Good Afternoon Lovelies, 

This morning the most exciting news in the UK film calendar was announced, as the line up for the 61st BFI London Film Festival was revealed and it is definitely going to be an incredible year.

With 242 feature films being shown over the 12-day event, the festival will 28 World Premieres, 9 International Premieres and 34 European Premieres, with many stars and filmmakers attending the red carpet to celebrate their cinematic adventures.

Stars already confirmed to attend the festival are: Andy Serkis, Andrew Garfield, Claire Foy, Martin McDonagh, Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton, Emma Stone, Andrea Riseborough, Elisabeth Shue, Luca Guadagnino, Timothée Chalamet, Paul McGuigan, Annette Bening, Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, Saul Dibb, Sam Claflin, Asa Butterfield, Toby Jones, Stephen Graham, Yorgos Lanthimos, Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Richard Linklater, Bryan Cranston, Dee Rees, Carey Mulligan, Jason Mitchell, Mary J. Blige, Garrett Hedlund, Guillermo del Toro, Lynne Ramsay, Joaquin Phoenix, François Ozon, Patrick Imbert, Takashi Miike, Sean Baker, Brooklynn Kimberly Prince, Valeria Cotto, Bria Vinaite, Samuel Maoz, Noah Baumbach, Emma Thompson, Saoirse Ronan, Billy Howle, Michel Hazanavicius, Louis Garrel, Stacy Martin, Bérénice Bejo, Joachim Trier, Todd Haynes, Oakes Fegley, Jaden Michael, Clio Barnard, Daniela Vega, Greg Barker, Shirin Neshat, David Fincher, Jonathan Groff, Holt McCallanay, Sally Potter, Bruno Ganz, Emily Mortimer, Cillian Murphy, Kristin Scott Thomas, Timothy Spall, Lucrecia Martel.

The 242 films also include 46 documentaries, 6 animations, 14 archive restorations, 16 artists’ moving image features, and 128 short films, with 67 countries in total represented across short film and features. Each film has been chosen to star in one of the themes of the festival including Galas, Special Presentation, Competitions, Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Experimenta, Family and the newest strand Create, which highlights the art put into the creative process.

Each day, the festival will also host a number of talks with those working in the film industry, as part of their LFF Connects event. Guests this year include, Julian Rosefeldt and Cate Blanchett, David Fincher, Demis Hassabis, Nitin Sawhney, Johan Knattrup Jensen, Ian McEwan and Takashi Miike.

These talks will include looking into social impacts that are affecting the world. Talking points and screenings will explore LGBT, immigration and social division, visionaries, Black Star, thrill, Strong Women and deafness and disability. The festival will also continue to work hard to share filmmaking special events with students as part of their educational programme.

During the festival, films and events will be screened at the Odeon cinema in Leicester Square, the Embankment Garden Cinema and the BFI’s home cinema at BFI Southbank. Plus many more including, the Vue Leicester Square, BFI IMAX, Picturehouse Central, the ICA, Curzon Mayfair, Curzon Soho, Empire Haymarket, Prince Charles Cinema and Ciné Lumière; and local cinemas, Special screenings will also be held at the National Gallery and the Barbican, and several key events will also be cinecasted to cinema venues around the UK.

“It is a delight to welcome some of the most thrilling storytellers from across the world to the Festival – we love to watch and engage with the extraordinary conversations that the Festival brings to our doorstep with every edition,” comments Amanda Nevill, Chief Executive, BFI. “London has a big heart and this year we are again reminded of the generosity and freedom of this awesome capital city of ours which so readily embraces this multiplicity of cultures and new voices. This creativity is reflected across the UK and the engine that is enabling filmmaking to thrive, supported by a favourable fiscal environment, outstanding skills and talent and ever expanding infrastructure and facilities.”

“In these globally tumultuous times, filmmakers around the world have increasingly urgent stories to tell and more reasons than ever to reimagine our reality,” comments Clare Stewart, Festival Director. “This year’s BFI London Film Festival programme is rich with opportunity – to stay informed, be challenged, feel the pleasure of escape and see the world differently.”

