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| Location | London, England |
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| Founded | 1957; 68 years ago (1957) |
| Most recent | 2024 |
| Website | bfi |
| Current:68th BFI London Film Festival | |
69th | |
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TheBFI London Film Festival is an annualfilm festival held inLondon,England, in collaboration with theBritish Film Institute. The festival runs for two weeks every October. In 2016, theBFI estimated that around 240 feature films and 150 short films from more than 70 countries are screened at the festival each year.[1]
At a dinner party in 1953, at the home of film criticDilys Powell ofThe Sunday Times, attended by film administratorJames Quinn, guests discussed the lack of a film festival in London.[1] Quinn went on to start the first London Film Festival, which took place at the newNational Film Theatre (now renamed BFI Southbank) from 16 to 26 October 1957.[2][3] The first festival screened 15–20 films that were already successful at other festivals,[1] includingAkira Kurosawa'sThrone of Blood (which opened the festival),[1]Satyajit Ray'sAparajito,Andrzej Wajda'sKanał,[2]Luchino Visconti'sWhite Nights,Ingmar Bergman'sThe Seventh Seal,Federico Fellini'sNights of Cabiria andElia Kazan'sA Face in the Crowd.[1] The first edition was sponsored byThe Sunday Times.[1]
The second festival saw the introduction of theSutherland Trophy, an annual award for "the maker of the most original and imaginative film introduced at theNational Film Theatre during the year", which was awarded toYasujirō Ozu forTokyo Story.[4] The third festival featuredFrançois Truffaut'sThe 400 Blows, for which he famously turned up to the festival without a ticket and unable to speak English.[1]
Richard Roud became festival director in 1960,[5] the first year that a British film was shown at the festival; the world premiere ofKarel Reisz'sSaturday Night and Sunday Morning.[1] The fourth edition contained films from 14 other countries shown at seven other festivals, includingMichelangelo Antonioni'sL'Avventura andLuis Buñuel'sThe Young One, plus five films not shown at other festivals, including Truffaut'sShoot the Pianist andStuds Lonigan.[1][6]
The 1962 festival featured the first midnight matinee,Tony Richardson'sThe Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.[1]Roman Polanski's first feature-length filmKnife in the Water andJean-Luc Godard'sVivre sa vie were also screened.[7]
A new strand of the festival called London Choices was added in 1965 which featured debut and lesser-known features. One of the first London Choices features wasDear John, directed byLars-Magnus Lindgren.[1]
1967 saw the first features films directed by women screened -Shirley Clarke'sPortrait of Jason,Agnès Varda'sLes Créatures andVěra Chytilová'sDaisies.
Jean-Luc Godard's first English language film,One Plus One, was shown under the London Choices strand in 1968. After the screening, Godard punched producerIain Quarrier in the face on stage for changes Quarrier made to the film's ending.[1] The world premiere ofLindsay Anderson'sIf.... closed the festival.[8]
Ken Wlaschin became the festival director in February 1970 and expanded the size and diversity of the festival.[5][1] His first festival featured 28 films, opening with Truffaut'sL'Enfant sauvage[9] and featuring Kurosawa'sDodes'ka-den and the world premiere of Anthony Friedman'sBartleby.[10] A recently opened second screen at the NFT was also used.[11]David Lynch's short filmThe Grandmother was also shown in 1970.[1]
The 1971 festival was expanded to include a directors' section, featuring the premiere ofMike Leigh's feature film debutBleak Moments.[12][13] Between 13 and 29 November 1972, 44 films were screened in two categories; one for established directors and one for younger directors.[14][15] The 1974 festival opened 18 November and featured 60 films starting with the premiere ofPeter Hall'sAkenfield.[16]The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was screened in a members-only screening due to it not being classified by theBBFC.[1] Similar screenings were held forThe Beast in 1975 andSalò, or the 120 Days of Sodom in 1977.[1]
Due to financial restrictions, the 1978 festival was shortened from 21 to 16 days and there was hardly any publicity. It opened with a spotlight on new Australian cinema, starting withPhillip Noyce'sNewsfront and films byBruce Beresford andDonald Crombie. The festival made a special concession to allow six of the films selected for the festival to also be screened atTime Out's 10th Anniversary Film Festival in September 1978 without changing the regulation stating that LFF films must be British premieres.[17]
