Returning for it 15th year, over the years running 9 to 20 October 2024, the BFI LFF Festival has showcased distinctive stories that highlight the diverse talent and boundless creativity within the British film industry and internationally. This year’s LFF Festival continues this tradition, presenting an exceptional lineup of films, from feature length premieres to shorts from both new and established talent. Big names join the festival which opens with Steve McQueen’s Blitz, a UK premiere of Malcolm Washington’s The Piano lesson, and Mati Diop’s Dahomey also lands at the festival to name a few. Check out 10 films we have picked for you…..
Kristy Matheson, Festival Director, BFI London Film Festival states.
“Cinematic ideas materialise in many forms, and this year artists have taken us to some giddy highs and poked at our tender underbellies. Troubled histories linger close to the surface alongside optimistic futures, all explored in unique and creative ways. Over these months of viewing and planning, we’ve returned time and again to the idea of the city – specifically London, with its multilayered histories and global citizenship – to craft a programme that serves as a cinematic mirror for shapes previously unseen. But also as a point of reflection. So, we invite you to explore our Festival as you would a city; visit the famous landmarks, but be sure not to miss the hidden side streets and embrace the unknown – there’s riches for the curious”.
Opening NIGHT GALA: Blitz
BFI London Film Festival: Opening Night Gala – Blitz (fundraising ticket)
Wednesday 09 October 2024 18:45
The Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall
Steve McQueen’s visually dazzling tour de force is a moving and expansive tapestry of British life during the decisive moments of the Second World War. In the face of nightly air raids, East End mum Rita (yet another impressive turn by Saoirse Ronan) grows increasingly worried about her son George’s safety. Under the counsel of her father, Gerald (Paul Weller), she makes the heart-wrenching decision to send him to the countryside. But a few hours into his journey, George alights the train, determined to return to Stepney Green and his family. Director-Screenwriter Steve McQueen. With Saoirse Ronan, Elliott Heffernan, Paul Weller, Harris Dickinson, Stephen Graham. UK 2024. 114min. Courtesy of Apple TV+.
Language English
The Piano Lesson
Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington and Danielle Deadwyler star in Malcolm Washington’s involving adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl – dir. Rungano Nyoni
Official Competition
Driving home one night, Shula seems unfazed by the sight of her uncle’s dead body on the road. Later, while helping in funeral proceedings, her cool exterior melts as she questions her family’s complicity towards the abuse she and her cousins suffered. As Nyoni makes clear through this perceptive drama, silence breeds impunity. With touches of humour and surrealism, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl confirms her position as one of her generation’s most distinctive voices. Director-screenwriterRungano Nyoni
With Susan Chardy, Elizabeth Chisela, Henry B J Phiri Zambia-UK-Ireland 2024. 95min Courtesy of A24
Languages Bemba, English With English subtitles
All We Imagine As Light
Prabha, Anu and Parvaty are employees at a hospital in Mumbai. They grapple daily with the opportunities and hardships of existence in the city. Balancing an immersive verité style with a touch of the surreal, Payal Kapadia’s Cannes Grand Prix-winning drama captures the many shades of working-class life in Mumbai. The result is a profound and deeply humanist meditation on urban migration and dislocation.
The lives of three women intersect and overlap in a haunting drama that sees the city of Mumbai play a central role.
Pauline Black: A 2 Tone Story – dir. Jane Mingay
Create Strand
Pauline Black is a multi-talented figure who dedicated four decades to music, while supporting and campaigning for racial equality. Featuring excellent archive and contemporary footage, the film charts Black’s history – from her adopted background to the racism, sexism and hostility she faced on her journey through British life and the entertainment industry. It’s engrossing, essential viewing.
Who Do I Belong To – dir. Meryam Joober
Sutherland Award – First Feature Competition
Academy-nominated for her short film Brotherhood in 2020, Tunisian-Canadian director Meryam Joober now brings us her feature debut based on the short. Aïcha, a farmer in rural Tunisia, is adjusting to her new reality since her eldest sons ran off to war. When one of them returns with a pregnant and mysteriously silent wife, an unsettling sentiment fills the air in the family home and the local village. Skilfully utilising magic realism and horror tropes, Joobeur conjures-up a dream-like world to pose very real questions.
Dahomey – dir. Mati Diop
Documentary Special Presentation
Following up her critically acclaimed, Palme D’Or-winning debut Atlantics, French-Senegalese director Mati Diop’s Berlin Golden Bear-winning documentary Dahomey now comes to LFF. Tackling colonialism and the hotly debated topic of stolen treasures, Dahomey follows the journey of the Kingdom of Dahomey’s plundered artefacts, preserved for 130 years in the vaults and vitrines of European institutions. Blending the metaphysical with documentary, we see 26 of over 7,000 devotional and royal stolen objects as they are repatriated. A cool-headed yet fierce film, Dahomey captures the debate, anger, pride, joy and grief of the reunion in modern-day Benin.
Twiggy
International supermodel, actor, singer and one of the most iconic British figures – this is the real story of Twiggy.
In 1966, a young Lesley Hornby became the face of an era. Changing her name to Twiggy, she turned the modelling world upside down with her unique androgynous style and famed large eyes, becoming a defining figure of the swinging 60s London. Out of this success she built a multifaceted career. Director Sadie Frost charts Twiggy’s rise and her continued success in this fascinating documentary portrait.
Sofa, So Good – dir. The Thiele Brothers
Laugh Strand
Joseph Jeffries, Yahel Pack and Desmond Gilmore take a star-making turn in this delightfully weird US indie comedy. A debut feature from Kyle, Eli and Cole Thiele, Sofa, So Good is set and shot entirely in Dayton, Ohio as two cousins’ attempts to move a second-hand sofa across the city turns into an absurdist odyssey. Jake and Red desperately need a new couch and, conveniently, there’s one going cheap across town. However, getting it home becomes an epic challenge, replete with chance encounters, misplaced furniture and a Mad Max-esque anti-sofa posse in pursuit. The Thiele Brothers’ offbeat monochrome visuals, deadpan Jarmusch-like humour and leftfield soundtrack has helped forge a cult-film-in-the-making that’s well worth sinking into. You can watch the trailer here: https://www.clevelandfilm.org/films/sofa-so-good
Ernest Cole: Lost & Found – dir. Raoul Peck
Create Strand
Oscar-nominated director of I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul Peck’s latest feature is an intimate documentary portrait of Ernest Cole, the first Black freelance photographer in South Africa who paid the price for revealing to the world the true horrors of apartheid. Cole’s powerful record of the degradation of his people under Apartheid led to his exile, where he would die, mostly forgotten and heartsick for the home he loved. Narrated in Cole’s words by acclaimed actor LaKeith Stanfield, Lost & Found is a poignant homecoming hymn, restoring his legacy and offering an essential story in the ongoing the fight for equity and human rights. Friday 11 October 2024 18:10
Curzon Mayfair, Screen 1
On sale
Tuesday 17 September 2024 10:00
Monday 14 October 2024 14:30
BFI Southbank, NFT2
On sale
Tuesday 17 September 2024 10:00
Friday 18 October 2024 20:45
BFI Southbank, NFT4
On sale
Tuesday 17 September 2024 10:00
All film lovers the opportunity to make unforgettable memories at the BFI London Film Festival which runs 9 to 20 October 2024.
How to book
Tickets start from £10 for all screenings and events in London, with concessions available for many screenings. Booking information and ticket prices
If you’re aged 16 to 25, sign up for free to our BFI 25 & Under scheme for a chance to get £5 tickets to all screenings and events.
