28/08/2015 - Christopher Nolan and Tacita Dean are to lead LFF Connects

Actress Cate Blanchett

Australian-born BAFTA-, Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning actress Cate Blanchett will be accorded the British Film Institute’s (BFI) highest honour, the BFI Fellowship, at the 59^th BFI London Film Festival’s (LFF, 7-18 October) annual awards ceremony on 18 October. James Vanderbilt’s Truth, starring Blanchett and Robert Redford, about the award-winning journalist Mary Mapes, who exposed a story on President George W Bush, will screen the same night as the Fellowship Special Presentation film. 

Greg Dyke, chairman of the BFI, said, “Cate Blanchett is a compelling and brave actress whose mesmerising screen presence has captivated audiences since her earliest roles. We are absolutely delighted to honour her extraordinary talents with a BFI Fellowship at this year’s LFF awards.” 

The festival is also launching LFF Connects, a new series of talks intended to stimulate new collaborations and ideas by exploring both the future of film itself and how film engages with other creative industries, including television, music, art, games and creative technology. British filmmaker Christopher Nolan and Berlin-based British artist Tacita Dean, lauded for her grand-scale Tate Modern exhibition FILM, will launch the talks on 9 October alongside Alexander Horwath, director of the Austrian Film Museum, Vienna.