The 25th festival opened on 4 November 1981 with a gala presentation ofGallipoli attended byCharles, Prince of Wales, the BFI patron, andDiana, Princess of Wales. It was the largest ever to date, featuring 127 films.[18] It also expanded outside of London for the first time with 12 programmes playing in eight cinemas around the country.[18] It closed on 22 November with the British filmPriest of Love directed byChristopher Miles.[19] The 1982 festival opened 11 November 1982 with 4 independent British films -Claude Whatham'sThe Captain's Doll,Peter Greenaway'sThe Draughtsman's Contract,Barney Platts-Mills'Hero andMai Zetterling'sScrubbers[1] - and closed 28 November.[20]
In 1984, Wlaschin's role as program director for the National Film Theatre (NFT) and festival director was split, withThe Guardian film criticDerek Malcolm taking over as festival director, initially temporarily,[1][21] andSheila Whitaker as NFT program director.[22] Malcolm expanded the festival to 7 theatres other than the NFT (Dominion Theatre;Odeon Leicester Square;Queen Elizabeth Hall; theICA Cinema; The Lumiere; The Premiere andLondon Film-Makers' Co-op);[22] introduced Festival on the Square, which showed more popular films; added a surprise film each year; and increased attendances,[21][23] trying to change it from a festival for film buffs to one for the public.[24] The 1984 festival opened withGremlins at the NFT on 14 November and closed on 2 December with a gala presentation at the Dominion of a new print of the 1924 version ofThe Thief of Baghdad starringDouglas Fairbanks with the score composed and conducted byCarl Davis.[22][9] It was the most popular festival to date with 57,000 tickets sold, and Malcolm was retained to organize the festival the following year.[25]
The 1985 festival was expanded to feature 161 films[24] and ran from 14 November to 1 December, opening withAkira Kurosawa'sRan[26] and closing withMichael Cimino'sYear of the Dragon and Peter Greenaway'sA Zed & Two Noughts.[21][27] The best films of the festival were to be shown around 15 towns around the country after the event.[27]
The films were grouped into regional categories.[28] In 2009, these were: Galas and Special Screenings, Film on the Square, New British Cinema, French Revolutions, Cinema Europa, World Cinema, Experimenta, Treasures from the Archives, Short Cuts, and Animation.
Since 1986, the festival has been "topped and tailed" by the opening and closing galas[9] which have become major red carpet events in the London calendar. The opening and closing galas are often world, European, or UK premiere screenings, which take place in large venues in central London. They are attended by the cast and crew of the films and introduced by the festival director, the film's director or producers, and often the actors themselves.
The 30th edition of the festival in 1986 opened withNicolas Roeg'sCastaway on 13 November[9] and closed withKen Russell's filmGothic on 30 November.[29][30] The festival had a "post script" the next day on 1 December with a Royal charity performance ofLabyrinth attended by the Prince and Princess of Wales.[1]
Sheila Whitaker, who had been the manager of the National Film Theatre,[21] replaced Malcolm in 1987. The 1987 festival was the first to open at theEmpire, Leicester Square on 11 November 1987. It was due to open withA Prayer for the Dying, a film about anIRA member but was pulled 2 days before the opening following the IRA'sRemembrance Day bombing inEnniskillen on 8 November. The film was replaced withDark Eyes.[23] The closing gala was held on 29 November featuringStephen Frears'Sammy and Rosie Get Laid.[31][32]
During her period as director, Whitaker continued to expand the festival. By the end of her tenure as director in 1996, the festival had grown to include screenings of over 200 films from around the world, more venues had been added, and more tickets were sold to non-BFI members.[33] She also began the festival's practice of including newly restored films from theNational Film Archive and overseas institutions.[34]
The 1989 festival expanded the number of venues, with the festival showing films in South London for the first time with the addition of theRitzy Cinema in Brixton and the Brixton Village Cultural Centre.The Screen on the Green inIslington and theRio Cinema, Dalston were also added as venues. It featuredMax OphülsLa signora di tutti (1934) in tribute to former festival director Richard Roud who had died in February 1989.[35] The junior section of the festival was separated out into a Junior London Film Festival which ran from 21 to 29 October over thehalf term holiday featuring ten feature films, starting withThe Wolves of Willoughby Chase.[35]
