The lineup for the 59th BFI London Film Festival–slated for Oct. 7-18–has been set with a total of 238 fiction and documentary features, including 16 World Premieres, 8 International Premieres, 40 European Premieres and 11 Archive films including 5 Restoration World Premieres. There will also be screenings of 182 live action and animated shorts.
The Festival opens with the European Premiere of Suffragette, starring Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne-Marie Duff, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw and Meryl Streep. Director Sarah Gavron returns to the Festival for a third time with a film that tells the story of the ordinary British women at the turn of the last century who risked everything in the fight for equality and the right to vote.
The European Premiere of Steve Jobs will close the Festival, directed by Danny Boyle whose films Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and 127 Hours (2010) previously closed the Festival. Based on Walter Isaacson’s best-selling biography, Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution to create a revealing portrait of the man at its epicentre. The film stars Michael Fassbender in the title role, Academy Award winner Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels, Michael Stuhlbarg and Katherine Waterston.
Among the other Galas are the previously announced American Express Gala of Todd Haynes’ Carol, a beautiful 1950s romantic drama about a young woman working as a clerk in a department store who meets and falls in love with an alluring woman trapped in a loveless convenient marriage. The film stars Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, who won the Best Actress Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for her role in the film. The Accenture Gala is the European premiere of Trumbo, directed by Jay Roach and starring Bryan Cranston in a cracking performance as Dalton Trumbo, the Hollywood screenwriter who was blacklisted after refusing to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1947. Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Elle Fanning, Louis C.K. and John Goodman round out the cast. Virgin Atlantic who will present Scott Cooper’s chilling crime drama Black Mass starring Johnny Depp, Benedict Cumberbatch and Joel Edgerton. The May Fair Hotel Gala is the European Premiere of the stirring drama Brooklyn starring Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson and Emory Cohen, adapted for the screen by Nick Hornby from Colm Tóibin’s best-selling novel about the exquisite pain of choosing between an Irish homeland and the new promise of America. The Centrepiece Gala supported by the Mayor of London is the European Premiere of director Nicholas Hytner’s The Lady In The Van adapted from writer Alan Bennett’s play and starring Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings, Jim Broadbent, Frances De La Tour and Roger Allam. The Festival Gala is Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise starring Tom Hiddleston as Dr. Robert Laing, a man who has just taken ownership of a luxurious apartment in this satire based on JG Ballard’s classic novel. The Archive Gala is the World Premiere of the BFI National Archive restoration of Shooting Stars, directed by A.V. Bramble and Anthony Asquith (1928).
This year, the Festival introduces three Special Presentations, they are: the Experimenta Special Presentation, Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson’s phantasmagoric opus The Forbidden Room which screens at BFI IMAX; the Documentary Special Presentation, Davis Guggenheim’s He Named Me Malala an inspiring portrait of an incredibly brave and resilient young woman who carries a message of hope for women in the world; and the previously announced Fellowship Special Presentation of James Vanderbilt’s Truth starring Cate Blanchett in honor of the actress receiving the BFI Fellowship at this year’s LFF Awards Ceremony.
Strand Galas
The nine program strands are each headlined with a gala, they are: the Love Gala, Luca Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash; the Debate Gala, Stephen Frears’ The Program; the Dare Gala, Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster; the Laugh Gala, Ondi Timoner’s Brand: A Second Coming (European Premiere); the Thrill Gala, Deepa Mehta’s Beeba Boys (International Premiere); the Cult Gala, S. Craig Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk (International Premiere); the Journey Gala, Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Assassin; the Sonic Gala, Hany Abu-Assad’s The Idol (European Premiere) and the Family Gala is Rob Letterman’s Goosebumps (European Premiere).
Awards and Competitions
The Best Film Award will again be handed out in Official Competition; the Sutherland Award in the First Feature Competition and the Grierson Award in Documentary Competition. This year there is also the newly introduced Short Film Award, presented to one of a shortlist of 12 films selected from across the programme. Each section is open to international and British films.
Official Competition
The Official Competition lineup, recognizing inspiring, inventive and distinctive filmmaking, includes the following:
Jerzy Skolimowski, 11 MINUTES
Cary Fukunaga, BEASTS OF NO NATION
Apichatpong Weerasethakul, CEMETERY OF SPLENDOUR
Athina Rachel Tsangari, CHEVALIER
Simon Stone, THE DAUGHTER
Jonás Cuarón, DESIERTO (European Premiere)
Lucile Hadžihalilović, EVOLUTION
Johnnie To, OFFICE (European Premiere)
Lenny Abrahamson, ROOM
László Nemes, SON OF SAUL
Terence Davies, SUNSET SONG
Sean Baker, TANGERINE
Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya, VERY BIG SHOT (European Premiere)
Titles in consideration for the Sutherland Award in the First Feature Competition recognizing an original and imaginative directorial debut are:
Mai Masri, 3000 NIGHTS (European Premiere)
Eva Husson, BANG GANG (A MODERN LOVE STORY)
Magnus von Horn, THE HERE AFTER
Trey Edward Shults, KRISHA
Yared Zeleke, LAMB
Esther May Campbell, LIGHT YEARS
Ariel Kleiman, PARTISAN
Eugenio Canevari, PAULA
Bentley Dean, Martin Butler, TANNA
Piero Messina, THE WAIT
Nitzan Gilady, WEDDING DOLL (European Premiere)
Robert Eggers, THE WITCH
The Grierson Award in the Documentary Competition category recognizes cinematic documentaries with integrity, originality, and social or cultural significance. This year the Festival is screening:
João Pedro Plácido, (BE)LONGING
Mor Loushy, CENSORED VOICES
David Sington, THE FEAR OF 13 (World Premiere)
Alexandria Bombach, Mo Scarpelli, FRAME BY FRAME (European Premiere)
Alexander Sokurov, FRANCOFONIA
Frederick Wiseman, IN JACKSON HEIGHTS
Walter Salles, JIA ZHANGKE, A GUY FROM FENYANG
Tomer Heymann, MR. GAGA (International Premiere)
Patricio Guzmán, THE PEARL BUTTON
Sarah Turner, PUBLIC HOUSE (World Premiere)
Jennifer Peedom, SHERPA (European Premiere)
Hanna Polak, SOMETHING BETTER TO COME
In its inaugural year, the Short Film Award recognizes short form works with a unique cinematic voice and a confident handling of chosen theme and content. This year the Festival is screening:
João Paulo Miranda Maria, COMMAND ACTION
Till Nowak, DISSONANCE
Nina Gantz, EDMOND
Peter Tscherkassky, THE EXQUISITE CORPUS
Mees Peijnenburg, A HOLE IN MY HEART
An van Dienderen, LILI (International Premiere)
Maïmouna Doucouré, MOTHER(S)
Shai Heredia, Shumona Goel, AN OLD DOG’S DIARY (European Premiere)
Caroline Bartleet, OPERATOR (World Premiere)
Jörn Threlfall, OVER
Vivienne Dick, RED MOON RISING (World Premiere)
Ziya Demirel, TUESDAY
