dedicated to the video game sector and its links to local territory and cultural heritage, during which he will talk about his relationship with video games. On the evening of Friday, October 31 Mainetti will present two films selected by him at Teatro Miela in Trieste: “The Fly” by David Cronenberg (1986) and “District 9” by Neill Blomkamp (2009), two milestones of the fantastic genre that explore transformations that are not only physical, but also moral, political, and existential.
Ted Chiang will also feature in several events organized by the festival: on October 30 at 19:00 he will hold a dialogue titled “Artificial Futures” on artificial intelligence with journalist Matteo Bordone as part of Mondofuturo, while on Saturday, November 1 at 17:00 he will address the topic of language alongside linguist Vera Gheno in the talk ““Wor(l)dbuilding – creating universes with words”. Both events will take place in Piazza della Borsa at the spectacular Sci-Fi Dome, a custom-built structure hosting the festival's extra events again this year. The final panel featuring Ted Chiang will take place on Sunday, November 2 at 17:00 at Politeama Rossetti, where the writer will introduce the screening of the film “Arrival” by Denis Villeneuve alongside journalist Emilio Cozzi.
