The 67th BFI London Film Festival (LFF) in partnership with American Express will be presented in cinemas and online, across the UK.
Over twelve days from 4th – 15th October, the LFF will return to its fantastic flagship venues in the heart of London.
Opening with the International Premiere of Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, Closing with the World Premiere of Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya’s The Kitchen, with such an extensive programme it can be a little bit intense so as we do every year we’ve pulled out the films we think you our wonderful audience will enjoy …Â
The Book of Clarence (Headline Gala)
A down on his luck Jerusalemite embarks on a misguided attempt to capitalise on the rise of celebrity and influence of The Messiah for his own personal gain. The journey leads him on an exploration of faith and an unexpected path.
Starring: Lakeith Stanfield (Clarence), David Oyelowo, Micheal Ward, Nicholas Pinnock, Babs Olusanmokun, Alfre Woodard, Anna Dipo, RJ Cyler, Teyana Taylor, Omar Sy, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Eric Kofi-Abrefa Caleb McLaughlin, Chase Dillion, Fejiro Emasiobi and Hopi Grace.
Writer|Director|Producer: Jeymes Samuel.
Producers: Sean ‘Jay Z’ Carter, James Lassiter, Tendo D’agenda.
- Wednesday 11 October 2023 17:45 – Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
- Thursday 12 October 2023 14:30 – Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
- Saturday 14 October 2023 12:30 – Prince Charles Cinema, Downstairs Screen
The Kitchen (Closing Night)
Set in near-future London, Izi, a hardworking loner, is counting down the days until he can leave The Kitchen. But when he discovers through his job at an ecological funeral home that his ex-girlfriend has passed away, Izi finds his path colliding with that of Benji, her young son.
Starring: Kane ‘Kano’ Robinson (Izi) | Jedaiah Bannerman | Hope Ikpoku Jnr | Dani Moseley (Ruby’s Mum) | Rasaq Kukoyi (Arinze) | Demmy Ladipo (Jase) | Teija Kabs.
Writer|Director: Daniel Kaluuya
Directors: Daniel Kaluuya | Kibwe Tavares
- Sunday 15 October 2023 19:15 – Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
- Sunday 15 October 2023 21:00 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 1
First Feature Competition – The Sutherland Award recognises the most original and imaginative directorial debut.
Earth Mama
A young, expectant mother battles drug addiction and the oppressive foster-care system to regain custody of her children in this brave and intimate debut.
Starring: Sharon Duncan-Brewster (Monica), Bokeem Woodbine (Paul), Tia Nomore (Gia), Erika Alexander (Miss Carmen).
Writer|Director|Producer: Savanah Leaf.
- Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:00 – BFI Southbank, NFT1
- Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:00 – Curzon Mayfair, Screen 1
- Thursday 05 October 2023 21:00 – BFI Southbank, NFT1
- Saturday 07 October 2023 12:10 – BFI Southbank, NFT1
Black Dog
Nathan and Sam’s lives collide suddenly when Sam is mugged, the teenage boys embark on a road trip North together. As they start to open up about their pasts, the boys learn they have far more in common than they first thought.
Starring: Keenan Munn-Francis | Nicholas Pinnock
- Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:00 – BFI Southbank, NFT2
- Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:00 – Vue West End, Screen 5
- Saturday 14 October 2023 18:10 – Vue West End, Screen 5
- Sunday 15 October 2023 17:30 – BFI Southbank, NFT2
Mambar Pierrette
Focuses on a week in the life of a working-class Cameroonian seamstress and single mother in Douala who strives against all odds to make ends meet.
Director: Rosine Mbakam
- Sunday 08 October 2023 17:30 – BFI Southbank, NFT3
- Wednesday 11 October 2023 18:15 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 2
- Wednesday 11 October 2023 18:30 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 3
Grime Kids (Series Special Presentation)
The series charts the rise of a fictional group of young adults growing up in the early 2000s, dreaming of being able to make their voice heard through music. Grime Kids celebrates the cultures and communities that gave birth to a genre that took over the world. Inspired by DJ Target’s non-fiction book of the same name.
Starring: Shanu Hazzan | Juwon Adedokun | Gabriel Robinson | Tienne Simon | Yus Jamal Crookes | Delove Akra (Genevieve) | Jordie Leany (Yinka) | Jadesola Odunjo (Tanika) | Jola Olajide (Temi) | Layo-Christina Akinlude (Bimpe) | Moziah Pinder | Marsha Miller | Don Gilet | Marcus Onilude | Jo Martin.
Writer: Theresa Ikoko
Directors: Abdou Cisse | Ian Aryeh
Producer: Irma Inniss
Executive Producers: Theresa Ikoko | DJ Target
- Tuesday 12 September 2023 10:00 – Vue West End, Screen 5
- Friday 13 October 2023 21:00 – Vue West End, Screen 5
Occupied City (Documentary Special Presentation)
Based on Bianca Stigter’s Atlas of an Occupied City, Amsterdam 1940-1945, McQueen’s affecting, epic film observes 130 locations in present-day Amsterdam that relate directly to the Jewish community before and during the Nazi occupation of the city. As Melanie Hyams’ voiceover narrates what took place at each site, this monumental work quietly asks us to confront the range of dissonances between the traumatic past and a mundane present haunted, perhaps, by ghostly memories.
