The Telluride Film Festival always brings A-list actors and filmmakers to the picturesque Colorado mountain town. This year, the festival’s also welcoming two larger-than-life icons: William Shakespeare and Bruce Springsteen.
The 52nd Telluride Film Festival—which, per tradition, doesn’t announce its titles until the day before it begins—will feature world premieres of not only a new take on Shakespeare’s Hamlet (starring Riz Ahmed), but also Hamnet—Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s bestseller inspired by Shakespeare’s wife.
Hamnet stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal as Agnes and William, following the couple as they suffer the loss of their son, Hamnet.
Springsteen’s story will come to life in Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, which follows the Boss as he writes and records his 1982 album Nebraska while battling memories from his past. Directed by Scott Cooper, the film stars Jeremy Allen White as Springsteen and Jeremy Strong as his longtime manager. “It is such a good movie,” says Telluride Festival director Julie Huntsinger. “He really is firing on all cylinders. I’ve always admired him, but I feel like this is his most successful film, for sure.”
Other world premieres at the festival, which runs over Labor Day weekend, include Ballad of a Small Player, which stars Colin Farrell as a gambler hiding out in Macau; Tuner, starring Leo Woodall and Dustin Hoffman; and H is for Hawk, starring Claire Foy. Films that debut at Telluride often go on to have healthy awards campaigns that lead to Oscar nominations and wins, such as last year’s Conclave and Nickel Boys.
The festival always showcases some of the most groundbreaking and fascinating documentaries, and this year will be no exception, with debut docs helmed by Morgan Neville, Ken Burns, and Ethan Hawke.
Hawke, who also stars in Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon at the festival, will be one of Telluride’s Silver Medallion honorees, individuals who are celebrated with special tributes. Jay Kelly writer-director Noah Baumbach, and Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi (whose latest film, It was Just an Accident, will screen at the fest) will be honored as well.
Several films from Cannes and Venice will also screen at Telluride as they make their way toward awards season runs. But as always, Huntsinger recommends looking beyond the high-profile premieres to find some hidden diamonds in the lineup. “Get your movie-watching eyes ready. We’re going to have so much fun,” she says.
Here’s the full Telluride Film Festival lineup:
• A Private Life (directed by Rebecca Zlotowski, France, 2025)
• Ask E. Jean (directed by Ivy Meeropol, US, 2025)
• Ballad of a Small Player (directed by Edward Berger, Hong Kong/Macau, 2025)
• Blue Moon (directed by Richard Linklater, US/Ireland, 2025)
• Bugonia (directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, UK, 2025)
• Cover-Up (directed by Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus, US, 2025)
• Everywhere Man: The Lives and Times of Peter Asher (directed by Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller, US/UK, 2025)
• Ghost Elephants (directed by Werner Herzog, Angola/Namibia/US, 2025)
• H is for Hawk (directed by Philippa Lowthorpe, UK/US, 2025)
• Hamlet (directed by Aneil Karia, UK, 2025)
• Hamnet (directed by Chloé Zhao, UK, 2025)
• Highway 99 a Double Album (directed by Ethan Hawke, US, 2025)
• If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (directed by Mary Bronstein, US, 2025)
• It Was Just an Accident (directed by Jafar Panahi, Iran/France/Luxembourg, 2025)
• Jay Kelly (directed by Noah Baumbach, Italy/UK/US, 2025)
• Karl (directed by Nick Hooker, UK, 2025)
• La Grazia (directed by Paolo Sorrentino, Italy, 2025)
• Lost in the Jungle (directed by Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Juan Camilo Cruz, US/Colombia, 2025)
• Lumière, le Cinéma (directed by Thierry Frémaux, France, 2024)
• Man on the Run (directed by Morgan Neville, US, 2025)
• Nouvelle Vague (directed by Richard Linklater, France, 2025)
• Pillion (directed by Harry Lighton, UK, 2025)
• Sentimental Value (directed by Joachim Trier, Norway/France/Denmark/Germany, 2025)
• Shifty (directed by Adam Curtis, UK, 2025)
• Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (directed by Scott Cooper, US, 2025)
• Summer Tour (directed by Mischa Richter, US, 2025)
• The American Revolution (directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein, David Schmidt, US, 2025)
• The Bend in the River (directed by Robb Moss, US, 2025)
• The Cycle of Love (directed by Orlando von Einsiedel, U.K./India/Sweden, 2025)
• The History of Sound (directed by Oliver Hermanus, US, 2025)
• The Mastermind (directed by Kelly Reichardt, US, 2025)
• The New Yorker at 100 (directed by Marshall Curry, US, 2025)
• The Reserve (directed by Pablo Pérez Lombardini, Mexico/Qatar, 2025)
• The Secret Agent (directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil/France/Netherlands/Germany, 2025)
• This Is Not a Drill (directed by Oren Jacoby, US, 2025)
• Tuner (directed by Daniel Roher, US/Canada, 2025)
• Urchin (directed by Harris Dickinson, UK, 2025)
The following short films will screen in the main program:
• Last Days on Lake Trinity (directed by Charlotte Cooley, US, 2025)
• Sallie’s Ashes (directed by Brennan Robideaux, US, 2025)
• Song of My City (directed by David C. Roberts, US, 2025)
• All the Empty Rooms (directed by Joshua Seftel, US, 2025)
• All the Walls Came Down (directed by Ondi Timoner, US, 2025)
