ÉCU The European Independent Film Festival 2025: We Love Independent Cinema

ÉCU celebrates its 20th anniversary of screening the world’s best independent films

This weekend marked ÉCU’s 20th annual film festival, a landmark in the festival’s commitment to discovering, projecting and promoting international independent cinema. Bringing together talented filmmakers from 20 countries to Paris, France, we have the privilege to present a curated selection of this year’s highlights. This year 43 films were selected and at our esteemed final ceremony, 25 award winners have been chosen in 12 different categories.

First  - who’s been recognized this year? The recipient of ÉCU’s highest honor, “Europe’s Best Independent Film 2025” was awarded to Elise Amblard for her dramatic short, Aux Armes, Christopher. The film follows Christopher, a seventeen-year-old identitarian with his father and sister as a new family moves into their suburban neighborhood.

Set against the backdrop of a solar eclipse, Aux Armes, Christopher explores hatred and radicalization in a contemporary context. During a Q&A session, Amblard explains her inspiration came from someone she personally knew. This experience prompted her to learn more about the “fachosphère”, or online spaces promoting bigotry. Amblard describes the film’s ending as showing “the death of innocence”, with the eclipse symbolizing “looking away from the truth”.

Many other films received their due recognition: Depredador as Best European Independent Dramatic Short, Asrar with the Ahmed Khedr Award for Excellence in Arab Filmmaking, and Witness with an award for Excellence in Women’s Filmmaking, among many others. Solitarium and In My Beginning is My End each received a Special Jury Mention, and the Audience Award went to Tokyo Strange Tale this year. You can find all the winners here: https://ecufilmfestival.com/ecu-2025/winners-2025/

However, the competition isn’t the point. First, any film included in the Official Selection at ÉCU The European Independent Film Festival has been exceptional. Most importantly, the festival recognizes the efforts of any filmmaker that has taken the creative risk to produce independently.

When asked about producing independently, filmmakers detailed the challenges and advantages. “I think if you get very used to doing things on really tight budgets, it creatively makes you extremely resourceful”, said Fleur Howle, director of Khadija bint Khuwaylid. “Because you have to think about it, you can’t throw money at a problem”. “But what I love about producing your movie is that creatively you are so freaking free”, says Camille Landraud, director of I Only Like You. “You can talk about subjects that big feature films don’t”.

The weekend itself was busy but rewarding for everyone involved, from filmmakers to audience members (and of course, the hardworking team responsible for putting all of this together). After months of preparation, the effort paid off. Between workshops, discussion panels and screenings, conversation flowed with a background of live music.

On Friday, the festival kicked off with a welcome speech from our festival president Scott Hillier, an evening of screenings, and an animated afterparty. Each session featured a Q&A panel with the filmmakers in attendance, who were given a platform to talk about their work and their creative processes. On Saturday, the audience came back for a 10am workshop devoted to understanding licensing, hosted by Steph Rushton and singer-songwriter Mike Beck, and the day of screenings finished with an afterparty.

Sunday, the final day of the festival, started with a workshop on video editing with Antoine Vareille. This was followed by an amazing event in which several nominated female filmmakers stepped onstage for the #SheShoots discussion panel, animated by Suz Sainty. The directors spoke about their experiences in the film industry, from their debuts to their collaborative processes. At the end of another full day of screenings, attendees eagerly awaited the jury’s decisions before the much-anticipated awards ceremony in which 24 films were rewarded with 25 different awards.

ÉCU’s festival allowed filmmakers to see their work projected on the widescreen - while for some it may be for the twentieth time, for others it was the first time. It also allowed filmmakers and audience members to appreciate the diversity of ideas represented. “When I was reading the program, I thought it’s really interesting; it’s really nice because people are approaching filmmaking very differently”, Fleur Howle reflected. “We’re all coming from things that are very different - culture, different ages, all of these experiences and backgrounds. And it kind of shows in the subjects that we want to talk about”.

We would like to thank everyone involved in ÉCU’s 2025 festival; the experience would not exist without your support and we can’t wait to have you next year.