The 67th BFI London Film Festival (LFF) taking place October 4 – 15, unveiled the full program line-up featuring films from filmmakers Martin Scorsese, Yorgos Lanthimos, Sally El Hosaini, Jonathan Glazer, Steve McQueen, Quentin Dupieux and more.
LFF will present a diverse program of films, shorts, series and immersive works from 92 countries, featuring 79 languages playing across the 12 days of the festival. This includes 99 works made by female and non-binary filmmakers – 39% of the program.
World Premieres from filmmakers and artists include: Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya’s The Kitchen which closes the festival, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget by the award-winning British stop-motion giant Aardman Studios, Immersive artwork My Trip by Bjarne Melgaard, coming of age rom-com Bonus Track by Julia Jackman, Daniel Kokotajlo’s Starve Acre, The Book Of Clarence by Jeymes Samuel, The Buckingham Murders by Hansal Mehta, Theresa Ikoko’s Grime Kids from the Series strand.
International Premieres include Saltburn, directed, produced and written by Emerald Fennell which opens the festival, as well as collaboration between Deepa Mehta and Sirat Taneja I Am Sirat and This is Going to Be Big by Thomas Charles Hyland.
Major European Premieres include One Life by James Hawes starring Anthony Hopkins, Expats directed by Lulu Wang starring Nicole Kidman, Together 99 by Lukas Moodyson, Dear Jassi by Tarsem Singh, Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers and All of Us Strangers by Andrew Haigh.
Kristy Matheson, BFI London Film Festival Director, said: “In preparing this 2023 festival, my colleagues and I have been endlessly buoyed by the artistry, ideas and talented individuals and communities that have come into our orbit. It’s now time to share all this wonder and we can’t wait for audiences to experience it all this October here in London and across the UK with LFF on Tour and online at BFI Player.”
HEADLINE GALAS
Opening Night Gala – SALTBURN (UK, dir.-scr. Emerald Fennell)
Closing Night Gala – THE KITCHEN (UK, dir. Kibwe Tavares, Daniel Kaluuya)
American Express Gala – ONE LIFE (UK, dir. James Hawes)
ALL OF US STRANGERS (UK, dir.-scr. Andrew Haigh)
THE BIKERIDERS (USA, dir. Jeff Nichols)
THE BOOK OF CLARENCE (USA, dir.-scr. Jeymes Samuel)
The Mayor of London’s Gala – CHICKEN RUN: DAWN OF THE NUGGET (UK, dir. Sam Fell)
Cunard Gala – THE HOLDOVERS (USA, dir. Alexander Payne)
THE KILLER (USA, dir. David Fincher)
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (USA, dir. Martin Scorsese)
MAESTRO (USA, dir. Bradley Cooper)
MAY DECEMBER (USA, dir. Todd Haynes)
NYAD (USA, dir. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin)
POOR THINGS (UK, dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
THE BOY AND THE HERON (Japan, dir. Hayao Miyazaki)
COBWEB (South Korea, dir. Kim Jee-woon)
BFI Patron’s Special Presentation – THE END WE START FROM (UK, dir. Mahalia Belo)
FALLEN LEAVES (Finland, dir.-scr. Aki Kaurismäki)
FOE (Australia, dir. Garth Davis)
