The competition titles for the 62nd BFI London Film Festival have been announced. Half of the ten films nominated this year are directed by women, a positive move forward for the industry. They include Destroyer by Karyn Kusama, Joy by Sudabeh Mortezai, Too Late To Die Young by Dominga Sotomayor and Cannes debuter Birds Of Passage, Cristina Gallego (co-directed with Ciro Guerra).
Room director Lenny Abrahamson has been announced as president of the jury for this year’s festival, which kicks off in the capital from 10th October to 21st October.
The competition films are:
Birds of Passage – Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra
Destroyer – Karyn Kusama
Happy New Year, Colin Burstead – Ben Wheatley
Happy As Lazzaro – Alice Rohrwacher
In Fabric – Peter Strickland
Joy – Sudabeh Mortezai
The Old Man & The Gun – David Lowery
Shadow – Zhang Yimou
Sunset – László Nemes
Too Late To Die Young – Dominga Sotomayor
In addition, the first feature competition, documentary competition and short film nominees have also been announced. They are:
FIRST FEATURE COMPETITION
The Chambermaid – Lila Avilés
The Day I Lost My Shadow – Soudade Kaadan
Dead Pigs – Cathy Yan
Girl – Lukas Dhont
Holiday – Isabella Eklöf
Journey To A Mother’s Room – Celia Rico Clavellino
Only You – Harry Wootliff
Ray & Liz – Richard Billingham
Soni – Ivan Ayr
Wildlife – Paul Dano
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Bisbee ’17 – Robert Greene
Dream Away – Marouan Omara and Johanna Domke
Evelyn – Orlando von Einsiedel
John McEnroe: In The Realm of Perfection – Julien Farau
The Plan That Came From The Bottom Up – Steve Sprung
Putin’s Witnesses – Vitaly Mansky
The Raft – Marcus Lindeen
Theatre of War – Lola Arias
What You Gonna Do When The World’s On Fire? – Robert Minervini
Young and Alive – Mattieu Bareyre
SHORT FILM AWARD
Another Decade – Morgan Quaintaince
De Natura – Lucile Hadžihalilovic
The Field (Le Champ De Mais) – Sandhya Suri
Hello, Rain – C J ‘Fiery’ Obassi
Lasting Marks – Charlie Lyne
Leash – Harry Lighton
Monelle – Diego Marcon
Salam – Claire Fowler
Solar Walk – Réka Bucsi
Veslemøy’s Song – Sofia Bohdanowicz
We also have the long list of the rest of the films which will play in the various galas.
OPENING GALA
Widows – Steve McQueen
CLOSING GAGA
Stan & Ollie – Jon S. Baird
HEADLINE GALAS
The Favourite – Yorgos Lanthimos
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – The Coen Brothers
Beautiful Boy – Felix van Groeningen
Can You Ever Forgive Me? – Marielle Heller
Colette – Wash Westmoreland
The Front Runner – Jason Reitman
Life Itself – Dan Fogelman
Outlaw King – David Mackenzie
A Private War – Matthew Heineman
Suspiria – Luca Guadagnino
FESTIVAL AND STRAND GALAS
Wild Rose – Tom Harper
Assassination Nation – Sam Levinson
Border – Ali Abbasi
Burning – Lee Chang-dong
Capernaum – Nadine Labaki
The Great Victorian Moving Picture Show – Various
If Beale Street Could Talk – Barry Jenkins
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote – Terry Gilliam
Mirai – Mamoru Hosoda
Roma – Alfonso Cuarón
The White Crow – Ralph Fiennes
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Been So Long – Tinge Krishnan
Fahrenheit 11/9 – Michael Moore
The Hate U Give – George Tillman Jr.
The Little Drummer Girl (episodes 1 and 2) – Park Chan-wook
Out Of The Blue – Carol Morley
Peterloo – Mike Leigh
They Shall Not Grow Old – Peter Jackson
Aquarela – Viktor Kossakovsky
Make Me Up – Rachel Maclean
Rafiki – Wanuri Kahiu
