Opening with the World Premiere of Steve McQueen’s BLITZ
Closing with the European Premiere of Morgan Neville’s PIECE BY PIECE
The American Express Gala is the European Premiere of R.J. Cutler and David Furnish’s ELTON JOHN: NEVER TOO LATE
The 68th BFI London Film Festival (LFF) in partnership with American Express announced the full programme line-up, which will be presented in cinemas and online, across the UK. Over twelve days from 9 – 20 October, the LFF will invite audiences to return to its fantastic flagship venues in the heart of London – BFI Southbank and the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, which between them host Galas, Special Presentations and Official Competition titles. Films and Series from all strands of the Festival will screen in many of central London’s iconic cinemas with global film talent from behind and in front of the camera in attendance. A curated selection of features will also be showcased at 9 partner venues across the UK.
The BFI LFF 68 presented a vibrant and diverse programme of 253 features, shorts, series and immersive works from 79 countries, featuring 63 languages playing across the 12 days of the festival. This includes 112 works made by female and non-binary filmmakers – 44% of the programme.
As Kristy Matheson, BFI London Film Festival Director, said: “Cinematic ideas materialise in many forms, and this year artists have taken us to some giddy highs and poked at our tender underbellies. Troubled histories linger close to the surface alongside optimistic futures, all explored in unique and creative ways. As the seasons change and we head into the Autumn, we invite everyone to come to the BFI London Film Festival to discover and enjoy the whole spectrum of moving image.” An impressive number of major alumni filmmakers return to LFF including: Steve McQueen, Morgan Neville, Sean Baker, Ali Abbasi, Andrea Arnold, Jacques Audiard, Mike Leigh, Marielle Heller, Pablo Larraín, Mati Diop, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Roshan Sethi, Luca Guadagnino, Athina Rachel Tsangari, Darren Thornton, Rungano Nyoni, Alex Ross Perry, François Ozon, Mikko Mäkelä, Alonso Ruizpalacios, Steven Eastwood, Amrou Al-Kadhi, Jonas Trueba, Alexandre O. Philippe, Sadie Frost, Kevin Macdonald, Radu Jude, Guy Maddin, Neo Sora, Miguel Gomes, Wang Bing, Lorcan Finnegan, Hong Sang Soo, Nicolas Philibert, Claude Barras, Jia Zhangke, Victor Kossakovsky, Jessica Sarah Rinland, Leos Carax, Alain Guiraudie, Sergei Loznitsa, Thomas Vinterberg, Rúnar Rúnarsson, Asif Kapadia, Tsai Ming-liang, Göran Hugo Olsson, Ariane Labed, Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra, Justin Kurzel, Alfonso Cuarón, Sam Mendes.
Almost every feature and series will screen to audiences in the UK for the very first time, with many shown publicly for the first time anywhere in the world. As in previous years, the feature film programme is organised by strand to encourage discovery and to open up the Festival to new audiences. These are: Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Create, Experimenta, Family, Shorts and Treasures. Audiences can also find new and exciting Series programming in many of the strands. Premieres include 39 World Premieres (15 features, 2 series, 19 shorts, 3 immersive), 12 International Premieres (6 features, 4 shorts, 2 immersive) and 21 European Premieres (17 features, 1 series, 3 shorts).
World Premieres from filmmakers and artists include: Steve McQueen’s BLITZ which opens the festival, Ben Taylor’s Cunard Gala JOY starring Thomasin McKenzie, James Norton and Bill Nighy, the BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation’s restoration SILENT SHERLOCK, Darren Thornton’s Irishcomedy film FOUR MOTHERS, spellbinding performance film from Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard THE EXTRAORDINARY MISS FLOWER, thriller series A THOUSAND BLOWS from Peaky Blinders creato Steven Knight, the latest documentary from Oscar® -winning directing duo Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin ENDURANCE, Sophie Compton and Daisy-May Hudson’s transformative female prison documentary HOLLOWAY, magical Bulgarian drama TARIKA from Milko Lazarov, Laila Abbas’ gripping tale of two sisters THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US, Family Gala THAT CHRISTMAS directed by Simon Otto and starring Brian Cox, Jodie Whittaker and Bill Nighy, Eloise King’s eye-opening investigative documentary THE SHADOW SCHOLARS, Adam Wong Sau-Ping’s touching Hong Kong drama THE WAY WE TALK, Manchester-set debut feature from Gino Evans TREADING WATER, and the BFI’s restoration of one of the UK’s greatest animated films Martin Rosen’s WATERSHIP DOWN.
International Premieres include: the Mayor of London’s Gala WE LIVE IN TIME by John Crowley starring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, BFI Flare Special Presentation Roshan Sethi’s A NICE INDIAN BOY starring Karan Soni and Jonathan Groff, Sadie Frost’s inspirational biographical documentary TWIGGY on the 1960s icon, Kimberly Reed’s investigative documentary I’M YOUR VENUS following the murder of the Paris Is Burning star, Jane Mingay’s biographical documentary following impactful musician and artist PAULINE BLACK: A 2-TONE STORY.
European Premieres include: the American Express Gala of R.J. Cutler and David Furnish’s, ELTON JOHN: NEVER TOO LATE, William Bridges’ ALL OF YOU starring and co-written by Brett Goldstein and Imogen Poots, Natalie Bailey’s off-beat Australian comedy AUDREY, remarkable documentary BLINK following a family dealing with blindness from Edmund Stenson and Daniel Roher, debut from Christopher Andrews BRING THEM DOWN starring Barry Keoghan, Christopher Abbott and Colm Meaney, writer-director Mipo O’s anticipated sixth feature LIVING IN TWO WORLDS, Jazmin Jones’ unconventional investigative documentary SEEKING MAVIS BEACON, the Thiele brothers’ absurdist comedy SOFA, SO GOOD, mysterious thriller THE LISTENERS starring Rebecca Hall from series creator Jordan Tannahill, Malcom Washington’s directorial debut adapted from August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork THE PIANO LESSON starring Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington and Pedro Martín-Calero’s Nigerian-set thriller THE WEEKEND.
FULL PROGRAMME AVAILABLE AT https://www.bfi.org.uk/lff
by Katya Marletta