Series Special Presentation – GRIME KIDS (UK, dir. Abdou Cisse)
HIT MAN (USA, dir. Richard Linklater)
BFI Flare Special Presentation – HOUSEKEEPING FOR BEGINNERS (North Macedonia-PolandCroatia Serbia-Kosovo, dir.-scr. Goran Stolevski)
LES INDÉSIRABLES (France-Belgium, dir. Ladj Ly)
MEMORY (Mexico-USA-Chile, dir.-scr. Michel Franco)
OCCUPIED CITY (UK-Netherlands, dir. Steve McQueen)
PRISCILLA (USA-Italy, dir.-scr. Sofia Coppola)
THE ZONE OF INTEREST (USA-UK-Poland, dir.-scr. Jonathan Glazer)
LFF AWARDS
OFFICIAL COMPETITION
BALTIMORE (Ireland-UK, dir.-scr. Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor)
DEAR JASSI (India, dir. Tarsem Singh Dhandwar)
EUROPA (Austria-UK, dir.-scr. Sudabeh Mortezai)
EVIL DOES NOT EXIST (Japan, dir.-scr. Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
FINGERNAILS (USA, dir. Christos Nikou)
GASOLINE RAINBOW (USA, dir.-scr. Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross)
I AM SIRAT (Canada, A COLLABORATION BETWEEN DEEPA MEHTA AND SIRAT TANEJA)
THE ROYAL HOTEL (Australia, dir. Kitty Green)
SELF PORTRAIT: 47 KM 2020 (China, dir. Zhang Mengqi)
STARVE ACRE (UK, dir.-scr. Daniel Kokotajilo)
TOGETHER 99 (Sweden-Denmark, dir.-scr. Lukas Moodyson)
FIRST FEATURE COMPETITION
BLACK DOG (UK, dir. George Jaques)
EARTH MAMA (USA-UK, dir.-scr. Savanah Leaf)
HOARD (UK, dir.-scr. Luna Carmoon)
IN CAMERA (UK, dir.-scr. Naqqash Khalid)
MAMBAR PIERRETTE (Belgium-Cameroon, dir.-scr. Rosine Mbakam)
PARADISE IS BURNING (Sweden-Italy-Denmark-Finland, dir. Mika Gustafson)
PENA CORDILLERA (Chile-Brazil, dir.-scr. Felipe Carmona)
THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS (Canada, dir.-scr. Fawzia Mirza)
SKY PEALS (UK, dir.-scr. Moin Hussain)
TIGER STRIPES (Malaysia-Taiwan-Singapore-France-Germany-Netherlands-Indonesia-Qatar, dir.-scr. Amanda Nell Eu)
TUESDAY (UK-USA, dir.-scr. Daina O. Pusić)
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
BYE BYE TIBERIAS (France-Palestine-Belgium-Qatar, dir. Lina Soualem)
CELLULOID UNDERGROUND (UK-Iran, dir. Ehsan Khoshbakht)
CHASING CHASING AMY (USA, dir. Sav Rodgers)
A COMMON SEQUENCE (USA-Mexico, dir. Mary Helena Clark, Mike Gibisser)
DANCING ON THE EDGE OF THE VOLCANO (Germany-Lebanon, dir-scr. Cyril Aris)
THE KLEZMER PROJECT (Austria-Argentina, dir-scr. Leandro Koch, Paloma Schachmann)
QUEENDOM (France-USA, dir. Agnilia Galdanova)
THE TASTE OF MANGO (UK-USA, dir. Chloe Abrahams)
SHORT FILM COMPETITION
THE ARCHIVE: QUEER NIGERIANS (UK, dir. Simisolaoluwa Akande)
AREA BOY (UK, dir. Iggy London)
BOAT PEOPLE (Canada, dir. Thao Lam, Kjell Boersma)
ESSEX GIRLS (UK, dir. Yero Timi-Biu)
THE GOOSE’S EXCUSE (Egypt-UK, dir. Mahdy Abo Bahat)
KHABUR (Germany-Iran, dir. Nafis Fathollahzadeh)
ONSET (UK-Poland, dir. Anna Engelhardt, Mark Cinkevich)
THE SINGER (UK, dir. Cora Bissett)
THE WALK (UK, dir. Michael Jobling)
WELLS OF DESPAIR (Netherlands, dir. sata taas)
As in previous years, the feature film program is organized by strand: Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Create, Experimenta, Family and Treasures.
