This morning in London’s Leicester Square the full programme for the 2016 BFI London Film Festival was announced, and man – are you in for a treat this year.
Festival director Clare Stewart is once again pushing the festival’s purpose, building on the previous years’ identity as a ‘Best of the Festivals’ event with a diverse range of themed strands. Shorts and masterclasses are part of the agenda as per usual, however this morning Stewart announced that the BFI’s BLACK STAR initiative will be part of this year’s LFF, with a progressive symposium looking at the causes and consequences of an under-representation of non-white people in the film industry.
This is sterling work, and deserves attention. However the film programme is something else this year.
The full programme is available here, and if you’re heading down to the capital this October it’s worth checking out what’s in store.
Our picks are current Venezia dazzlers La La Land with Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, Denis Villeneuve’s resontant sci-fi Arrival, Kenneth Lonergan’s much anticipated third feature film Manchester By the Sea. Nate Parker’s Sundance stormer The Birth of a Nation gets its first UK play, as does Park Chan-Wook’s The Handmaiden.
Andrea Arnold’s American Honey is one we are making a beeline for, and Xavier Dolan’s Cannes winner It’s Only the End of the World gets a place in the line up. Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire closes the festival. We told you it was an amazing line up.
As with every LFF it’s such a pleasure to see our capital city become a focus for film. We’ll be there every day and night for all the reviews, interviews and press conferences through October – join us?
