05/09/2024 - New films set to screen at the gathering, running from 9-20 October, include the world premiere of Steve McQueen’s latest, Blitz

The BFI London Film Festival (LFF) has announced the 253 titles that will make up its 2024 programme. The event, to be held from 9-20 October in various cinemas across the UK capital, including the iconic BFI Southbank, promises several world premieres amongst a slew of festival favourites as well as TV series and immersive works.

The event will open with the world premiere of Steve McQueen’s Blitz, which follows the journey of a nine-year-old boy in World War II-era London, whose mother sends him off to safety in the English countryside (see the news). The defiant and determined youngster wants to return home and embarks on an adventure, only to find that his journey is more dangerous than he had imagined. Newcomer Elliott Heffernan takes the lead alongside stalwart actors including Saoirse Ronan, Kathy Burke and Stephen Graham. The film will subsequently be given a limited domestic release before heading to Apple TV+ on 22 November.

The festival will close with the European premiere of Morgan Neville’s Piece by Piece, an animated documentary that examines the life of singer Pharrell Williams through the medium of Lego.

World premieres in the festival’s Official Competition include Four Mothers by Irish filmmaker Darren Thornton, the comedic story of a novelist who is forced to look after his mother after she has a stroke. Also bowing for the first time is The Extraordinary Miss Flower, the latest film from directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, perhaps best known for their 2014 film 20,000 Days on Earth [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Their latest work is the story of Geraldine Flower and the discovery of a suitcase of letters sent to her in the 1960s and 1970s that inspired acclaimed Icelandic singer-songwriter Emilíana Torrini to return to the studio. Described as “part film, part theatre, part fever dream”, the film sees Torrini perform ten songs as well as acting alongside the likes of Richard Ayoade, Nick Cave, Alice Lowe and Siggi Baldursson. Other films in the Official Competition include Damian Kocur’s Under the Volcano [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Damian Kocur
film profile] and Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming a Guinea Fowl [+see also:
film review
interview: Rungano Nyoni, Susan Chardy
film profile] (Zambia/UK/Ireland), which scooped the Directing Prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard this year.

The festival’s First Feature Competition includes such titles as Ariane Labed’s September Says [+see also:
film review
interview: Ariane Labed
film profile] (Ireland/UK/Germany), Sylvia Le Fanu’s My Eternal Summer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sylvia Le Fanu
film profile] (Denmark) and Laura Carreira’s On Falling [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Carreira
film profile] (UK/Portugal), while there will also be competition strands for documentaries and short films.

As in previous years, the rest of the feature-film programme is organised into strands entitled Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Create, Experimenta, Family, Shorts and Treasures.

The LFF will showcase TV series including Thomas Vinterberg’s first foray into the format, Families Like Ours [+see also:
series review
interview: Thomas Vinterberg
series profile] (freshly screened at Venice); the world premiere of A Thousand Blows by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight; and The Franchise from writer Jon Brown, co-directed by Sam Mendes and Liza Johnson. Meanwhile, LFF Expanded is the festival’s programme of immersive art and extended-reality works.

The Industry programme will be announced in due course, but the festival will play host to a number of recognisable names in its Screen Talks. This year, said programme will include interviews with Andrea Arnold, Sean Baker, Mike Leigh, Steve McQueen, Lupita Nyong’o, Zoe Saldaña, Denis Villeneuve, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin.

The list of films in competition can be found below, while the full programme is available here:

Official Competition

April [+see also:
film review
interview: Dea Kulumbegashvili
film profile] - Dea Kulumbegashvili (France/Italy/Georgia)
Bring Them Down [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Christopher Andrews (Ireland/UK/Belgium)
The Extraordinary Miss Flower - Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard (UK)
Four Mothers - Darren Thornton (Ireland/UK)
Living in Two Worlds - Mipo O (Japan)
Memoir of a Snail - Adam Elliot (Australia)
On Becoming A Guinea Fowl [+see also:
film review
interview: Rungano Nyoni, Susan Chardy
film profile] - Rungano Nyoni (Zambia/UK/Ireland)
Thank You for Banking With Us - Laila Abbas (Palestine/Germany)
Under the Volcano [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Damian Kocur
film profile] - Damian Kocur (Poland)
Vermiglio, the Mountain Bride [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maura Delpero
film profile] - Maura Delpero (Italy/France/Belgium)
The Wolves Always Come at Night [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Gabrielle Brady (Australia/Mongolia/Germany)

First Feature Competition

Crocodile Tears [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Tumpal Tampubolon (Indonesia/France/Singapore/Germany)
Hanami [+see also:
film review
interview: Denise Fernandes
film profile] - Denise Fernandes (Switzerland/Portugal/Cape Verde)
Happyend - Neo Sora (Japan/USA)
Last Swim [+see also:
film review
interview: Sasha Nathwani
film profile] - Sasha Nathwani (UK)
My Eternal Summer [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sylvia Le Fanu
film profile] - Sylvia Le Fanu (Denmark)
Olivia & the Clouds - Tomás Pichardo Espaillat (Dominican Republic)
On Falling [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Laura Carreira
film profile] - Laura Carreira (UK/Portugal)
Santosh [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sandhya Suri
film profile] - Sandhya Suri (UK/France/Germany)
September Says [+see also:
film review
interview: Ariane Labed
film profile] - Ariane Labed (Ireland/UK/Germany)
To a Land Unknown [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mahdi Fleifel
film profile] - Mahdi Fleifel (UK/Palestine/France/Greece/Netherlands/Germany/Qatar/Saudi Arabia)
Who Do I Belong To [+see also:
film review
interview: Meryam Joobeur
film profile] - Meryam Joobeur (France/Canada/Tunisia)

Documentary Competition

Collective Monologue [+see also:
film review
interview: Jessica Sarah Rinland
film profile] - Jessica Sarah Rinland (Argentina/UK)
Holloway - Sophie Compton, Daisy-May Hudson (UK)
Kamay [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Ilyas Yourish, Shahrokh Bikaran (Afghanistan/Belgium/France/Germany)
Mother Vera [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Cécile Embleton, Alys Tomlinson (UK)
Rising Up at Night [+see also:
film review
interview: Nelson Makengo
film profile] - Nelson Makengo (DR Congo/Belgium/Germany/Burkina Faso/Qatar)
Seeking Mavis Beacon - Jazmin Jones (USA)
The Shadow Scholars - Eloise King (UK)
Witches [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Elizabeth Sankey (UK)