YANUNI
From producer Leonardo DiCaprio and director Richard Ladkani, YANUNI closes out Tribeca 2025 with a call to action and the story of a feminist hero who should be a household name. Juma Xipaia has survived six assassination attempts as the first female Indigenous chief of her people in the Middle Xingu. She and her husband are fierce environmental warriors in a raging battle for ownership of the Amazon.
Ladkani’s camerawork and sound design are immersive. You can feel each unnerving protest moment in your bones. Footage in Juma’s home is viscerally spiritual and powerfully juxtaposed with the devastating destruction of the surrounding forests. Illegal mining pits are poisoning the water, and the criminals invading the lands are raping and murdering the villagers.
Juma and her people are emotionally, physically, and spiritually drained. Juma’s safety keeps her separated from her children, and her relentless speaking schedule wears her down. It is no surprise that it is a woman, a mother, who stands to protect others. The most successful governing bodies have female leadership. “With great power comes great responsibility,” and Yuma accepts all that entails.
The film follows the 2022 Brazilian elections. The volatility in the streets is palpable. Speaking to eligible voters is life-threatening. While the outcome of the election is positive for the progression of the country, new roles for both Yuma and her husband, Hugo Loss, put them in even more danger than before.
Ladkani takes us inside the infiltration of an illegal mining operation and its subsequent controlled burn destruction. Their missions are high-risk and heavily armed on both sides.
Juma’s action mirrors every indigenous population’s fight against deeper colonization and capitalism. The film premieres at Tribeca during a particularly auspicious time in America, on the same day nearly 11 million people took to the streets for the No Kings protests. But Juma has had to fight for many more generations to protect her people, territory, and culture. The fight continues.
YANUNI is the type of educational feature that deserves to loop on IMAX screens in every museum. It is an inspiring war cry for climate justice. Juma Xipaia is a role model for every young person. She is the personification of Mother Earth. Her bravery and passion serve as an example. She is all of us.
YANUNI –
Director: Richard Ladkani
Producer: Juma Xipaia, Leonardo DiCaprio, Anita Ladkani, Richard Ladkani, Jennifer Davisson, Phillip Watson
Screenwriter: Richard Ladkani
Cinematographer: Richard Ladkani
Composer: H. Scott Salinas
Editor: Georg Michael Fischer
Executive Producer: Dax Dasilva, Joanna Natasegara, Laura Nix, Eric Terena, Martin Choroba, Philipp Schall
Second Camera: Fábio Nascimento
Original Title Song: Katú Mirim
Vocals: Djuena Tikuna
Cast: Juma Xipaia, Hugo Loss YANUNI
Goodnight Mommy filmmakers Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz‘s latest film, The Devil’s Bath, opens with a 
SYNOPSIS – In 1750 Austria, a deeply religious woman named Agnes has just married her beloved, but her mind and heart soon grow heavy as her life becomes a long list of chores and expectations. Day after day, she is increasingly trapped in a murky and lonely path leading to evil thoughts, until the possibility of committing a shocking act of violence seems like the only way out of her inner prison. Giving a voice to the invisible and unheard women of the rural past; THE DEVIL’S BATH is based on historical court records about a shocking, hitherto unexplored chapter of European history.
VERONICA FRANZ (Writer & Director) studied German and philosophy and worked as a journalist. She has also worked as an artistic collab-orator with Ulrich Seidl since 1997 and co-wrote the screenplays for all of his films including DOG DAYS (2001), IMPORT EXPORT (2007), the PARADISE trilogy (2012/13) and WICKED GAMES – RIMINI SPARTA (2023). In 2003 she also founded the Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion GmbH with him.
Les Dents Du Bonheur (Sweet Tooth)
Eva takes over as a Foley artist for her hospitalized sibling Zara. With no knowledge or self-esteem for the task, Eva endures shockingly abusive behavior from every angle; Zara, her boss, and the hospital nurse. When threatened with dismissal from Zara’s position, she becomes obsessed with the assigned commercial clip.
PIAFFE gives audiences a fever dream of imagery and sound. Music is an eclectic Giallo-inspired mix of ominous cello and techno. The color Red features symbolically in lipstick, a telephone, tinsel, roses, and lighting. Simone Bucio is fearless as Eva. Her palpable anxiety and social awkwardness pour off the screen, making her relatable in the most unexpected ways.
17-year-old Paul and his young comrades enthusiastically join the Western Front in 1918 under the guise that they will return to a hero’s welcome. The reality they are about to enter is far from ticker tape parades and medals. It is the unforgiving and bloody trench warfare of WWI. German director Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front is a breathtaking retelling of the classic 1928 novel by Erich Maria Remarque.
The unfiltered brutality of war, shocking imagery, nothing is sugarcoated. Felix Kammerer stars as our young lead Paul. The film follows his journey from enlisting by lying about his age to the day the war officially ended. Fear is the dominant feeling that runs through the narrative. The class and rank of soldiers is a striking contrast, highlighted by scenes of prideful general sitting safe in high mansions while young men and boys get slaughtered. The film opens with some of the bluntest scenes of warfare that left my jaw on the floor. 
James Friend‘s exquisite cinematography encompasses stunning framing, detailed close-ups, and natural lighting. The choice to do hand-held places the audience on the ground with the cast. It’s dizzying at times, but that’s the point. In the still moments, I found myself saying out loud, “Wow, this is beautiful.” The score is its own entity. Jarring, often electronic-sounding horn melodies and sharp state drum rhythms usher impending menace. It will be a travesty if it doesn’t get noticed during awards season.
The entire cast is breathtaking. Our leading lady, Vicky Krieps, gives a mesmerizing performance as a woman unraveling. Each beat is carefully curated, mired in sadness and pure love. Krieps’ unadulterated vulnerability demands your attention. It is an award-worthy turn. Hold Me Tight is an extraordinary study of grief and moving forward. You cannot walk away from this film unchanged.
In private, there is an uncomplicated intimacy between Maria and Sascha, but judgment bubbles to the surface once in mixed company. Self-loathing and regret are deep-seated, a deadly combination for sabotage. The script slowly but slickly reveals Sascha’s inner demons, putting Maria and the audience in an uncomfortable position. The second half of Bliss deals with the ripple of her emotional instability. It’s tricky but familiar. Performances from Katharina Behrens and Eva Collé are spectacular, fearless, and raw. It’s stylistically similar to a docu-drama, and I dug the energy of the entire film. Writer-director Henrika Kull gives audiences a gem.
Ingenuity and one hell of a plot make Fantaspoa 2022 selection 
The visceral tension created by writer-director 
My aunt has always used homeopathic remedies. She’s beaten breast cancer twice. As someone with chronic pain from a neck injury caused by a car accident, anxiety since childhood, severe dance injuries, and phantom pain and diastasis recti from two C-sections, I would love to find ways to heal myself juts like I found the 
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Director 
The scares are intensely scored and intriguingly edited. The script by Thomas Friedrich is weird from the beginning. The performances have this unnerving, larger than life essence to them. You can feel something is very off about everything and everyone. Overly excited, excessively nice and informative, to unusually angry for no apparent reason. Sleep is like a living, breathing panic attack. The cinematic dynamics are stunning. The plot feels a little like a twisted hereditary version of Nightmare on Elm Street. But then you have a bloodline double entendre thrown in. It’s quite complex but extremely entertaining. As someone who has had reoccurring dreams her entire life, Michael Venus ‘ direction of SLEEP disturbed me to no end. And if you’re anything like me, you will continue to question what is real long after the credits roll.
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