The 55th edition of International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) begins January 29, screening over 600 films across Rotterdam through February 8. We have rounded up the science and technology-themed features to look out for, with descriptions excerpted from the festival’s programmers. While the selection below reflects a diverse cross section of filmmaking styles and formats, all seem to explore the nature of human beings’ relationship to the earth in their own way.

Highlights include the Dutch premiere Ildikó Enyedi’s SILENT FRIEND, which was selected as the Alfred P. Sloan Science on Film Showcase at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. North American rights were snapped up by 1-2 Special within weeks of the film’s world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where it received a lengthy standing ovation. Check out the trailer below.

CHRONOVISOR. Dirs. Kevin Walker, Jack Auen. World Premiere. “A French academic is seduced into a world of untold histories in her scholarly quest to uncover the mystery of a history-capturing camera-like machine created by clandestine Benedictine monks. An academic-noir, armchair mystery in the lineage of Jorge Luis Borges and Umberto Eco.”

Still from CHRONOVISOR. Courtesy of IFFR.

ELEMENTS OF(F) BALANCE. Dir. Othmar Schmiderer. International Premiere. “Against the background of our increasingly threatened environment, which is facing immense ecological challenges, journey to ecosystems hardly ever seen before. How can ecological interdependence, co-creation, resilience and collaboration in nature lead us away from dystopian visions of the future?”

HUNGRY. Dir. Susanne Brandstaetter. World Premiere. “After mankind’s extinction, aliens arrive on Earth trying to understand the cause of this disaster by listening to specialists who had warned about the consequences of ruthlessly uncontrolled development. A documentary poem of great urgency as well as overwhelming beauty.”

KRAKATOA. Dir. Carlos Casas. World Premiere. “A Javanese fisherman experiences the greatest volcanic eruption of all time. Stranded on a deserted island, in search of food and water, he draws closer to the depths of the earth. A visceral and psychedelic odyssey.”

Still from KRAKATOA. Courtesy of IFFR.

SILENT FRIEND. Dir. Ildikó Enyedi. Dutch Premiere. “One ginkgo tree, three stories that unfold in its vicinity over more than a century. . . In 1908, Grete becomes her German university’s first female student. . . Some 60, 70 years on, Hannes cultivates a serious crush on Gundula. While taking care of her final thesis experiment for a few days, he begins a relationship of a most unexpected kind – with a geranium. Finally, in our recent past, during the COVID-19 lockdowns, neuroscientist Tony from Hong Kong finds himself trapped in the otherwise empty university . . .”

THERE WAS SUCH A THING BEFORE. Dir. Matsui Yoshihiko. International Premiere. “In this quiet, enigmatic drama, Matsui Yoshihiko reflects on the toll of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in the lives of its townspeople. Time has passed since Akira lost his mother. Now, he sets off to find his father who works to decontaminate the region.”

TYCOON. Dir. Charlotte Zhang. World Premiere. “Canadian visual artist Charlotte Zhang’s blistering experimental work proposes a claustrophobic and foreboding vision of Los Angeles on the brink of social explosion, as told through an impressionistic chain of events following the sudden disruption of the city’s meat supply.”

Still from TYCOON. Courtesy of IFFR.

THE WAVES SAGA. Dir. Badrul Munir. World Premiere. "What can folklore offer besides a glimpse into the beliefs and customs of a community? Reflecting on the geomythology of West Java, THE WAVES SAGA explores how scientific investigation into natural disasters finds vital insight in indigenous systems of knowledge.”

Still from THE WAVES SAGA. Courtesy of IFFR.

THE WOLF, THE FOX & THE LEOPARD. Dir. David Verbeek. Dutch Premiere. “Director David Verbeek presents a dark and unpredictable fairytale in which a girl raised by wolves finds herself in our modern society. With the world on fire and set for climate disaster, she learns what it is to be human.”

YELLOW CAKE. Dir. Tiago Melo. World Premiere. “When radical science backfires, miners and researchers confront apocalypse in Tiago Melo’s pulpy, politically charged sci-fi fusing local myth, dark humour, working-class grit and radioactivity in Brazil’s Northeast. An irresistible genre hybrid grounded in regional truths.”

• Science Films at IFFR 2025
• Science Films at IFFR 2024
• Science Films at IFFR 2023