The 1990 festival featured 180 films compared to 145 in the previous year. It included a section Focus on Hong Kong which featured the world premiere ofJackie Chan'sArmour of God II: Operation Condor. The festival also featured the world premieres ofMike Leigh'sLife Is Sweet andAnthony Minghella'sTruly, Madly, Deeply (under the titleCello).[36][37]
The 1991 festival was dedicated toDavid Lean, who had died earlier in the year. The festival opened with the world premiere ofMike Newell'sEnchanted April and closed with the European premiere ofMark Peploe's debut filmAfraid of the Dark.[38][1][9]
In 1993, the Children's London Film Festival was re-incorporated into the main festival. The opening night film was the European premiere ofJames Ivory'sThe Remains of the Day.[39]
The 1994 festival opened with the world premiere ofMary Shelley's Frankenstein directed byKenneth Branagh.[9] The festival featured an expanded programme at theOdeon West End in Leicester Square, with the festival taking over the cinema for its duration.[40] A 12-film sidebar was added for Arabian and Middle Eastern films, in addition to sidebars for French and Asian films.[41]
Due to classification issues, special permission was needed fromWestminster City Council to screenOliver Stone'sNatural Born Killers in 1994 andDavid Cronenberg'sCrash in 1996.[1][40] The 1996 festival featuredShane Meadows' debut filmSmall Time.[1]
Adrian Wooton was appointed festival director and Sandra Hebron as festival programmer in 1997.[1]
From 2000, the festival was sponsored byRegus and became known as theRegus London Film Festival.[42][43] The first festival under Regus opened withCameron Crowe'sAlmost Famous on 1 November 2000 and closed on 16 November withBorn Romantic.[9] The 2001 festival opened with the premiere ofRobert Altman'sGosford Park on 7 November and closed on 22 November withIain Softley'sK-PAX.[44] The 2002 festival was held 6–21 November, attracting a then record 110,000 visitors, opening withStephen Frears'Dirty Pretty Things and closing withThaddeus O'Sullivan'sThe Heart of Me.[45]
Hebron became artistic director of the festival in 2003,[46] replacing Wooton.[28] The same year, the festival's sponsor was changed toThe Times and became known asThe TimesBFI London Film Festival.[1][43] The festival was held between October 222 and November 6, opening withJane Campion'sIn the Cut and closing withChristine Jeffs'Sylvia.[47][9]
The 2004 festival opened with the UK premiere ofMike Leigh'sVera Drake.[48]
The fiftieth edition of the festival opened 18 October 2006 with the European premiere ofKevin McDonald'sThe Last King of Scotland. It also featured the European premieres ofTodd Field'sLittle Children andAnthony Minghella'sBreaking and Entering.[49] It closed on 2 November withBabel.[9]
The world premiere ofFrost/Nixon was the opening night gala of the 2008 festival.[9]
Previously a number of festival awards were presented at the Closing gala, but in 2009, with the aid of some funding from theUK Film Council, a stand-alone awards ceremony was introduced. TheUK Film Council helped fund the festival for three years until it was abolished in 2011.[46]
In 2009 the festival, whilst focused around Leicester Square (Vue West End, Odeon West End and Empire) and the BFI Southbank in central London, also screened films across 18 other venues –Curzon Mayfair Cinema,ICA Cinema on The Mall, TheRitzy in Brixton, Cine Lumière in South Kensington,Queen Elizabeth Hall on the South Bank,David Lean Cinema in Croydon, the Genesis Cinema in Whitechapel, The Greenwich Picturehouse, thePhoenix Cinema in East Finchley, Rich Mix in Old Street, theRio Cinema in Dalston, the Tricycle Cinema in Kilburn, the Waterman Art Centre in Brentford and Trafalgar Square for the open air screening of short films from theBFI National Archive. The 2009 Festival featured 15 world premieres includingWes Anderson’s first animated feature,Fantastic Mr. Fox,Sam Taylor-Wood’s feature débutNowhere Boy, about the formative years ofJohn Lennon, as well as the Festival's first ever Archive Gala, the BFI's new restoration ofAnthony Asquith’sUnderground, with live music accompaniment by the Prima Vista Social Club. European premieres in 2009 includedJean-Pierre Jeunet’sMicmacs, Scott Hicks’The Boys Are Back and Robert Connolly'sBalibo, as well as Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni'sThe Well and Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson'sMugabe and the White African.