Director: Steve McQueen
- Thursday 05 October 2023 13:45 – BFI Southbank, NFT1
- Monday 09 October 2023 18:20– BFI Southbank, Studio
Thematic strands
What are you in the mood for? Whether you’re after a laugh or some thrills, choose a strand and you’ll find our programmers’ carefully chosen suggestions to get your emotions stirred or soothed.
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (Journey)
Mack has been taught to know the earth – the woods, the water and the clay, which her ancestors drew sustenance from. But life itself, in all its messy beauty, is less predictable.
Director|Screenwriter: Raven Jackson
Starring: Sheila Atim | Moses Ingram | Charleen McClure | Reginald Helms Jr. | Zainab Jah
- Friday 13 October 2023 20:55 – BFI Southbank, NFT3
- Sunday 15 October 2023 12:00 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 1
The Bride (Journey)
Rwandan scholar Eva’s childhood is abruptly cut short when she is snatched away from home to become a stranger’s bride, in this striking feature debut.
Director|Screenwriter: Myriam U. Birara
Starring: Sandra Umulisa, Aline Amike, Daniel Gaga
Language: Kinyarwanda With English subtitles
- Saturday 07 October 2023 18:30 – Vue West End, Screen 5
- Sunday 08 October 2023 13:15 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 2
- Sunday 08 October 2023 13:30 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 3
The Spectre of Boko Haram (Journey)
This striking vérité film focuses on young children on the frontline of the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency. Falta, Mohamed and Ibrahim attempt to lead normal lives in Kolofata, a Cameroonian commune constantly under threat from terrorists.
Director: Cyrielle Raingou
Language: Hausa, French With English subtitles
- Thursday 05 October 2023 20:00 – BFI Southbank, NFT2
- Friday 06 October 2023 20:55 – BFI Southbank, NFT3
Banel & Adama (Love)
In this compelling love story set in Mali, Banel and Adama’s relationship is tested by a devastating turn of events that challenges their village’s way of life.
Director|Screenwriter: Ramata-Toulaye Sy
Starring: Khady Mane | Mamadou Diallo | Binta Racine Sy
Language: Pulaar With English subtitles
- Monday 09 October 2023 18:00 – BFI Southbank, NFT3
- Tuesday 10 October 2023 15:35 – BFI Southbank, NFT2
Girl (Love)
Grace and Ama have each other and that’s all they need. Their lives are confined to their Glasgow flat, with Grace leaving only for her job as a cleaner and forbidding Ama to set foot outside. But as Ama becomes more inquisitive, Grace is forced to confront the traumas of her past in order to let the world in.
Director|Screenwriter: Adura Onashile
Starring: Déborah Lukumuena | Le’Shantey Bonsu | Danny Sapani
- Wednesday 04 October 2023 18:00 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 1
- Friday 06 October 2023 15:00 – BFI Southbank, NFT3
BOOK HERE
Goodbye Julia (Love)
A woman seeks redemption following an incident that threatens to destroy all she holds dear.
Director|Screenwriter: Mohamed Kordofani
Starring: Eiman Yousif | Siran Riak | Nazar Gomaa
Language: Arabic with English subtitles
- Saturday 14 October 2023 17:10 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 1
- Sunday 15 October 2023 12:00 – BFI Southbank, NFT2
Fire Through Dry Grass (Debate)
Isolated from the world during the Covid-19 pandemic, these Black and Brown disabled artists take up their cameras to tell their story.
Directors: Alexis Neophytides | Andres ‘Jay’ Molina
- Saturday 14 October 2023 15:10 – BFI Southbank, NFT1
- Sunday 15 October 2023 12:30 – BFI Southbank, Studio
Omen, Augure (Dare)
Koffi’s epileptic seizure, prior to his trip back home to Kinshasa, acts as an omen for the turbulence that awaits him.
Director|Screenwriter: Baloji
Starring: Marc Zinga | Lucie Debay | Eliane Umuhire
Languages: French, Swahili, Lingala with English subtitles
- Thursday 12 October 2023 18:20 – Prince Charles Cinema, Downstairs Screen
- Friday 13 October 2023 20:30 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 1
Power Alley (Dare)
Queer sisterhood and collective power lie at the heart of this arresting Brazilian debut, in which a promising volleyball player faces an unwanted pregnancy.
