It’s that time of year again – the leaves begin to fall, the sun rays get ever lighter and in the film world it’s the beginning of festival season. Venice has already begun and the illustrious Toronto International Film Festival starts in earnest next week (We will be there again so be sure to check out all of our coverage from the middle of next week). But in October, it’s the turn of the London Film Festival and today the full line-up was announced.
And so, with a deep breathe, here are some of the films to keep an eye out for at this year’s festival:
Breathe opens the festival, marking the directorial debut of Andy Serkis; while Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards of Ebbing, Missouri is this year’s closer. The film stars Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell. In between these is the American Express Gala which is Battle of the Sexes, the story of tennis stars Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) and Boby Riggs (Steve Carell) as they took to the court in the 1970’s.
Elsewhere, Lynn Ramsey’s Cannes darling You Were Never Really Here joins the headline galas, the noir thriller starring Joaquin Phoenix; Sean Baker returns with his sumptuous and remarkable new film The Florida Project; and the already critically-acclaimed Call Me By Your Name, from director Luca Guadagnino, also features.
Richard Linklater’s Last Flag Flying, starring Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston and Laurence Fishburne, gets its European premiere; Yorgos Lanthimos returns with The Killing of a Sacred Deer, featuring Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman; Sundance hit Mudbound, from director Dee Rees joins the ranks; while visionary director Guillermo del Toro brings his sci-fi beauty The Shape of Water to the festival.
There is a plethora of amazing films included in the programme (too many to list here) but it’s same to say we are in for a huge treat when the festival begins on October 4th and run through to October 15th. Below are the official competition entries – be sure to keep check on HeyUGuys in October as we will bring you all the best coverage from the festival, and the red carpets, so stay tuned!
The Official Competition line-up:
120 BPM (Beats Per Minute), dir. Robin Campillo
Angels Wear White, dir. Vivian Qu
Beyond The Clouds, dir. Majid Majidi
The Breadwinner, dir. Nora Twomey
Good Manners, dirs. Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra
The Guardians, dir. Xavier Beauvois
Lean On Pete, dir. Andrew Haigh
Loveless, dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev
The Lovers, dir. Azazel Jacobs
Sweet Country, dir. Warwick Thornton
Thoroughbred, dir. Cory Finley
Wajib, dir. Annemarie Jacir
Lean On Pete
First feature competition:
Apostasy, dir. Daniel Kokotajlo
Ava, dir. Léa Mysius
Beast, dir. Michael Pearce (European Premiere)
The Cakemaker, dir. Ofir Raul Graizer
Cargo, dir. Gilles Coulier
Columbus, dir. Kogonada
I Am Not A Witch, dir. Rungano Nyoni
Jeune Femme, dir. Léonor Serraille
Most Beautiful Island, dir. Ana Asensio
Summer 1993, dir. Carla Simón
Winter Brothers, dir. Hlynur Pálmason
The Wound, dir. John Trengove
I am not a witch
I AM NOT A WITCH
Documentary competition titles:
Before Summer Ends, dir. Maryam Goormaghtigh
Bobbi Jene, dir. Elvira Lind
Chauka, Please Tell Us The Time, dirs. Arash Kamali Sarvestani, Behrouz Boochani (International Premiere)
The Dead Nation, dir. Radu Jude
Distant Constellation, dir. Shevaun Mizrahi
Ex Libris – The New York Public Library, dir. Frederick Wiseman
Faces Places, dirs. Agnès Varda, JR
Gray House, dirs. Austin Lynch, Matthew Booth
Jane, dir. Brett Morgen (European Premiere)
Kingdom Of Us, dir. Lucy Cohen (World Premiere)
Makala, dir. Emmanuel Gras
The Prince Of Nothingwood, dir. Sonia Kronlund