In 2009, directors travelling to London to introduce their latest work includedMichael Haneke (Cannes Palme d'Or winner,The White Ribbon),Atom Egoyan (Chloe),Steven Soderbergh (The Informant!),Lone Scherfig (An Education),Ang Lee (Taking Woodstock),Jane Campion (Bright Star),Gaspar Noé (Enter The Void),Lee Daniels (Precious),Grant Heslov (The Men Who Stare at Goats), andJason Reitman (Up in the Air). In addition toFantastic Mr. Fox andUp in the Air,George Clooney supported his role inThe Men Who Stare at Goats. The Festival also welcomed back previous alumni such asJohn Hillcoat (The Road),Joe Swanberg (Alexander The Last) andHarmony Korine (Trash Humpers), whilst also screening films fromManoel de Oliveira (Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl),Jim Jarmusch (The Limits Of Control), Claire Denis (White Material), Ho-Yuhang (At The End Of Daybreak),Todd Solondz (Life During Wartime), andJoel and Ethan Coen (A Serious Man).
American Express became the festival's principal sponsor in 2010 and the name changed to theBFI London Film Festival.[1]
The 2011 festival opened withFernando Meirelles'360[50] and closed withThe Deep Blue Sea,[46] both starringRachel Weisz.
Clare Stewart was appointed as head of exhibition at the BFI in August 2011 replacing Hebron[46] and was the festival's director from the 2012 edition.[28] Under Stewart, aformal competition was organised in 2012; films were organized into strands such as "Love", "Debate", "Dare" and "Thrill" and films started to be screened outside of London.[1]
The 2013 festival opened withCaptain Phillips and closed with the world premiere ofSaving Mr. Banks,[9] both starringTom Hanks.[51]
248 films were screened in 2014 and the festival saw a record attendance of 163,000.[52] Simultaneous screenings of the opening and closing films (The Imitation Game andFury) took place around the UK.[53][54]
The Odeon West End, which accounted for 23% of admissions in 2014,[52] closed 1 January 2015, so more screenings moved to theVue West End[28] as well as moving to theCineworld Haymarket andPicturehouse Central.[52] Festival attendances fell 4% for the 2015 edition. The festival featured 14 world premieres and 40 European premieres.[52]
The 60th edition of the festival saw the opening of the temporary Embankment Garden Cinema, inVictoria Embankment Gardens.[55] In the first 60 years of the festival, it had shown 27 films byRainer Werner Fassbinder, 19 by Satyajit Ray and 18 by Jean-Luc Godard.[1]
While the programme still retains the 'festivals' feel, it also now shows new discoveries from "important and exciting talents" in world cinema. Whilst it continues to be first and foremost a public festival, it is also attended by large numbers of film professionals and journalists from all over the world. Importantly, it offers opportunities for people to see films that may not otherwise get a UK screening along with films that will get a release in the near future. Some films are accompanied by Q&A sessions which give the audience unique access to the filmmaker and/or a member of the cast and offer insight into the making of the film and occasionally an opportunity for the audience to engage directly and ask questions. Other than these events, the screenings at the Festival are quite informal and similar to the normal cinema experience.
Stewart took a sabbatical for the 2018 edition of the festival and her deputy,Tricia Tuttle stood in as interim artistic director. She became artistic director in December 2018.[56][57] Current film programmers include Kate Taylor (Senior Programmer), Michael Blyth and Laure Bonville.
The 2018 festival opened with the European premiere ofSteve McQueen'sWidows.[58] It saw the first film at the festival to premiere outside London with the UK premiere ofMike Leigh'sPeterloo being held atHOME in Manchester on 17 October[59] as well as the world premiere ofPeter Jackson'sThey Shall Not Grow Old, which was also screened simultaneously around the UK.[58] It closed with the world premiere ofStan & Ollie.[60]
The 2019 edition opened withArmando Iannucci'sThe Personal History of David Copperfield which was shown at theOdeon Leicester Square and at the Embankment Garden Cinema.[61]
Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the 2020 festival featured up to 50 online films with only 12 films being shown in London and around the United Kingdom.[62][63] The festival opened with the European premiere of Steve McQueen'sMangrove and closed withAmmonite, directed byFrancis Lee.[64]
The 2021 festival opened with the world premiere ofJeymes Samuel'sThe Harder They Fall atRoyal Festival Hall.[65]
The2022 festival opened with the world premiere ofRoald Dahl's Matilda the Musical at the Royal Festival Hall. Tuttle stepped down as festival director after the festival and was replaced by Kristy Matheson.[66][67]
The2023 festival opened with the European premiere ofSaltburn. It closed with the world premiere ofThe Kitchen.[68]
The Festival is organized in various sections:[69][70]
Derek Malcolm introduced a screening of an unannounced film during the festival each year known as the Surprise Film.[23]
For the 50th anniversary of the festival, rather than one surprise film, there were 50 screenings of a surprise film around London.[49]
| Director | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| Richard Roud | 1960 | 1969 |
| Ken Wlaschin | 1970 | 1983 |
| Derek Malcolm | 1984 | 1986 |
| Sheila Whitaker | 1987 | 1996 |
| Adrian Wooton | 1997 | 2002 |
| Sandra Hebron | 2003 | 2011 |
| Clare Stewart | 2012 | 2017 |
| Tricia Tuttle | 2018 | 2022 |
| Kristy Matheson | 2023 | Present |
The categories highlight both emerging and established talent.
