In the darkest months of the year, December and January, De Uitkijk dedicates the final months of 2025 to films about a universal, human, yet elusive feeling: loneliness. During Winterreeks: Alone Again, we present a selection of films that each explore this theme in their own way. We follow characters who wander aimlessly through world cities, are stuck in routines, endure suffocating relationships, or desperately search for connection. While some try to escape loneliness, others learn to embrace it, yet all drift through a world that only amplifies their solitude.

From Ottinger’s flamboyant Berlin in Ticket of No Return to Antonioni’s bleak industrial landscapes in Red Desert; from the claustrophobic intimacy of Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant to the spiritual voids in Reygadas’ Japón; from Hertzfeldt’s existential animated film, It's Such a Beautiful Day, to Downey Sr.’s satirical social critique Putney Swope.

Some, like Kieślowski’s Julie in Three Colours: Blue or Fellini’s hopeful Cabiria in Nights of Cabiria, seek a fresh start. Others, like the wandering men in Naked and An Elephant Sitting Still, teeter on the edge of despair. Béla Tarr depicts the loneliness of the end of times in The Turin Horse, while Hou Hsiao-hsien captures the melancholic rhythm of nightlife in Millennium Mambo. In contrast, social and institutional loneliness becomes painfully tangible in Black Girl (Ousmane Sembène) and The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu).

Together, these films do not offer a comforting answer, but rather provide a raw, poetic, absurd, quiet, tender, destructive, and sometimes even liberating glimpse into the world of the lonely.

After years of dedicated service, the time has come for our beloved colleague of special programming, Inass, at De Uitkijk to reach a grand finale. With the approaching end of the year, this moment gives us the opportunity to reflect on the meaning of endings. With 'Final Cut', Inass has curated twelve exceptional films, each with remarkable endings, for one last time. Join us as we celebrate this era in spectacular style!