The BFI London Film Festival officially opened last night with the UK premiere of Tim Burton’s latest feature, Frankenweenie, a black and white stop-motion film destined to become something of a cult classic.

With the festival now underway, the juries for the separate categories in competition have been announced, with Sir David Hare, Tom Hiddleston, David Yates, and Olivia Colman leading an impressive line-up to judge the contenders.

Also celebrated at this year’s festival will be Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter, both of whom are being presented with the BFI’s highest honour, the BFI Fellowship.

You can read the full list of jurors in the official announcement below, but here’s a run-down of the main categories and the films in competition.

Sir David Hare leads the jury for the Best Film Award, for which the following are competing:

  • After Lucia, Michel Franco, Mexico
  • End of Watch, David Ayer, USA
  • EVERYDAY, Michael Winterbottom, UK
  • Fill The Void, Rama Burshtein, Israel
  • Ginger and Rosa, Sally Potter, UK
  • In the House, François Ozon, France
  • It Was The Son, Daniele Ciprì, Italy/France
  • Lore, Cate Shortland, Germany/Australia/UK
  • Midnight’s Children, Deepa Mehta, Canada/UK
  • No, Pablo Larraín, Chile/USA/Mexico
  • Rust and Bone, Jacques Audiard, France/Belgium
  • Seven Psychopaths, Martin McDonagh, USA/UK

Hannah McGill presides over the Sutherland Award, celebrating the best first feature, alongside novelist Sebastian Faulks and filmmaker David Yates:

  • Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin, USA
  • Clip, Maja Miloš, Serbia
  • The Comedian, Tom Shkolnik, UK
  • Eat Sleep Die, Gabriela Pichler, Sweden
  • My Brother The Devil, Sally EI Hosaini, UK
  • Neighbouring Sounds, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil
  • The Samurai that Night, Masaaki Akahori, Japan
  • Shell, Scott Graham, UK
  • Ship of Theseus, Anand Gandhi, India
  • Sleeper’s Wake, Barry Berk, South Africa
  • Tomorrow, Andrey Gryazev, Russia
  • Wadjda, Haifaa Al Mansour, Saudi Arabia/Germany

Roger Graef presides over the Grierson Award for Best Documentary, alongside globally recognised foreign correspondent and editor, John Simpson:

  • Beware of Mr. Baker, Jay Bulger, USA/South Africa
  • Canned Dreams, Katja Gauriloff, Finland
  • The Central Park Five, Ken Burns, David McMahon, Sarah Burns, USA
  • The Ethnographer, Ulises Rosell, Argentina
  • For No Good Reason, Charlie Paul, UK
  • Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, Shola Lynch, USA/France
  • Les Invisibles, Sébastien Lifshitz, France
  • Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, Alex Gibney, USA/Ireland
  • The Summit, Nick Ryan, Ireland/Switzerland
  • Turned Towards The Sun, Greg Olliver, UK/France/Germany
  • Village at the End of the World, Sarah Gavron, UK/Denmark/Greenland
  • West of Memphis, Amy Berg, USA

And finally, producer David Heyman presides over the Best British Newcomer Award, and is joined by Tom Hiddleston, Olivia Colman, and novelist Kazuo Ishiguru:

  • Fady Elsayed, Actor, My Brother the Devil
  • Sally EI Hosaini, Director/Screenwriter, My Brother the Devil
  • Rufus Norris, Director, Broken
  • Eloise Laurence, Actor, Broken
  • Chloe Pirrie, Actor, Shell
  • Scott Graham, Director/Screenwriter, Shell
  • Tom Shkolnik, Director/Screenwriter, The Comedian
  • Rowan Athale, Director/Screenwriter, Wasteland

The 2012 Festival Awards will be held on Saturday, 20th October, so be sure to come back to see how all of these films have held up in the eyes of the various juries. We’ll be bringing you coverage in the coming days of the brilliant films coming to our shores for the festival, and you can catch up on everything here, including our recent interview with Clare Stewart, the BFI Head of Exhibition, on her first London Film Festival.