So without further ado, let’s take a look at the lineup…

Gala Screenings

• Opening Gala: Breathe, Andy Serkis
• Closing Gala: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Martin McDonagh
• American Express Gala: Battle Of The Sexes, Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton
• Mayor of London’s Gala: Call Me By Your Name, Luca Guadagnino
• The Festival Gala: The Florida Project, Sean Baker
• The BFI Patrons’ Gala: Downsizing, Alexander Payne 
• The May Fair Hotel: Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool, Paul McGuigan 
• Family Gala: The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales, Benjamin Renner and Patrick Imbert
• Further Gala Screenings: Journey’s End, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Last Flag Flying, Mudbound, The Shape of Water, You Were Never Really Here, Amant Double,  The Big Bad Fox And Other Tale, Blade Of The Immortal Foxtrot, The Meyerowitz Stories, On Chesil Beach, Redoubtable, Shiraz: A Romance Of India, Thelma and Wonderstruck.

Special Presentations

• Dark River 
• With Happy End
• The Party 
• Zama, 
• A Fantastic Woman
•  The Final Year
• Looking For Oum Kulthum 
• Mindhunter

At this year’s closing ceremony Paul Greengrass will be presented with the BFI Fellowship award at this year’s Awards ceremony, whilst some of the following films will pick up some of the biggest awards of the festival.

Official Competition

• 120 Bpm (Beats Per Minute)
• Angels Wear White
• Beyond The Clouds (World Premiere)
• The Breadwinner (European Premiere)
• Marco Dutra, Good Manners
• The Guardians (European Premiere)
• Lean On Pete
• Loveless
• The Lovers (European Premiere)
• Sweet Country
• Thoroughbred (International Premiere)
• Wajib

First Feature Competition

• Apostasy
• Ava
• Beast (European Premiere)
• The Cakemaker
• Cargo
• Columbus
• I Am Not A Witch
• Jeune Femme
• Most Beautiful Island
• Summer 1993
• Winter Brothers
• The Wound

Documentary Competition

• Before Summer Ends
• Bobbi Jene
• Chauka, Please Tell Us The Time (International Premiere)
• The Dead Nation
• Distant Constellation
• The New York Public Library
• Jr, Faces Places
• Gray House
• Jane (European Premiere)
• Kingdom Of Us (World Premiere)
• Makala
• The Prince Of Nothingwood

Short Film Award Competition

• The Artificial Humors
• Delete Beach
• Fysh (International Premiere)
• Gabber Lover
• Goddess
• Laws Of The Game
• Martin Cries
• The Rabbit Hunt
• Real Gods Require Blood
• Robot & Scarecrow
• Scaffold
• Wren Boys (World Premiere)

Other films to be aired at the festival include, On Chesil Beach, Close-Knit, The Grown-Ups, Anchor And Hope, How To Talk To Girls At Parties, Journeyman, Going West, Let The Sunshine In, Stronger, Birds Are Singing In Kigali, The Climb, Lu Over The Wall, The Forgiven, Island, The Venerable W., Funny Cow, Ingrid Goes West, Person To Person, Quality Time, Word Of God, Beach Rats, Brawl In Cell Block 99, My Friend Dahmer, Saturday Night Fever, Mildred Pierce, A Matter of Life and Death and many more!

The short film selection this year includes, Like A Heartbeat Drives You Mad, The Full Story, Distilled Identities, Scaffold, Gits And Shiggles, Smear, My Loneliness Is Killing Me, Salt & Sauce, The Thrill Of The Chase, Oksijan, Strange World, Turbo Killer, Body World, Heading For That Adult Crash, The Rabbit Hunt, London Calling And Samira’s Party.

Many of the films at the festival will also be available on the BFI Player lovelies, which can be found here: player.bfi.org.uk/