You know the summer is coming to an end soon when London International Film Festival talk starts and today that news stars as The 57th BFI London Film Festival has announced it’s opening film, Captain Phillips.
Directed by Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy) Captain Phillips is based on true life story of the 2009 hijacking of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates. The ship was the first ever American ship to be taken hostage a ship captained by Richard Philips(Tom Hanks) who became a bit of celebrity due to the way he handled the crisis. The film promises to take a subtle look at the story examining the frustration, desperation not just from those who where taken hostage but the captors themselves and with Greegrass at the helm you can expect Captain Phillips to have the trademark docustyle.
Here’s what BFI Head of Exhibition and Festival Director Clare Stewart had to say: “We are thrilled to be opening the BFI London Film Festival by welcoming Paul Greengrass – one of the great supporters of the BFI and British film – back to London for the European premiere of CAPTAIN PHILLIPS. Our Festival audiences will be captivated by Greengrass’s virtuoso filmmaking; CAPTAIN PHILLIPS is an intense, high-stakes drama, focusing on two men forced onto a collision course by global political forces much larger than themselves. Featuring spellbinding performances by Tom Hanks and four Somali-American actors (Barkhad Abdi, Faysal Ahmed, Barkhad Abdirahman and Mahat M. Ali), we are excited to be presenting this film as our Opening Night Gala.”
BFI London Film Festival is following the pattern as seen in last years festival by opening the festival with a film which opens nationwide in UK days later (Frankenweenie in 2012). Hopefully will follow suit been a good solid film as for the closing gala we should learn about that very shortly. The 57th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express runs from Wednesday 9 October until Sunday 20 October with the full programme to be launched on 4th September.
European Premier of Captain Phillips will be on 9th October before going nationwide on 11th October, you can watch the UK trailer here.