 

 

The Best Film Award, presented in partnership with the Festival’s principal partner American Express, recognises inspiring, inventive and distinctive filmmaking. The initial shortlist was drawn up by BFI Head of Exhibition and Festival Director Clare Stewart together with the Festival programming team. President of the Best Film Jury is the highly garnered screenwriter, playwright, film and theatre director, Sir David Hare, and his fellow jurors are influential veteran Hong Kong film producer Nansun Shi, renowned Argentine director Pablo Trapero, Victoria Pearman, producer of Crossfire Hurricane and President of Jagged films and the young and talented British actress Romola Garai.

The Official Competition selection is:

After Lucia, Michel Franco, Mexico
End of Watch, David Ayer, USA
EVERYDAY, Michael Winterbottom, UK
Fill The Void, Rama Burshtein, Israel
Ginger and Rosa, Sally Potter, UK
In the House, François Ozon, France
It Was The Son, Daniele Ciprì, Italy/France
Lore, Cate Shortland, Germany/Australia/UK
Midnight’s Children, Deepa Mehta, Canada/UK
No, Pablo Larraín, Chile/USA/Mexico
Rust and Bone, Jacques Audiard, France/Belgium
Seven Psychopaths, Martin McDonagh, USA/UK

The Sutherland Award has been recognising original and imaginative feature debut directing talent since 1958. Presiding over the jury for this illustrious award is journalist and former director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Hannah McGill and her fellow jurors comprise award-winning novelist, Sebastian Faulks CBE, Emmy and BAFTA-winning filmmaker David Yates, BAFTA award-winning producer of Warp Films, Robin Gutch, and stage and screen actress Louise Brealey.

The First Feature competition selection is:

Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin, USA
Clip, Maja Miloš, Serbia
The Comedian, Tom Shkolnik, UK
Eat Sleep Die, Gabriela Pichler, Sweden
My Brother The Devil, Sally EI Hosaini, UK
Neighbouring Sounds, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Brazil
The Samurai that Night, Masaaki Akahori, Japan
Shell, Scott Graham, UK
Ship of Theseus, Anand Gandhi, India
Sleeper’s Wake, Barry Berk, South Africa
Tomorrow, Andrey Gryazev, Russia
Wadjda, Haifaa Al Mansour, Saudi Arabia/Germany

The Grierson Award for Best Documentary, presented in partnership with the Grierson Trust, recognises films with integrity, originality, and social or cultural significance. The jury is presided over by BAFTA-winning documentary filmmaker Roger Graef who is joined by the multi award-winning, fearless foreign correspondent and world affairs editor John Simpson, vice chairman of the Grierson Trust Emma Hindley, Head of Documentary Commissioning at the BBC, Charlotte Moore and award-winning documentary filmmaker Morgan Matthews.

The Documentary Competition selection is:

Beware of Mr. Baker, Jay Bulger, USA/South Africa
Canned Dreams, Katja Gauriloff, Finland
The Central Park Five, Ken Burns, David McMahon, Sarah Burns, USA
The Ethnographer, Ulises Rosell, Argentina
For No Good Reason, Charlie Paul, UK
Free Angela and All Political Prisoners, Shola Lynch, USA/France
Les Invisibles, Sébastien Lifshitz, France
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God, Alex Gibney, USA/Ireland
The Summit, Nick Ryan, Ireland/Switzerland
Turned Towards The Sun, Greg Olliver, UK/France/Germany
Village at the End of the World, Sarah Gavron, UK/Denmark/Greenland
West of Memphis, Amy Berg, USA

The Best British Newcomer Award is presented in partnership with Swarovski and recognises new British talent, this year highlighting accomplishments in writing, directing and acting. Jury president is BAFTA-winning producer David Heyman and fellow jurors include acclaimed actor Tom Hiddleston, award-winning actress Olivia Colman, celebrated author Kazuo Ishiguru, and BAFTA-winning director Eran Creevy.

The Best British Newcomer selection is:

Fady Elsayed, Actor, My Brother the Devil
Sally EI Hosaini, Director/Screenwriter, My Brother the Devil
Rufus Norris, Director, Broken
Eloise Laurence, Actor, Broken
Chloe Pirrie, Actor, Shell
Scott Graham, Director/Screenwriter, Shell
Tom Shkolnik, Director/Screenwriter, The Comedian
Rowan Athale, Director/Screenwriter, Wasteland