Directors: Daniel Minlo | Cyrille Masso
Screenwriter: Seraphin Kakouang
Starring: Gerard Essomba Many | Jean Bediebe | Bertrand Baleguel
Language: French with English subtitles
- Thursday 05 October 2023 18:00 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 1
- Sunday 08 October 2023 20:00 – BFI Southbank, NFT3
Gassed Up (Thrill)
Ash, who is trying to earn money to raise his 14-year-old sister and send his mother to rehab, gets caught up with an organized crime ring led by a young and charismatic Albanian immigrant.
Director: George Amponsah
Starring: Stephen Odubola (Ash) | Mohammed Mansaray | Yung Filly | Harry Pinero | Steve Toussaint | David Monteith (Mo)
- Tuesday 10 October 2023 20:45 – BFI IMAX, Waterloo
- Friday 13 October 2023 20:45 – BFI Southbank, NFT2
Culprits (Thrill)
Joe lives a quiet suburban life with his partner Jules and their kids. But Joe’s identity is fake, there’s a bag of cash stashed in a nearby forest and ghosts from the past pay him a call.
Starring: Nathan Stewart-Jarrett | Kirby Howell Baptiste
Saturday 07 October 2023 16:30 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 1
Going To Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (Create)
Legendary African-American poet and activist Nikki Giovanni looks back on her legacy and reflects on her mortality, in this expansive love letter to a genuine pioneer.
Director|Screenwriter: Michèle Stephenson | Joe Brewster
- Wednesday 11 October 2023 20:35 – BFI Southbank, NFT2
- Sunday 15 October 2023 20:30 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 2
Experimenta
Dialogues Between Past, Present and Future
These works put the past in conversation with both the present and the future, exploring recurring themes throughout different temporalities, often using first-person narration or an engagement with archival materials.
- Friday 13th October 2023 20:30 – ICA, Screen 1 – BOOK HERE
A Radical Duet
Imagining a revolutionary play authored by two female activists in the anti-colonial movement in post-war London.
Director|Screenwriter: Onyeka Igwe
Run Time: 28min
The Archive: Queer Nigerians
This poetic film documents the experiences of queer Nigerians, expanding our contemporary understanding of how queerness is expressed.
Director: Simisolaoluwa Akande
Run Time: 25min
Shorts
Doris
In rural Ghana, a young woman struggles with disruptive fits and growing jealousy towards her best friend.
Director: Edem Dotse
Run Time: 17min
Language: Twi with English subtitles
- Tuesday 10 October 2023 21:00 – Prince Charles Cinema, Downstairs Screen – BOOK HERE
South Facing
The loss of a family shop leads a young British Caribbean girl to consider her identity and sense of home.
Director|Screenwriter: Reneque Samuels
Run Time: 10min
- Friday 06 October 2023 18:00 BFI Southbank, NFT2 – BOOK HERE
I Am More Dangerous Dead
This stirring documentary sees Ogoniland activist and writer Ken Saro-Wiwa takes on Shell and the Nigerian government.
Director-Screenwriter: Majiye Uchibeke
Run Time: 24min
- Monday 09 October 2023 16:15 – ICA, Screen 1 – BOOK HERE
Essex Girls
A teenage girl navigates friendship groups, social awkwardness and boys in this sharp coming-of-age drama.
Director: Yero Timi-Biu
Screenwriter: Busayo Ige
Run Time: 15min
- Saturday 14 October 2023 12:50 – BFI Southbank, NFT1 – BOOK HERE
Area Boy
Eli, a young teenager torn between two worlds, tries to balance fitting in with finding his true identity after he moves to a provincial town.
Director-Screenwriter: Iggy London
Run Time: 19min
- Wednesday 04 October 2023 18:15 – Prince Charles Cinema, Downstairs Screen – BOOK HERE
Family
Films for the young … and young at heart.
The Sacred Cave
When the King of Mabuna is poisoned, his nephew and son journey to a sacred cave where they believe a remedy can be found. While travelling, they encounter sorcerers, an attack by panther men and a bewitched toad princess.
Directors: Daniel Minlo | Cyrille Masso
Screenwriter: Seraphin Kakouang
Cast: Gerard Essomba Many | Jean Bediebe | Bertrand Baleguel
Language: French with English subtitles
- Sunday 15 October 2023 14:50 – BFI Southbank, NFT2 – BOOK HERE
Treasures
Pressure
Britain’s first Black feature, now restored by the BFI National Archive, is a groundbreaking depiction of second-generation experience in 1970s London. Follows Tony, the son of Trinidadian parents, as he leaves school and faces the prejudice of British institutions, reluctantly being drawn into Black power politics. Ové pulls no punches – his semi-documentary style and stark location shooting conveying the bleakness of West London during a period of economic hardship.
Director|Screenwriter: Horace Ové
Starring: Herbert Norville | Oscar James | Frank Singuineau
- Wednesday 11 October 2023 18:10 – BFI Southbank, NFT3
- Thursday 12 October 2023 20:30 – BFI Southbank, NFT2
The BFI London Film Festival Runs 4th-15th October.