LOVE
20,000 SPECIES OF BEES (Spain, dir.-scr. Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren)
ÀMA GLORIA (France, dir.-scr. Marie Amachoukeli)
BANEL & ADAMA (France-Senegal-Mali, dir.-scr. Ramata-Toulaye Sy)
BLACKBIRD BLACKBIRD BLACKBERRY (Switzerland-Germany-Georgia, dir. Elene Naveriani)
THE ETERNAL MEMORY (Chile, dir. Maite Alberdi)
FANCY DANCE (USA, dir. Erica Tremblay)
GIRL (UK, dir.-scr. Adura Onashile)
GOODBYE JULIA (Sudan-Egypt-Germany-France-Saudi Arabia-Sweden, dir.-scr. Mohamed Kordofani)
MONSTER (Japan, dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda)
OUR BODY (France, dir. Claire Simon)
PERFECT DAYS (Japan, dir. Wim Wenders)
ROBOT DREAMS (Spain-France, dir.-scr. Pablo Berger)
SILVER HAZE (Netherlands-UK, dir.-scr. Sacha Polak)
SLOW (Lithuania-Spain-Sweden, dir.-scr. Marija Kavtaradze)
TÓTEM (Mexico-Denmark-France, dir. Lila Avilés)
UNICORNS (UK, dirs. Sally El Hosaini, James Krishna Floyd)
DEBATE
ALLENSWORTH (USA, dir. James Benning)
FIRE THROUGH DRY GRASS (USA, dir. Alexis Neophytides, Andres ‘Jay’ Molina)
FOUR DAUGHTERS (France-Tunisia-Germany-Saudi Arabia, dir.-scr. Kaouther Ben Hania)
THE GOLDMAN CASE (France, dir. Cédric Kahn)
HIGH & LOW – JOHN GALLIANO (France-USA-UK, dir.-scr. Kevin Macdonald)
KIDNAPPED (Italy-France-Germany, dir. Marco Bellocchio)
THE MISSION (USA, dir. Jesse Moss, Amanda McBaine)
ON THE ADAMANT (France-Japan, dir. Nicolas Philibert)
THE PIGEON TUNNEL (UK, dir. Errol Morris)
THE RYE HORN (Spain-Portugal-Belgium, dir.-scr. Jaione Camborda)
SHOSHANA (UK-Italy, dir. Michael Winterbottom)
WILDING (UK, dir. David Allen)
YOUTH (SPRING) (France-Luxembourg-Netherlands, dir. Wang Bing)
LAUGH
ASOG (Philippines-Canada, dir. Seán Devlin)
BONUS TRACK (UK, dir. Julia Jackman)
THE BOOK OF SOLUTIONS (France, dir.-scr. Michel Gondry)
DAAAAAALI! (France, dir.-scr. Quentin Dupieux)
THE HYPNOSIS (Sweden-Norway-France, dir. Ernst De Geer)
MOLLI AND MAX IN THE FUTURE (USA, dir.-scr. Michael Lukk Litwak)
THE NATURE OF LOVE (Canada-France, dir.-scr. Monia Chokri)
THE PRACTICE (Argentina-Chile-Portugal, dir. Martín Rejtman)
POOLMAN (USA, dir. Chris Pine)
SHORTCOMINGS (USA, dir. Randall Park)
TERRESTRIAL VERSES (Iran, dir.-scr. Ali Asgari, Alireza Khatami)
DARE
ANIMALIA (France-Morocco-Qatar, dir.-scr. Sofia Alaoui)
BEHIND THE MOUNTAINS (Tunisia-France-Belgium-Italy-Saudi Arabia-Qatar, dir.-scr. Mohamed Ben Attia)
DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD (Romania-Luxembourg-FranceCroatia, dir.-scr. Radu Jude)
EILEEN (USA, dir. William Oldroyd)
FOREMOST BY NIGHT (Spain-Portugal-France, dir. Víctor Iriarte)
