Even though COVID might prevent a lot of folks from making the trip to the UK for this year’s BFI London Film Festival, the event is shaping up to be yet another fall film festival jam-packed with awesome features.
READ MORE: Fall 2021 Movie Preview: 60+ Must-See Films
According to BFI, this year’s LFF is going to feature 159 feature films, including 21 World Premieres. The biggest premiere is likely going to be Jeymes Samuel’s highly-anticipated Western, “The Harder They Fall,” which also serves as the Opening Night selection. While not world premieres, LFF 2021 will also screen some of the year’s biggest festival standouts including “The Power of the Dog,” “The French Dispatch,” “Benedetta,” “Last Night in Soho,” “King Richard,” and “Spencer,” among many more. And in case you’re wondering, many of this year’s selections will also be available digitally in the UK, as has been the case with quite a few festivals during the pandemic.
“I am very excited to be welcoming audiences back to the BFI London Film Festival –for everyone, everywhere across the UK, in cinemas and online on BFI Player,” Ben Roberts, CEO, BFI said. “Our amazing festival team have put together a daring, vital and conversation-starting edition. I’m in awe of all of the filmmakers across the world who have found the ways and means – practical, creative, emotional – to get their stories told in such challenging and turbulent times and I want audiences to immerse themselves in the sweet glow of the cinema screen and celebrate their very existence. More than ever, we are indebted to our loyal supporters, including our principal partner of 12 years American Express. Heartfelt thanks to them and to the many other sponsors, funders, partners and National Lottery players who do so much to enable both the Festival and our work throughout the year.”
“In early 2020, we set out how we would build on the vibrant established film programme at LFF to expand the Festival: with programming to include Series and XR, new free and UK-wide screenings and events, and by developing the industry programme to showcase new British talent to international industry guests,” Tricia Tuttle, BFI London Film Festival Director said. “While we had to adapt those ambitions for the pandemic, we are back in full force this year and you’ll really see that vision played out in the model for the Festival this year.”
She continued, “After this last 18 months so many of us are eager for opportunities to connect around shared cultural events, and we’re looking forward to bringing people together over the 12 days of the LFF to view this truly exceptional programme of film, series and immersive art we’re announcing today. These are works which have moved us, provoked us, made us think and feel, and made us look at the world a little differently this year. There is absolutely something for everyone here and we can’t wait for people to join us for BFI London Film Festival – whether in London, around the UK or at home.”
This year’s BFI London Film Festival begins on October 6 and runs through October 17. You can see the full listing of selections on the LFF website. Below is the listing of selections for the official competitions:
OFFICIAL COMPETITION – BEST FILM AWARD
The Best Film Award in Official Competition recognizes inspiring, inventive and distinctive filmmaking, and includes the following shortlisted titles:
BELLE – a captivating animation from Oscar®-winning anime director Mamoru Hosoda
IL BUCO – a meticulous and engrossing true story of cave mapping from Michelangelo Frammartino, made for the big screen
THE HAND OF GOD – a bitingly funny, semi-autobiographical tale about a tight-knit Neapolitan family’s supposedly settled lives, from acclaimed filmmaker, Paolo Sorrentino
NITRAM – the disturbing true story of a Tasmanian serial killer who went on a killing spree in 1996, starring Caleb Landry Jones in the title role, from bold Australian filmmaker Justin Kurzel
HIT THE ROAD – a tender, quirky and laugh-out-loud funny road movie from debut Iranian film director Panah Panahi
SUNDOWN – from one of contemporary cinema’s most original filmmakers, Michel Franco, comes a complex, searing study of what it means to try and be someone else, starring Tim Roth as a man in crisis with Charlotte Gainsbourg starring alongside him as his sister
LINGUI, THE SACRED BONDS – acclaimed African filmmaker Mahamat-Saleh Haroun follows the international success of A Screaming Man, Daratt and Abouna with a profoundly humane and visually ravishing drama about a woman caught between her faith and her love for her daughter
TRUE THINGS – UK filmmaker Harry Wootliff unites Ruth Wilson and Tom Burke in a fascinating psychological drama which explores the darker side of relationships and the fine line between infatuation and obsession
FIRST FEATURE COMPETITION – SUTHERLAND AWARD
Titles in consideration for the Sutherland Award in the First Feature Competition recognising an original and imaginative directorial debut are:
THE ALLEYS – Bassel Ghandour’s gripping debut is as tightly woven as the interlocking alleys it depicts – a neighbourhood where gossip circles mercilessly and reputation is everything
AZOR – this compelling conspiracy thriller directed by Andreas Fontana sees Yvan, a Swiss banker, navigating his way around an Argentinian dictatorship where disappearances have becoming a worrying fact of life.
COSTA BRAVA LEBANON – in a Lebanon of the near future where the refuse crisis has made Beirut uninhabitable, the simmering tension of unresolved disputes contrasts with the electricity of first love in Mounia Akl’s dazzling debut
PRAYERS FOR THE STOLEN – Tatiana Huezo’s incisive feature debut places a coming-of-age story at the centre of a rural community in Mexico blighted by drug cartels
THE FEAST – you are cordially invited to the dinner party from hell, courtesy of Lee Haven Jones’ Welsh-language horror opus which is a masterclass in insidious discomfort and escalating tension
SMALL BODY – this strikingly original and enthralling feature debut from Laura Samani details the odyssey of a young mother as she tries to save her baby’s soul
PLAYGROUND – the harsh world of playground politics is seen through the eyes of a seven-year-old girl in a gripping debut from Belgian writer-director Laura Wandel
WHITE BUILDING – remarkably nuanced and emotionally engaging, Kavich Neang’s film delves into the impact of gentrification in Phnom Penh and pays homage to the enduring memory of the iconic White Building
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION – GRIERSON AWARD
The Grierson Award recognizes feature-length documentaries with integrity, originality and social or cultural significance.
ALL ABOUT MY SISTERS – Wang Qiong ‘s impressive debut takes us to the heart of her unresolved family trauma and asks critical questions about privacy and permission in documentary practice
BABI YAR. CONTEXT – Sergei Loznitsa’s film reconstructs the events that led to the 1941 massacre of the Jewish population of Kiev in the nearby ravine of Babi Yar.
BECOMING COUSTEAU – this riveting doc from Oscar®-nominated director Liz Garbus brings a fresh take on the life of the inspiring inventor, explorer, environmentalist and filmmaker Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau
THE DANCE – documenting the seemingly haphazard creation – from nothing initially decided on – of a new dance suite, acclaimed Irish filmmaker Pat Collins reveals how experimentation becomes art
A COP MOVIE – be prepared to be surprised by this wildly inventive, hybrid documentary drama by Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios, following two Mexico City police officers on the beat
FAYA DAYI – Jessica Beshir’s bewitching film is a fascinating portrait of the city of Harar and the intimate rituals of Ethiopia’s most lucrative produce, khat
COW – Andrea Arnold takes you on a seemingly simple, yet ultimately radical journey, offering an insight into the life of a dairy cow. The aim of Arnold’s mesmerising documentary is to get down and dirty with Luma, a cow on a working dairy farm, staying as close to her as possible
NASCONDINO (HIDE AND SEEK) – Victoria Fiore’s astonishing feature documentary debut is a surreal journey of a young boy’s final days of freedom before he is taken away from his family
