The International Competition section expands beyond music to showcase films defined by cinematic excellence and fresh worldviews.

The inaugural lineup features Ali Asgari's Divine Comedy, a witty take on creative freedom and censorship; Sophie Heldman's The Education of Jane Cumming, a nuanced look at taboo and prejudice based on a 19th-century Scottish scandal; Fernando Eimbcke's Flies, depicting an unconventional family sparked by a small disruption in a controlled life; Mohamed Al-Daradji's Irkalla: Gilgamesh's Dream, drawing on the ancient epic to reflect on loss and hope among children in war; Abdellatif Kechiche's long-awaited Mektoub My Love : Canto Due; Ira Sachs's Peter Hujar's Day, featuring Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall; and Jeon Chanwoo's Body and Mind, an original meditation on loss, grief, and healing.