The 22nd edition of the Monte-Carlo Film Festival de la Comédie, the only international festival entirely dedicated to comedy, conceived and chaired by Ezio Greggio, taking place from November 12 to 15, 2025, in the Principality of Monaco, is pleased to present this year's seven films in competition, an international selection celebrating the diverse forms of cinematic storytelling. This year, the festival will once again take place at the prestigious Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo, where the various venues will host screenings and discussions with the most beloved protagonists of international cinema: Argentine, Cuban, Algerian, German, Danish, Italian, Spanish, and French. The event will culminate with the customary "Awards Gala" on Saturday, November 15, at the Grimaldi Forum.

The festival opens with Homo Argentum, a black comedy by the duo Cohn & Duprat (in Monte-Carlo with the Official Competition in 2022). The film consists of 16 stories, all starring the chameleonic Guillermo Francella, who analyzes the vices and virtues of a perpetually contradictory society with merciless and surgical irony. The seven films in competition address many themes of contemporary society, always reinterpreted with ironic or grotesque twists. These include the story of two past dictatorships and the dissidents who opposed them, seeking to overthrow their respective regimes and the fate of their countries: one is Franco's Spain in 1939, depicted in The Dinner, a film directed by Manuel Gómez Pereira that accompanies the film to the Festival; the other is Cuba under the Castro dictatorship, depicted in Comandante Fritz, a romantic comedy set in 1972. Director Pavel Giroud will be in Monte-Carlo to present the film. And then there's food, used in these films almost as a symbol of emancipation: Partir un jour, a romantic comedy with musical elements, and Mehdi's Little Cuisine. Stories of life and relationships unfold around the kitchen, also a key feature in The Dinner and Commander Fritz. With his unique style, somewhere between the grotesque and the hilarious, Anders Thomas Jensen directs Den Sidste Viking (The Last Viking), a black comedy about two brothers searching for hidden loot after a robbery. Only one knows the coordinates, but he can't (or won't?) remember them. So they embark on an adventure through the places of their childhood, hoping to find the treasure and uncover the source of their past traumas.

Family (and the emotional balance that can sometimes be difficult to find within it) is at the heart of Gianni Di Gregorio's latest film, Come ti muovi sbagli (How You Move, You Wrong), presented this year at the Venice Film Festival. With grace and irony, it tells the story of a seventy-year-old man whose tranquil daily life is completely upended by the sudden arrival of his daughter and grandchildren. Iaia Forte, playing the woman with whom the protagonist has an almost adolescent flirtation, will be present at the Monte Carlo Film Festival to accompany the film.

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The 7 films in COMPETITION:

THE DINNER (106', Spain) - International Premiere

Directed by Manuel Gómez Pereira. With Alberto San Juan, Mario Casas, Asier Etxeandia.

Spain, 1939. Just fifteen days after the end of the Spanish Civil War, General Franco orders a celebratory dinner at Madrid's luxurious Hotel Palace. A young lieutenant (Mario Casas), a meticulous head waiter (Alberto San Juan), and a group of Republican prisoners—men from the faction opposed to Franco's regime but gifted in the kitchen—are forced to prepare a banquet in record time. Everything seems to be going smoothly, but the chefs are planning not only the party, but also their escape.

COMMANDER FRITZ (106', Germany/Cuba) - International Premiere

Directed by Pavel Giroud. With Yany Prado, Dennis Mojen, Alexis Valdés

A young East German Stasi officer, Fritz (Dennis Mojen), is sent to Havana in 1972 to oversee the official handover of Isla Ernesto Thälmann, an island donated by Fidel Castro to the German Democratic Republic as a sign of socialist friendship during the Cold War. Fritz's mission is to thwart a suspected CIA assassination attempt against Fidel Castro during the handover ceremony. In Havana, Fritz meets Lola (Yany Prado), a young Cuban woman whose past and choices threaten the success of the mission and will drastically change the course of her life. The film is a political comedy that blends satire and romance, offering a unique insight into the historical period and the complex relations between Cuba and East Germany.

LEAVE A DAY (98', France) - First Monaco match

Directed by Amélie Bonnin. With Juliette Armanet, Bastien Bouillon, François Rollin.

Cécile (Juliette Armanet) has made a name for herself as a chef on the television show Top Chef and, with her partner and kitchen assistant, is preparing to open a gourmet restaurant. But after her father's (François Rollin) heart attack, she is forced to leave Paris and temporarily return to her childhood village and the street food restaurant run by her parents. During her stay in her hometown, she meets Raphaël (Bastien Bouillon), her childhood sweetheart, who will challenge her certainties.

