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 [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda 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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Damian Kocur
scheda film] and Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming a Guinea Fowl [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Rungano Nyoni, Susan Chardy
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The festival’s First Feature Competition includes such titles as Ariane Labed’s September Says [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Ariane Labed
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intervista: Sylvia Le Fanu
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intervista: Laura Carreira
scheda 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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Thomas Vinterberg
scheda series] (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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Dea Kulumbegashvili
scheda film] - Dea Kulumbegashvili (France/Italy/Georgia)
Bring Them Down [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - 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 [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Rungano Nyoni, Susan Chardy
scheda film] - Rungano Nyoni (Zambia/UK/Ireland)
Thank You for Banking With Us [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Laila Abbas (Palestine/Germany)
Under the Volcano [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Damian Kocur
scheda film] - Damian Kocur (Poland)
Vermiglio, the Mountain Bride [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Maura Delpero
scheda film] - Maura Delpero (Italy/France/Belgium)
The Wolves Always Come at Night [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] - Gabrielle Brady (Australia/Mongolia/Germany)

First Feature Competition

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

Documentary Competition

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