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Steve Buscemi to receive Evolution Icon Award as Mallorca festival opens
The Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival returns to Palma for its 14th edition from October 21–29, bringing a tight but ambitious program of international cinema, industry talks and star-led tributes. Organisers confirmed that Steve Buscemi will be presented with the 2025 Evolution Icon Award, while Alauda Ruiz de Azúa's San Sebastián prize-winner Sundays (Los Domingos) will open the festival.
Sandra Lipski, director and founder of EMIFF, unveiled a lineup that spans more than 130 films from 30 countries and a nine-film official competition that pairs established auteurs with bold newcomers. The mix reflects a broad appetitive for character-driven storytelling, auteur cinema and films that quietly bend genre expectations.
Competition highlights: from Jarmusch to Ducournau
Leading the competition is Jim Jarmusch’s Venice Golden Lion winner Father Mother Sister Brother — a film that, like much of Jarmusch’s recent work, toys with elliptical narrative and deadpan humour but trades in warmer familial textures than some of his minimalist classics. Other competition titles include Julia Ducournau’s Alpha, which many expect to be a more intimate, perhaps more restrained follow-up to the visceral shock of Titane and Raw; Rebecca Zlotowski’s A Private Life; Isabel Coixet’s Tres Adioses; Erik Schmitt’s The Life of Wishes; Charlie McDowell’s The Summer Book; Neele Leana Vollmar’s Time We Lost; and Tolga Karaçelik’s Psycho Therapy, a UK-set feature starring Buscemi that will close the festival.
Sundays as opener signals the festival’s continued appetite for humanist European cinema. Ruiz de Azúa’s film — a keenly observed ensemble piece about communal rhythms and private ruptures — was a standout at San Sebastián for its warmth and compositional restraint.
Buscemi’s place in the programme
The Evolution Icon Award recognises Buscemi’s long and eclectic career on film and television. From early roles in Reservoir Dogs and Fargo to his Emmy-winning turn on Boardwalk Empire and later appearances in The Death of Stalin and The Big Lebowski, Buscemi’s body of work has leaned into both dark comedy and moral ambiguity. That he now headlines a festival that foregrounds emerging talent and cross-disciplinary panels is fitting; Buscemi has collaborated with indie auteurs and mainstream directors alike, bridging scenes and sensibilities.
Industry sessions and wider context
On the industry side, EMIFF keeps pace with pressing conversations in film: a returning “Women in Leadership” roundtable addresses gender parity and decision-making in European cinema; an “Innovation Focus with Largo AI” session probes how artificial intelligence is reshaping preproduction, VFX and editorial workflows; and “OFF ESCAC and The Actor’s Home Network” will look at practical career skills for actors, from self-taping to social promotion. These panels put the festival squarely in the moment where creative practice meets technological disruption — a theme echoed by other festivals that are adding AI and industry strategy to traditional programming.
Comparisons, context and a critical note
If Jarmusch’s Golden Lion winner continues his late-career fascination with community and ritual, Ducournau’s Alpha seems poised to pivot away from body-horror spectacle toward internal metamorphosis. Coixet’s contribution points to a seasoned filmmaker returning to intimate, human-scale tragedies; meanwhile, Schmitt and Vollmar represent a wave of German directors blending melancholy with visual play.
Film critic Anna Kovacs offers perspective: "EMIFF’s line-up shows a festival in conversation with both its audience and the broader film world. By pairing recognized names with risk-taking new voices, the festival maps where auteur cinema meets industry innovation." Her comment underlines the festival’s twin aims: celebration and conversation.
Beyond screenings, Mallorca becomes a meeting ground for filmmakers and producers scouting co-productions and for cinephiles eager to encounter films before wider release. Buscemi’s presence — and the decision to open with Sundays and close with Psycho Therapy — emphasizes a program built around performance and character rather than festival spectacle.
Whether you come for awards, premieres or industry debate, Evolution Mallorca offers a compact yet richly curated snapshot of contemporary international cinema.
Source: hollywoodreporter
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