INSIDE THE YELLOW COCOON SHELL (Vietnam-Singapore-France-Spain, dir.-scr. Thien An Pham)
LAST SUMMER (France, dir. Catherine Breillat)
LITTLE GIRL BLUE (France-Belgium, dir.-scr. Mona Achache)
MUSIC (Germany-France-Serbia, dir.-scr. Angela Schanelec)
OMEN (Belgium-Netherlands-Democratic Republic of Congo-France-South Africa, dir.-scr. Baloji)
THE PEASANTS (Poland-Serbia-Lithuania, dir.-scr. DK Welchman, Hugh Welchman)
POWER ALLEY (Brazil-France-Uruguay, dir. Lillah Halla)
A PRINCE (France, dir. Pierre Creton)
RED ISLAND (France-Belgium-Madagascar, dir. Robin Campillo)
SAMSARA (Spain, dir. Lois Patiño)
THRILL
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM (France, dir. Thomas Cailley)
THE BUCKINGHAM MURDERS (India-UK, dir. Hansal Mehta)
COPA ’71 (UK, dir. Rachel Ramsay, James Erskine)
CULPRITS (UK, dir-scr. J Blakeson)
GASSED UP (UK, dir. George Amponsah)
LOST IN THE NIGHT (Mexico-Germany-Netherlands, dir. Amat Escalante)
LUBO (Italy-Switzerland, dir. Giorgio Diritti)
ONLY THE RIVER FLOWS (China, dir. Shujun Wei)
SHAME ON DRY LAND (Sweden-Malta, dir.-scr. Axel Petersén)
STOLEN (India, dir. Karan Tejpal)
UNMOORED (UK-Poland-Sweden, dir. Caroline Ingvarsson)
CULT
THE BEAST (France-Canada, dir.-scr. Bertrand Bonello)
BIRTH/REBIRTH (USA, dir. Laura Moss)
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL (Australia, dir.-scr. Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes)
NIGHTWATCH – DEMONS ARE FOREVER (Denmark, dir.-scr. Ole Bornedal)
RED ROOMS (Canada, dir.-scr. Pascal Plante)
SCALA!!! (UK, dir.-scr. Jane Giles, Ali Catterall)
STOPMOTION (UK, dir. Robert Morgan)
VINCENT MUST DIE (France-Belgium, dir. Stéphan Castang)
JOURNEY
ALL DIRT ROADS TASTE OF SALT (USA, dir.-scr. Raven Jackson)
THE BRIDE (Rwanda, dir.-scr. Myriam U. Birara)
THE DELINQUENTS (Argentina, dir.-scr. Rodrigo Moreno)
THE ECHO (Mexico-Germany, dir.-scr. Tatiana Huezo)
EXPATS (USA-Hong Kong, dir.-scr. Lulu Wang)
HAAR (UK, dir.-scr. Ben Hecking)
HOW TO HAVE SEX (UK-Greece, dir.-scr. Molly Manning Walker)
IF ONLY I COULD HIBERNATE (Mongolia-France-Switzerland-Qatar, dir.-scr. Zoljargal Purevdash)
INSHALLAH A BOY (Jordan-France-Saudi Arabia-Qatar-Egypt, dir. Amjad Al Rasheed)
THE LOST BOYS (Belgium-France, dir. Zeno Graton)
THE NEW BOY (Australia, dir.-scr. Warwick Thornton)
RAMONA (Dominican Republic-UK, dir. Victoria Linares Villegas)
THE SETTLERS (Chile-Argentina-France-Denmark-UK-Taiwan-Sweden-Germany, dir. Felipe Gálvez Haberle)
SHAYDA (Australia, dir.-scr. Noora Niasari)
THE SPECTRE OF BOKO HARAM (Cameroon-France, dir. Cyrielle Raingou)
THE SWEET EAST (USA, dir. Sean Price Williams)
