15/09/2006

Artistic Director Sandra Hebron announced yesterday that the Times BFI 50th London Film Festival will be a memorable feast for film lovers and professionals, with the screening of 181 features and 131 shorts from 50 countries, and an impressive line-up of stars attending live events, screen talks and master-classes.

Forest Whitaker, James McAvoy, Kerry Washington and Gillian Anderson will be the first to walk the red carpet alongside UK director Kevin Macdonald for the European premiere of The Last King of Scotland, which will open the festival on October 18, before its UK release next January through 20th Century Fox. The Closing Gala on November 2 – the UK premiere of Alejandro González Iñárratu’s Babel – will be attended by stars Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt and Gael García Bernal.

In between, the festival will host four world, 32 European and 123 UK premieres, including the latest work from Golden Lion winner Jia Zhang-ke (Still Life); UK filmmakers Penny Woolcock (Mischief Night) and Roger Michell (Venus); and Italy’s Nanni Moretti (The Caiman - see focus).

Audiences will also have the opportunity to discover first-time directors such as Andrea Arnold (Red Road [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Spain’s Daniel Sánchez Arévalo (DarkBlueAlmostBlack [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - see interview) and Djamila Sahraoui of Algeria (Barakat!).

As usual, Europeans will have dedicated strands, including French Revolutions, Cinema Europa (42 films) and New British Cinema. The prestigious Gala screenings will feature 13 international films, ranging from Anthony Minghella’s UK/US Breaking and Entering, set to open domestically on November 10 through BVI, to Turkey’s Climates [+see also:
trailer
interview: Zeynep Ozbatur
film profile] by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, to be released by Artificial Eye next January.

Other highlights of the festival include live discussions with Forest Whitaker, Richard Linklater, Tim Burton, Dustin Hoffman, Christine Vachon, Paul Verhoeven, John Cameron Mitchell and Yo La Tengo; the outdoor live-mix screening of A Portrait of London: Trafalgar Square made by several key UK artists, including Mike Figgis; and the world’s largest surprise film screening in 50 Screens, celebrating the festival’s 50th anniversary.