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.

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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 [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] 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 [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film]. 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 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Damian Kocur
fiche film] and Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming a Guinea Fowl [+lire aussi :
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interview : Rungano Nyoni et Susan Cha…
fiche film] (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 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Ariane Labed
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interview : Sylvia Le Fanu
fiche film] (Denmark) and Laura Carreira’s On Falling [+lire aussi :
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interview : Laura Carreira
fiche film] (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 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Thomas Vinterberg
fiche série] (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 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Dea Kulumbegashvili
fiche film] - Dea Kulumbegashvili (France/Italy/Georgia)
Bring Them Down [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] - Christopher Andrews (Ireland/UK/Belgium)
The Extraordinary Miss Flower - Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard (UK)
Four Mothers [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] - Darren Thornton (Ireland/UK)
Living in Two Worlds - Mipo O (Japan)
Memoir of a Snail - Adam Elliot (Australia)
On Becoming A Guinea Fowl [+lire aussi :
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interview : Rungano Nyoni et Susan Cha…
fiche film] - Rungano Nyoni (Zambia/UK/Ireland)
Thank You for Banking With Us [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] - Laila Abbas (Palestine/Germany)
Under the Volcano [+lire aussi :
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interview : Damian Kocur
fiche film] - Damian Kocur (Poland)
Vermiglio, the Mountain Bride [+lire aussi :
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interview : Maura Delpero
fiche film] - Maura Delpero (Italy/France/Belgium)
The Wolves Always Come at Night [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] - Gabrielle Brady (Australia/Mongolia/Germany)

First Feature Competition

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

Documentary Competition

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