THAT THEY MAY FACE THE RISING SUN (Ireland-UK, dir. Pat Collins)
CREATE
ANITA (USA, dir. Alexis Bloom, Svetlana Zill)
ANSELM (Germany, dir. Wim Wenders)
APOLONIA, APOLONIA (Denmark- Poland-France, dir. Lea Glob)
CLOSE YOUR EYES (Spain-Argentina dir. Víctor Erice)
THE DAUGHTERS OF FIRE (Portugal, dir. Pedro Costa)
CROMA KID (Dominican Republic, dir. Pablo Chea)
GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT (USA, dir.-scr. Michèle Stephenson, Joe Brewster)
IN RESTLESS DREAMS: THE MUSIC OF PAUL SIMON (USA, dir. Alex Gibney)
MENU-PLAISIRS LES TROISGROS (USA, dir. Frederick Wiseman)
THE POT AU FEU (France, dir. -scr. Anh Hung Tran)
RYUICHI SAKAMOTO | OPUS (Japan, dir. Neo Sora)
SWAN SONG (Canada, dir. Chelsea McMullan)
THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER (Spain-France-Netherlands, dir. Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal)
THIS IS GOING TO BE BIG (Australia, dir. Thomas Charles Hyland)
YOU CAN CALL ME BILL (USA, dir.-scr. Alexandre O. Philippe)
EXPERIMENTA
THE LOST ART OF THE FUTURE (Canada, dir.-scr. Theo Cuthand)
A RADICAL DUET (UK, dir. -scr. Onyeka Igwe)
SPEECH FOR A MELTING STATUE (Belgium-Democratic Republic of Congo, dir. Collectif Fairepart)
WELLS OF DESPAIR (Netherlands, dir.-scr. sata taas)
THE ARCHIVE: QUEER NIGERIANS (UK, dir. Simisolaoluwa Akande)
EVERYTHING WORTHWHILE IS DONE WITH OTHER PEOPLE (UK, dir.-scr. Rehana Zaman)
NIGHT FISHING WITH ANCESTORS (Australia, dir. Elizabeth Povinelli)
MINEVISSAM (I AM WRITING) (UK, dir.-scr. Niki Kohandel)
NOTES FROM GOG MAGOG (Indonesia, dir.-scr. Riar Rizaldi)
CODERS (Lithuania, dir.-scr. Anastasia Sosunova)
PLATFORM GHOSTS – TURKER, FARMER, BOT (India, dir. Aarti Sunder)
ONSET (UK-Poland, dir. Anna Engelhardt, Mark Cinkevich)
GUSH (USA, dir. Fox Maxy)
PACIFIC CLUB (France-Qatar, dir.-scr. Valentin Noujaïm)
IT CAN’T BE THAT NOTHING THAT CAN BE RETURNED (Ukraine. dir. Dana Kavelina)
TIMEKEEPERS OF THE ANTHROPOCENE (Mexico-USA, dir. Federico Cuatlacuatl)
TRISTXTOTL (UK, dir. Mădălina Zaharia)
MANGOSTEEN (Thailand, dir. Tulapop Saenjaroen)
THE GOOSE’S EXCUSE (Egypt-UK, dir. Mahdy Abo Bahat, Abdo Zin Eldin)
ROOM IN A CROWD (Philippines, dir.-scr. John Torres)
TEMPO (Japan, dir. Yu Araki)
ALL THE DAYS OF MAY (Canada, dir.-scr. Miryam Charles)
WOOD FOR THE TREES (Germany, dir. Rob Crosse)
SUNFLOWER SIEGE ENGINE (USA, dir.-scr. Sky Hopinka)
A THROWING FORTH (USA-China, dir. Xiao Zhang)
LEVITATE (Italy-Spain-France, dir. Iván Argote)
DESERT DREAMING (Sri Lanka, dir.-scr. Abdul Halik Azeez)
KHABUR (Germany-Iran, dir. Nafis Fathollahzadeh)
SHORTS
PU EKAW TNOD (UK, dir. Rebecca Culverhouse)
