Everything You Need To Know About The BFI London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival opens its doors for its 69th edition next month, and with it, some big-name film debuts. Run by the British Film Institute for 2 weeks every October, the festival celebrates all things British and international film. Movies like the new Knives Out, Hamnet and Daniel Day-Lewis’s comeback Anemone are set to be screened- here’s all you need to know.
What films are set to be shown?
The best part about the London Film Festival is the variety of films that are screened – usually well over 200 films, shorts and other projects are featured. While, of course, there are heavy hitters that receive a lot of press (more on those in a minute), plenty of smaller projects and indie films also get their moment in the spotlight. The festival features different categories (or “strands”): Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Create, Experimenta, Family, and Shorts.
One of the biggest films featured at the festival is Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, the third in the mystery-comedy series starring Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc. The movie, set to open the festival with its international premiere, follows Blanc as he investigates another curious case, with a bumper cast that includes Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner and more.
Daniel Day-Lewis has something of a habit of announcing his retirement and then making a comeback- and he’s done it again with his new film Anemone, also at the festival, his first acting role since Phantom Thread in 2017. The film, directed by his son Ronan, sees a soldier reunite with his brother after years of living in isolation. Sean Bean and Samantha Morton also star alongside Day-Lewis in the much-anticipated drama. Hamnet, the new film from Chloe Zhao, is another piercing drama coming to LFF and stars Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley as William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway, as they recover from the loss of their son in the late 1590s.
There’s plenty of other big films that will be screening as galas as the festival, and some of the most high profile include After the Hunt, directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Julia Roberts, Rental Family with Brendan Fraser, Richard Linklater’s new film Blue Moon led by Ethan Hawke and Margaret Qualley, Bugonia, Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest collab with Emma Stone, the Noah Baumbach directed Jay Kelly with George Clooney, Frankenstein starring Jacob Elordi, and Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson’s intriguing Die My Love.
What big names will be attending?
As ever, there’ll be tonnes of stars in attendance at the festival, and perhaps the main attraction will be the Screen Talks, a series of on-stage interviews with some of cinema’s most prominent figures. Talks this year include Daniel Day-Lewis, Chloe Zhao, Richard Linklater, Yorgos Lanthimos, Tessa Thompson, Lynne Ramsey and Jafar Panahi. Others appearing at the festival include Daniel Craig, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, George Clooney, Josh O’Connor, Elle Fanning, Laura Dern, Andrew Scott, Rian Johnson and more.
How to get tickets
Tickets for the festival will go on general sale on Tuesday, 16th September, with extra tickets released on 2nd October. The BFI London Festival runs from 8th to 19th October. You can book tickets and see more on the BFI’s website and read the full brochure.