From 2009, a new standalone awards ceremony was launched which included the following awards:
In 2009, a new annual standalone awards ceremony was launched to showcase the work of imaginative and original filmmakers and to reward distinctive and intriguing work.
The Awards took place at the Inner Temple on 28 October 2009 and were hosted byPaul Gambaccini. Winners of the Sutherland Trophy, Best British Newcomer and Best Film received the inaugural Star of London award designed by sculptor Almuth Tebbenhoff.
Pawel Pawlikowski, best known for his filmsMy Summer of Love andLast Resort, won the Best Film award for his black and white social dramaIda, his first film shot in his native Poland. Pawlikowski, at the time, was a visiting tutor at theNational Film and Television School in Buckinghamshire and one of his pupils there,Anthony Chen, picked up the Best First Feature prize forIlo Ilo.[104]
Leviathan was named the Best Film at the London Film Festival Awards on 18 October 2014, at a ceremony where the main prizes went to Russia, Ukraine (Best First Feature,The Tribe) and Syria (Best Documentary,Silvered Water), three countries at the centre of long-running conflicts. The winning film-makers all said they hoped that culture could help to restore peace to their countries.[105]
At a London Film Festival declared by its director Clare Stewart to be promoting strong women in the industry, both in front of and behind the camera, the theme continued into the awards, with the Best Film being named as the Greek comedyChevalier, directed byAthina Rachel Tsangari. The winner of the Sutherland Award for Best First Feature,The Witch, was described by the jury as "a fresh, feminist take on a timeless tale." Another woman was honoured with the Grierson Award for the best documentary; the Australian filmmakerJennifer Peedom, who was shootingSherpa as a devastating avalanche struck the Himalayas, in April 2014. And the Oscar-winningCate Blanchett described how she was "deeply honoured and dumbstruck" at being awarded a BFI Fellowship.[106]
Following the previous year's festival aimed to celebrate strong women in the film industry, 2016 was partly designed to better reflect the diverse audiences in society;[107] the festival opened with a film directed by a black director and the BFI Fellowship was awarded toSteve McQueen. Most of the awards, once again, had strong female themes – either being directed by women, about women or both.Kelly Reichardt’sCertain Women won the Official Competition, whileRaw, by the French directorJulia Ducournau, won the Sutherland Award for the Best First Feature. Noting that there are still too few opportunities for female directors, Ducournau said, "It's about time that things are starting to change. It's good that doors are now being opened." The Grierson Award for the best documentary went toStarless Dreams, filmed inside a rehabilitation centre for juvenile delinquent women in Iran. For the first time, the London Film Festival ran a competition for the best short film. This went to Issa Touma,Thomas Vroege andFloor Van Der Meulen for the documentary9 Days – From My Window in Aleppo. Touma, a Syrian photographer who regularly returns to Aleppo, said it was important for intellectuals, academics and artists not to desert the country. "You can't change anything from far away," he said.[108]
Accepting the prestigious BFI Fellowship at the 2017 London Film Festival Awards, directorPaul Greengrass acknowledged that it had been a difficult week for the film industry, on the day thatHarvey Weinstein was expelled from the Academy that hands out the Oscars. He said the industry had to act and words weren't enough. The Best Film on the night went to Russia'sLoveless, makingAndrey Zvyagintsev the second director to have won the honour twice. South Africa'sJohn Trengove won the Best First Film award forThe Wound. Lucy Cohen'sKingdom of Us, about the aftermath of a suicide, was named the Best Documentary. And Patrick Bresnan'sThe Rabbit Hunt won the third Best Short Film prize.[109][110]
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