This morning, the BFI London Film Festival announced its full line-up for this years programme including 229 feature films from some of the world’s greatest filmmakers and emerging talent.
Running between the 2nd until the 13th of October 2019, Odeon’s iconic flagship cinema will once again open it’s redesigned ODEON Luxe Leicester Square to participant as the main venue. The festival will open with Armando Iannucci’s ‘The Personal History of David Copperfield’ (which will also serve as it’s European Premiere) and close with Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Irishmen’ which, alone, should get fans of the festival salivating.
Headline Gala’s
The American Express Gala is the European Premiere of Rian Johnson’s ‘Knives Out’ which features a stellar cast of Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Colette, Katherine Langford and Christopher Plummer.
The Mayor of London’s Gala is Tom Harper’s ‘The Aeronauts’ starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones, while the BFI Patrons’ Gala is another highly anticipated picture, Marielle Heller’s ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood’ featuring Tom Hanks.
Headline Gala’s includes the European Premiere of Michael Winterbottom’s ‘Greed’ featuring Steve Coogan, William Nicholson’s ‘Hope Gap’ featuring Annette Benning, Bill Nighy and Josh O’Connor and Taika Waititi’s ‘Jojo Rabbit’ which features Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Rebel Wilson and Stephen Merchant. This will also serve as the films European Premiere.
This year’s American Airlines Gala will be the UK Premiere of ‘The King’ featuring Timothée Chalamet, Robert Pattinson and Joel Edgerton, while The May Fair Hotel Gala will be Noah Baumbach’s ‘The Marriage Story’ featuring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson.
James Mangold’s ‘Le Mans ’66 which features Matt Damon and Christian Bale will receive its UK Premiere.
FESTIVAL AND STRAND GALAS
Other films spread out across the two-week festival include Dreamworks ‘Abominable’, Robert Eggers ‘The Lighthouse’ featuring Robert Pattinson and William Dafoe, Gavin Hood’s ‘Official Secrets’ featuring Keira Knightley and Matt Smith, ‘The Peanut Butter Falcon’ and Fernando Meirelles ‘The Two Popes’ featuring Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce.
OFFICIAL COMPETITION
The Best Film Award in Official Competition recognises inspiring, inventive and distinctive filmmaking, and includes the following shortlisted titles:
- FANNY LYE DELIVER’D, Thomas Clay’s intoxicating 17th Century drama with Maxine Peake in the title role
- HONEY BOY, Alma Har’el’s artful and soul-baring examination of the lingering effects of emotional abuse, written by Shia LaBeouf, who stars alongside Lucas Hedges
- LINGUA FRANCA, a beautifully performed character study of a Filipino transwoman and undocumented immigrant in Brooklyn, from writer/director Isabel Sandoval, who also takes on the lead role
- LA LLORONA, Guatemalan director Jayro Bustamante’s taut genre-bending thriller about an elderly general haunted by a spectre of the past during his trial for genocide
- MOFFIE, Oliver Hermanus’ haunting examination of the violent persecution of gay men under Apartheid
- MONOS, a hallucinogenic, intoxicating thriller by Alejandro Landes about child soldiers high in the mountains of South America
- THE OTHER LAMB, Małgorzata Szumowska’s beguiling, genre-tinged English-language debut examining life in an otherworldly cult
- THE PERFECT CANDIDATE, Haifaa Al Mansour’s inspiring drama about a young doctor who becomes an electoral candidate to challenge Saudi Arabia’s strict social codes
- ROSE PLAYS JULIE, an immersive and gripping drama from directing duo Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor about a young woman seeking her biological mother
- SAINT MAUD, the debut feature from director Rose Glass, in which a mysterious nurse becomes dangerously obsessed with saving the soul of her dying patient.
Films in Official Competition will be presented at the Vue West End and once again the festival’s beautiful 800-seat purpose-built venue Embankment Garden Cinema will be housed in the tranquil surroundings of Victoria Embankment Gardens. First built for the Festival in 2016, this state-of-the-art venue is constructed to the highest technical specifications with raked seating, Christie Digital 4k RGB pure laser-illuminated projection and Dolby® 7.1 surround sound, with audiences and filmmakers alike praising its quality of cinema experience.
Alongside the Galas, Special Presentations and films in Competition, the Festival will show a range of new world cinema in sections Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Create, Experimenta and Family – which provide pathways for audiences to navigate the extensive programme.
For the full line-up of film, goodness to feature in this year’s festival head over to the official BFI London Film Festival site
