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The 63rd BFI London Film Festival (LFF) in partnership with American Express has announced its full programme, presenting 229 feature films from some of the world’s greatest filmmakers and emerging talent.
The 229 feature films screening include: 41 documentaries, 7 animations, 13 archive restorations and 7 artists’ moving image features. The programme also includes 116 short films.
As well as the previously announced The Personal History of David Copperfield as the opening gala and Martin Scorsese's The Irishman as the closing gala, highlights of the festival galas include Marielle Heller's A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, starring Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers, Taika Waititi's satirical Jojo Rabbit, Timothée Chalamet-starring Netflix film The King as the American Airlines Gala, the European premiere of Rian Johnson Knives Out at the American Express Gala, and Eddie Redmayne-starring The Aeronauts as the Mayor of London Gala.
Also showing at the festival is Robert Egger's critically aclaimed follow-up to The Witch, The Lighthouse, starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson, and the UK Premiere of Abominable at the Family Gala.
Amanda Nevill, CEO, BFI said: “At this moment when the UK is adapting and reshaping our place in the world, the BFI London Film Festival really underlines the soft power of the art of film and showcases the dynamism of global exchange and partnership. All the BFI’s cultural programmes, from BFI Southbank to BFI Player, have sought to be an active champion at the heart of the global cinema story and this year’s LFF does this so powerfully with its incredibly rich and diverse programme and the international filmmaking community who love being here.’
Also announced were the entrants into the BFI LFF Offical Competition for Best Film. The 2019 nominated films showcase a range of filmmaking talent from across the world; 60% of the films are from a female director or co-director with 16 countries represented across the producers and co-producers.
The 10 films in Official Competition are:
- Fanny Lye Deliver’d (United Kingdom-Germany, dir-scr. Thomas Clay)
- Honey Boy (USA, dir. Alma Har’el)
- La Llorona (Guatemala-France, dir. Jayro Bustamante)
- Lingua Franca (USA, dir-scr. Isabel Sandoval)
- Moffie (South Africa-United Kingdom, dir. Oliver Hermanus)
- Monos (Colombia-Argentina-Netherlands-Germany-Sweden-Uruguay-USA, dir. Alejandro Landes)
- The Other Lamb (Ireland-Belgium-USA, dir. Małgorzata Szumowska)
- The Perfect Candidate (Germany-Saudi Arabia, dir. Haifaa Al Mansour)
- Rose Plays Julie (Ireland-United Kingdom, dir-scr. Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor)
- Saint Maud (United Kingdom, dir-scr. Rose Glass)
Tricia Tuttle, BFI London Film Festival Director says: “Our Official Competition showcases the best in global filmmaking. These filmmakers each have unique and distinctive voices and their films by turns reveal truths about human existence; explore stories we haven’t seen before or examine familiar ones in new ways; address pressing social and political issues, and make audiences feel and think. It’s striking that so many of the filmmakers here are telling strongly political stories, but never dogmatically so. We have selected 11 directors in these ten films who invite viewers to probe and ponder, to be changed – either subconsciously or wildly and irrevocably – by their work”.
For more information and to see the full LFF programme, visit here.