The 2025 Locarno International Film Festival, which will take place from August 6 to 16, has announced the addition of a last-minute title to its Concorso Internazionale. The film is L’Illusion de Yakushima, the latest feature by Japanese director Naomi Kawase, co-produced by France, Japan, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Starring Luxembourgish actress Vicky Krieps, the film will have its world premiere on Friday, August 15, bringing the total number of titles competing for the prestigious Golden Leopard to 18.

In L’Illusion de Yakushima, Krieps plays a French pediatric heart transplant coordinator who travels to Japan, where organ donation remains a cultural taboo. As she fights to save a young boy’s life, her partner Jin, a photographer from Yakushima, suddenly vanishes and becomes one of the so-called Johatsu—a term for the more than 80,000 people who disappear without a trace every year in Japan.

The director of acclaimed films such as Still the Water and Sweet Bean returns to the international scene with a work that combines her poetic vision with an exploration of the ties between nature and the human condition. Set against the lush backdrop of Yakushima Island, Kawase’s new film delves into the boundary between the tangible and the illusory, reaffirming the sensory signature that defines her cinema.

The film will screen alongside new works by directors such as Radu Jude, Ben Rivers, Abdellatif Kechiche, Abbas Fahdel, among other prominent contemporary filmmakers. All films in competition will be judged by a jury chaired by Cambodian director Rithy Panh.