THE LAST VIKING (116', Denmark) - French Premiere

Directed by Anders Thomas Jensen. With Mads Mikkelsen

The Last Viking is an original, intriguing, and mischievous comedy about identity. Anker has been released from prison after a fifteen-year sentence for robbery. The money from the robbery has been buried by Manfred (Mads Mikkelsen), Anker's brother. Only he knows where it is. Unfortunately, Manfred has developed a mental disorder that makes him forget everything. Together, the brothers embark on an unexpected journey to find the money and discover who they really are.

LA PETITE CUISINE DE MEHDI (104', France/Algeria) - French premiere

Directed by Amine Adjina. Starring Younès Boucif, Clara Bretheau, and Hiam Abbass.

Mehdi (Younès Boucif) is on the brink of disaster. He tries to maintain the facade of the perfect Algerian son in front of his mother, Fatima (Hiam Abbass), but hides his relationship with Léa and his passion for French gastronomy from everyone. He works as a chef in a bistro he is about to take over with his partner, but Léa (Clara Bretheau) is fed up with his secrets and demands to meet her traditionalist and stubborn mother-in-law, whom Mehdi had led to believe was still in Algeria. Cornered, Mehdi will have to make a drastic and probably the worst decision possible. The film ironically and emotionally explores the conflict between identity, belonging, and the desire for freedom, using cuisine as a cultural metaphor and a battleground between Algerian tradition and French modernity.

HOMO ARGENTUM (98', Argentina) - French premiere

Directed by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat. Starring Guillermo Francella and Aurora Quattrocchi.

Homo Argentum presents a collection of 16 satirical stories, starring Guillermo Francella. Each of his characters highlights a kind of tension: elegant opportunism, middle-class double standards, soccer idolization, consumerist aspirations, a sense of humor in the face of chaos, exaggerated political correctness, marijuana culture, the friendship mafia, or the art of playing dumb. There is no redemption or morality: there is humor and discomfort, but also tenderness and an irony as cutting as it is inevitable. Francella transforms in each scene like an Argentine social chameleon: he embodies what we see every day and prefer not to look twice at. With each shed, a recognizable character emerges, ambiguous, affectionate or petty, but always possible.

HOW YOU MOVE, YOU MAKE WRONG MINDS (97', Italy) - International Premiere

Directed by Gianni Di Gregorio. Starring Gianni Di Gregorio, Iaia Forte, and Greta Scarano.

Is avoiding all the hassles of daily life, shielding oneself from every nuisance, enough to be happy? The professor (Gianni Di Gregorio), at seventy, has finally found peace. He has a beautiful home, a decent pension, friends to joke with, and a woman to spend a few days with (Iaia Forte, who will be a guest at the Festival). He devotes himself only to pleasant things. Until his life is turned upside down by the arrival of his daughter (Greta Scarano), who is having marital troubles, and her two overbearing grandchildren. New worries, new anxieties, but also new affections. Thus begins an adventure in the love lives of others, and in his own, which will make him realize that love is always worth living, even if it brings tribulations, sacrifices, and suffering. A film that reflects on love and the inexorable instinct of human beings to mix their own destiny with that of others, with all that this can entail: hardships, but also joys, and the feeling of having truly lived.

In addition to the films in competition mentioned above, the following titles have been selected for this year's Short Comedy Award, the initiative dedicated to comedy short films, open to directors, actors, and producers ready to tell original and lively stories that can make audiences think through laughter:

TÊTES D'ENTERREMENT (15'29', Belgium) Directed by Nicolas Galoux

It's the story of a man who can't cry at his mother's funeral. It's the final straw for this single father, whose modesty and the way others view him are oppressive. Could it be a rejection of convention? A bittersweet comedy about letting go.

AQUELE ABRAÇO (18'06', Portugal') Directed by Michael Joaquim Matias

On a quiet night in the Alentejo countryside, João prepares to end his life, but his plan is interrupted by Ricardo, a stranger with the same intention. Forced to share a tree, the two men begin an absurd and existential conversation that oscillates between the tragic and the ridiculous. A dark comedy about loneliness, the meaning of life, and what happens when everyone talks but no one listens.

SATURN IN VENUS (5', Georgia) Directed by Alla Eliseeva

A young woman relaxes on the shores of a lake, studying the mysteries of astrology. Suddenly, a beautiful man appears in the water. Could he be the man the stars promised her? Is Saturn about to enter Venus?

ANDROMEDA (15', Russia) Directed by Anna Melykian

A young woman climbs to the roof of a skyscraper to take her own life, but is interrupted by a vulgar public service worker complaining about having to cover up a child's graffiti. No compassion, just sarcasm and provocation. Yet, amidst this absurdity, a strange will to live begins to emerge.

The event, in collaboration with EFG Bank (Monaco), has always been held under the High Patronage of HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco and the Italian Embassy. As in previous years, Radio Monte Carlo is the Festival's official radio station.