STRANGERS (UK, dir.-scr. Rob Price)
DORIS (Ghana-USA, dir. Edem Dotse)
PREDATORS (UK, dir.-scr. Jack King)
THE TEST (USA, dir.-scr. Olivia Marie Valdez)
YUMMY MUMMY (UK, dir.-scr. Gabriela Staniszewska)
FOREIGNERS ONLY (Bangladesh-USA, dir. Nuhash Humayun)
THE GARDEN OF HEART (Hungary-Slovakia, dir.-scr. Olivér Hegyi)
TORN (Denmark-Sweden, dir. Jahfar Muataz)
SOUTH FACING (UK, dir.scr. Reneque Samuels)
HAFEKASI (Australia, dir.-scr. Annelise Hickey)
NOW AND THEN (UK, dir. Harris Alvi)
RIZOO (Iran-USA, dir. Azadeh Navai)
I AM MORE DANGEROUS DEAD (USA-Nigeria-UK, dir.-scr. Majiye Uchibeke)
BOAT PEOPLE (Canada, dir.-scr. Thao Lam, Kjell Boersma)
WAKING UP IN SILENCE (Ukraine-Germany, dir.-scr. Mila Zhluktenko, Daniel Asadi Faezi)
GRAVEYARD OF HORSES (China, dir. Xiao Xuan Jiang)
WILDMEN OF THE GREATER TORONTO AREA (Canada, dir.-scr. Solmund MacPherson)
THE WALK (UK, dir. Michael Jobling)
ESSEX GIRLS (UK, dir. Yero Timi-Biu)
ALL THE LIGHTS STILL BURNING (UK, dir. Dominic Leclerc)
THE SCOTTISH PLAY (UK, dir. James Soldan)
FESTIVAL OF SLAPS (UK, dir. Abdou Cissé)
ONLY YOURSELF TO BLAME (UK, dir. Noomi Yates)
SMOKING DOLPHINS (UK, dir. Sean Lyons)
THE SINGER (UK, dir. Cora Bissett)
BLOOD (UK-Australia, dir.-scr. Vathana Suganya Suppiah)
AREA BOY (UK, dir.-scr. Iggy London)
MOTHER OF MINE (UK, dir.-scr. Jesse Lewis Reece)
MAKING BABIES (Canada, dir.-scr. Eric K. Boulianne)
SOUND & COLOUR (Ireland, dir. Emma Foley)
GORKA (UK, dir.-scr. Joe Weiland)
FAMILY
DANCING QUEEN (Norway, dir. Aurora Gossé)
DEEP SEA (3D) (China, dir.-scr. Xiaopeng Tian)
KENSUKE’S KINGDOM (UK-Luxembourg-France, dir. Kirk Hendry, Neil Boyle)
THE SACRED CAVE (Cameroon-Burkina Faso-France, dir. Daniel Minlo)
ANIMATED SHORTS FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES
POND (Switzerland, dir.-scr. Lena von Döhren, Eva Rust)
SWING TO THE MOON (France, dir. Marie Bordessoule, Adriana Bouissie, Nadine De Boer, Elisa Drique, Chloé Lauzu, Vincent Levrero, Solenne Moreau)
THE DAY I BECAME A BIRD (UK, dir. Andrew Ruhemann)
THE SWINEHERD (Denmark, dir. Magnus Igland Møller, Peter Smith)
ONCE UPON A STUDIO (USA, dir. Trent Correy, Dan Abraham)
AHRU (Argentina, dir. Leandro Martinez)
HOOBA (Netherlands, dir.-scr. Sem Assink)
UPSIDE DOWN (Latvia, dir.-scr. Dace Rīdūze)
TREASURES
THE BLACK PIRATE (USA, dir. Albert Parker)
THE DUPES (Syria, dir.-scr. Tewfik Saleh)
MACARIO (Mexico, dir. Roberto Gavaldón)
PEEPING TOM (UK, dir. Michael Powell)
PRESSURE (UK, dir.-scr. Horace Ové)
THE STRANGER AND THE FOG (Iran, dir.-scr. Bahram Beyzaie)
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