Have you caught up yet on the 2025 Year in Review? Did you see your favorites, or add a handful of titles (or more) to your watchlists? Don’t worry, the fun continues over on Video Store: we’re kicking off this year with a juicy shelf full of YIR gems: from 2025 and also looking back, this selection of films offers a wide range of genres and countries, prioritizing lesser-available, highly watchlisted and, of course, highly rated titles.
Whether you didn’t get the chance to catch Indonesian gem Sore when it premiered on Video Store in December, still need to discover cozy crowd-pleaser The Golden Spurtle, are looking for an early Lav Diaz fix post-Magellan, or never stopped thinking about all those damn beavers—we’ve got you. January blues, be gone.
Regions and prices (starting at US $2.99) vary by title, see listings below for where each will be available to rent. All films drop January 21 and will be added to our ongoing library of titles—with the exception of Sore: A Wife from the Future, Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo and The Golden Spurtle, which will be exclusive to Video Store for the next 30 days before they continue their festival runs. Here’s your chance to be among the first to log these gems! For more information on how Video Store works, visit our FAQ here.
Our Year In Review Selects shelf features the following titles from 2025:
- Sore: A Wife From the Future: One of our limited-time launch titles returns for an extra 30 days! Expanding Indonesian filmmaker Yandy Laurens’ 2017 web series, this sci-fi romance goes beyond time-travel infatuations, revealing a meditation on grief, the limits of love and what we can’t control in our futures. The highest-rated sci-fi film of 2025 by the community.
- The Golden Spurtle: Constantine Costi’s modest feature documentary debut takes us to the Scottish Highlands, where folks from around the world compete for the title of World Porridge Champion—and the Porridge Chieftain searches for a successor. Only available for 30 days, perfect to curb your January blues.
- Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo: Khaled Mansour’s directorial debut follows 30-year-old Hassan, who travels across working-class Cairo to find a safe haven for his dog, Rambo, after biting his landlord in… a very sensitive spot. Taking stock of a real-life incident, the film premiered in Venice. Exclusive for 30 days.
- To a Land Unknown: After premiering in the 2024 Directors’ Fortnight section in Cannes, earning a Gotham Award nomination for Breakthrough Director and winning 30+ awards across 100+ festival screenings, documentarian Mahdi Fleifel’s narrative feature debut follows Palestinian cousins Chatilda and Reda in Athens after fleeing a Lebanese refugee camp.
- Little Amélie or the Character Of Rain: A Cannes 2025 premiere in the Special Screenings section, this French-Belgian watercolor animation adapts Amélie Nothomb’s 2000 novel The Character of Rain. The highest-rated animated film of the year from a woman director by the community.
- Castration Movie Anthology i. Traps: Shot entirely on vintage Hi8 camcorders, the first part of Louis Weard’s anthology channels Dogme 95 as much as mumblecore, featuring everything from real top surgery footage to explorations of inceldom and watersports.
- Castration Movie Anthology ii. The Best of Both Worlds: The second part of Weard’s sprawling work focuses on trans separatist cult Polygon Angels, and stars Alex Walton and Anora’s Ivy Wolk.
- Together: Dave Franco and Alison Brie harness their real-life marriage to bring forth Michael Shanks’ feature debut: a body horror-cum-comedy about a codependent marriage, with a killer final needle drop.
And these selections from previous Year in Review celebrations:
