Euphoria and The End to Open and Close Balinale’s 19th Edition

The 19th edition of the Bali International Film Festival, known as Balinale, will open with Julian Rosefeldt’s “Euphoria” and close with Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The End.” Running June 1–7 in Sanur, the festival will screen 94 films from 38 countries and remains Indonesia’s only Academy Award-qualifying festival.

This year’s edition introduces a new competitive category, Best Indonesian Short Tapestry of Indonesia, created to spotlight local short-form storytelling. The award lineup also includes the Best Short Film prize, which carries Academy Award-qualifying status and will be selected from the winners of the short narrative, short documentary, and short animation sections.

The narrative feature competition includes four titles: Mohamed Zran’s Tunisian drama “Mon Ami,” Morad Mostafa’s Egyptian film “Aisha Can’t Fly Away,” Park Eolgul’s South Korean entry “Death Drive,” and German director Mascha Schilinski’s “Sound of Falling.”

The documentary feature competition features Dmytro Hreshko’s “Divia,” a co-production between Poland, Ukraine, and the Netherlands; Leigh-Ann Beverley’s U.S.-produced “The Madness of Moonlight”; and two Spanish titles, “The Rain Won’t Let Us Fly” by Ignacio Marín and Rubén Díez, and Gonzalo Hergueta’s “The Designer Is Dead.”

The short narrative section presents eight films, including “Psychopomp” from “Game of Thrones” actor Kit Harington and Amir Zaza’s Netherlands-produced “Close Your Eyes Hind.” Other entries include Adnan Al Rajeev’s Bangladesh-Philippines co-production “Ali,” Ugnė Skonsmanaitė’s “Jasmine. Home. Mother.” from Lithuania, the U.K. and the U.S., Dian Weys’ France-South Africa co-production “Vultures,” Bálint Kenyeres’ France-Hungary film “The Spectacle,” U.K. co-directors Kat Butterfield and Daniel Audritt’s “Life Goes On,” and South Korean title “Lip Balm” by An Kwangsik.

The short documentary competition includes Oppenheimer’s “The Revolution Against Death,” Andreas Grützner’s German film “Actually, I Didn’t Want to Stay Long,” Pawel Chorzepa’s Polish entry “The Tuners,” and U.K. co-directors Alexander Kiehl and Misha Novak’s “Grappling Grace.”

The short animation lineup features “The Magician,” a Croatia-France-Romania co-production by Bogdan Muresanu; Thomas Villepoux’s Belgium-France entry “Jailbirds”; Chilean director Daniel Lobos’ “Lifetime Warranty”; Daniel Kreizberg’s “Anyone Lived in a Pretty How Town,” produced across Lithuania, Monaco, and the U.S.; South Korean film “White Hare” by Jee Inkyu; and the French collective project “Chère Fin.”

A 10-member jury will judge the competition, including Indonesian filmmakers, actors, and industry professionals alongside international jurors from New Zealand, Italy, the United States, and Australia. The festival is backed by Indonesia’s Ministry of Culture, Dana Indonesiana, and the LPDP education endowment fund. Alongside the main screenings, Balinale will also host the Bali Film Forum industry platform and the community program Cinema by the Sea.