BFF25: Islands

Australian premiere

On the striking volcanic coast of Fuerteventura, Islands unfolds as a hypnotic portrait of dislocation, temptation, and moral ambiguity. Tom (Sam Riley), once a promising tennis player, now drifts through life as a resort coach, numbing himself with drink and transient flings while hiding from his past. When a British family—Anne (Stacy Martin), her husband Dave (Jack Farthing), and their young son—arrive under the bright pretense of holiday leisure, Tom is drawn into their seemingly perfect yet fragile world. Hired to guide their excursions and mentor their child, he finds himself both seduced and unsettled by Anne’s allure and the cracks in her marriage.

When Dave vanishes without explanation, paradise turns menacing. Shadows of suspicion deepen, loyalties fracture, and Tom’s carefully constructed detachment begins to collapse. With echoes of Patricia Highsmith and Hitchcock, Jan-Ole Gerster transforms sun-soaked landscapes into a stage for simmering dread. Islands is a tense and stylish “vacation noir” that asks how far we will go to escape ourselves.

OFFICIAL SELECTION | Berlin International Film Festival 2025