After teasing weeks of teasing with opening/closing galas, special previews and the competition strand, today The 65th BFI London Festival line up has been unveiled. After the strife, trauma and social justice of 2020 festival, the 2021 programme hopes it will be a ‘conservational starter’.
The first conservational starter will be this year’s festival will be made up of more female and non binary filmmakers than previous festivals. Also more ethnically diverse festival , a rich and varied programme that will be enjoyed not just in London but also around the UK.
2021 maybe a more compact line up than previously (2020 was 220), there is a 159 feature films from around the world including 21 World Premieres to enjoy including online via BFI Player. This year’s festival opening and closing galas were previously announced, with Jeymes Samuel‘s western The Harder They Fall opening this year’s festivities. Joel Coen‘s The Tragedy Of Macbeth closing.
Also announced previously is the films that will play out the Competition strand. This strand includes Jane Campion‘s The Power Of The Dog, Mamoru Hosoda‘s anime Belle, and Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand Of God.
Related Post: BFI London Film Festival Announce 2021 Competition Films
Tricia Turtle the BFI London Festival director commented “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. 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.
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”.
The biggest welcome will be the return of cinephiles to the festival. The will be welcomed by regular strands of Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Cult, Journey, Create, Experimenta, Family and Treasures. Some of those highlights will include Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut, The Lost Daughter, Joanna Hogg’s anticipated The Souvenir: Part II. Edgar Wright’s Last Night In Soho, a young woman is transported back to the 1960s in an endlessly inventive, time-travelling horror fantasy starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Thomasin McKenzie and Matt Smith with captivating support from a host of British acting legends including Diana Rigg, in her last film role. Wes Anderson’s long delayed French Dispatch will finally get screened in the UK as he currently film’s his follow up in Spain in what might be the follow up film.
Other highlights include Pablo Larrain’s Spencer, his sublime ‘fable from a true tragedy’ imagines a Christmas weekend at Sandringham in the early 1990s, as an unhappy Princess Diana contemplates saying ‘no’. Played with intoxicating perfection by Kristen Stewart. Jacques Audiard returns to London with Paris 13th District , a film which ventures into new territory with a vibrant take on love and Paris, as four characters cross amorous paths in the modern city. Based on three stories by graphic novelist Adrian Tomine, Audiard (with co-writers Céline Sciamma and Léa Mysius) offers a panorama of love, desire and everyday survival in a racially, culturally, sexually diverse contemporary city. Todd Haynes will share his love with the riveting tribute in The Velvet Underground, with dynamic use of split-screens to examine the cultural amniotic fluid that nurtured the band – the experimental music, art, film and fashion, and of course, the coalescing influence of their early ‘manager’ Andy Warhol, who instigated happenings at The Factory around them.
Dream weaver Lucile Hadžihalilovic´ returns with Earwig, her latest eerie vision about a child with teeth of ice and her anxious guardian. Michael Greyeyes, Chaske Spencer and Jesse Eisenberg star in Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr’s sleek and stylish psychological thriller Wild Indian which centres on two very different men bound together by a violent secret from their childhood. Fans Of Train To Busan should be seeking out Yeon Sang-ho’s supernatural mini-series Hellbound shows South Korea in the grip of a strange epidemic where people are receiving text messages announcing the exact date and time at which they are going to hell. gothic horror debut from writer-director Russell Owen‘s Shepherd about a grieving shepherd who is overcome by malevolent forces in the wake of the unexpected death of his wife. We mustn’t forget Julia Ducournau (Raw) Cannes Festival winning Titane will make it’s UK Premiere a chance to see if all the buzz coming with the film is worth the buzz.
The above is just example of what’s on offer and next month’s festival. You can full details of 2021 line up over at the festival’s official website. This year’s festival tickets will go on general sale from 20th September with many of the popular films to sell out really quickly. The 65th BFI London Film Festival will take place from 6th until 17th October.
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