BFI London Film Festival Unveils 2014 Film Lineup; to Open with THE IMITATION GAME

THE IMITATION GAME

The 58th BFI London Film Festival unveiled a lineup of  245 fiction and documentary features, including 16 World Premieres, 9 International Premieres, 38 European Premieres and 19 Archive films including 2 Restoration World Premiere’s.1 There will also be screenings of 148 live action and animated shorts.  The 58th BFI London Film Festival will run Wednesday 8 – Sunday 19 October 2014.

The Festival opens with the European Premiere of THE IMITATION GAME, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley. Director Morten Tyldum returns to the Festival with a film about Alan Turing, one of the world’s greatest innovators and pioneer of modern-day computing, who is credited with cracking the German Enigma code.

The European Premiere of FURY will close the Festival, directed by David Ayer whose End of Watch appeared in LFF Official Competition in 2012, this Second World War epic stars Brad Pitt as Wardaddy, a battle-hardened army sergeant who commands a Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. 

Among the other Galas are the American Express Gala of Bennett Miller’s FOXCATCHER, the dark and fascinating story of the unlikely and ultimately tragic relationship between an eccentric multimillionaire and two champion wrestlers, starring Steve Carell, Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo. The Accenture Gala is the audacious thriller WHIPLASH, about a young jazz drummer under the tutelage of a ruthless and fearsome maestro starring Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons. We are delighted to welcome a new Official Airline Partnerto this year’s Festival, Virgin Atlantic who will present the European Premiere of Jason Reitman’s MEN, WOMEN & CHILDREN starring Adam Sandler and Ansel Elgort with a racy voiceover by Emma Thompson. The May Fair Hotel Gala is the European Premiere of biopic-drama WILD starring Reese Witherspoon, adapted for the screen by Nick Hornby from Cheryl Strayed’s extraordinary account of her 1,100-mile solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trails. The Centrepiece Gala supported by the Mayor of London is the World Premiere of TESTAMENT OF YOUTH based on Vera Brittain’s memoir of World War 1 starring Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Hayley Atwell, Emily Watson and Dominic West. The Festival Gala is Mike Leigh’s MR. TURNER starring Timothy Spall as the great British artistJ.M.W. Turner whose paintings evoked the moving image before there was cinema. The Archive Gala is the World Premiere of the BFI National Archive restoration of THE BATTLES OF CORONEL AND FALKLAND ISLANDS.

The nine programme strands are each headlined with a gala, they are: the Love Gala, Alan Rickman’s A LITTLE CHAOS (European Premiere); the Debate Gala, Jon Stewart’s ROSEWATER (European Premiere); the Dare Gala, Xavier Dolan’s MOMMY; the Laugh Gala, Damián Szifron’s WILD TALES; the Thrill Gala, Kristian Levring’s THE SALVATION; the Cult Gala, Jacob Cheung’s THE WHITE HAIRED WITCH OF LUNAR KINGDOM(International Premiere); the Journey Gala, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s WINTER SLEEP; and the Family Gala is Tomm Moore’s SONG OF THE SEA (European Premiere). In addition to which, the previously announced Sonic Gala is Peter Strickland and Nick Fenton’s concert film BJÖRK: BIOPHILIA LIVE.

OFFICIAL COMPETITION

The Official Competition line-up, recognising inspiring, inventive and distinctive filmmaking, includes the following:
 Peter Ho-Sun Chan, DEAREST
 Peter Strickland, THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY (European Premiere)
 Carol Morley, THE FALLING (World Premiere)
 Ana Lily Amirpour, A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT
 Céline Sciamma, GIRLHOOD
 Daniel Barber, THE KEEPING ROOM (European Premiere)
 Andrey Zvyagintsev, LEVIATHAN
 François Ozon, THE NEW GIRLFRIEND
 Christian Petzold, PHOENIX
 Mohsen Makhmalbaf, THE PRESIDENT
 Julius Avery, SON OF A GUN (European Premiere)
 Abderrahmane Sissako, TIMBUKTU

FIRST FEATURE COMPETITION
Titles in consideration for the Sutherland Award in the First Feature Competition recognising an original and imaginative directorial debut are:
 Yann Demange,‘71
 Josephine Decker, BUTTER ON THE LATCH
 Daniel Wolfe, Matthew Wolfe, CATCH ME DADDY
 Zeresenay Berhane Mehari, DIFRET
 Franco Lolli, GENTE DE BIEN
 Guy Myhill, THE GOOB
 Adityavikram Sengupta, LABOUR OF LOVE
 Sudabeh Mortezai, MACONDO
 Debbie Tucker Green, SECOND COMING
 Ester Martin Bergsmark, SOMETHING MUST BREAK
 Naji Abu Nowar, THEEB
 Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, THE TRIBE

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
The Grierson Award in the Documentary Competition category recognises cinematic documentaries with integrity, originality, and social or cultural significance. This year the Festival is screening:
 Nadav Schirman, THE GREEN PRINCE
 Jean-François Caissy, GUIDELINES
 Randall Wright, HOCKNEY (World Premiere)
 Jason Sussberg, David Alvarado, THE IMMORTALISTS (European Premiere)
 Ulrich Seidl, IN THE BASEMENT
 Sergei Loznitsa, MAIDAN
 Frederick Wiseman, NATIONAL GALLERY
 Sabine Lubbe Bakker & Niels van Koevorden, NE ME QUITTE PAS
 Edward Lovelace & James Hall, THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS (European Premiere)
 Ossama Mohammed & Wiam Simav Bedirxan, SILVERED WATER, SYRIA SELF-PORTRAIT
 Debra Granik, STRAY DOG
 Lynette Wallworth, TENDER (European Premiere)

BEST BRITISH NEWCOMER
Closing the Awards section is the prize for Best British Newcomer which highlights new British talent and is presented to an emerging writer, actor, producer or director. This year’s nominees are:
1. Guy Myhill – Writer/Director THE GOOB
2. Florence Pugh – Supporting Actor THE FALLING
3. Sameena Jabeen Ahmed – Actor CATCH ME DADDY
4. Rebecca Johnson – Writer/Director HONEYTRAP
5. Taron Egerton – Actor TESTAMENT OF YOUTH
6. Daniel Wolfe & Matthew Wolfe – Writers/Directors CATCH ME DADDY
7. Alex Lawther – Supporting Actor THE IMITATION GAME