The 66th BFI London Film Festival (LFF) in partnership with American Express will be presented in cinemas and online, across the UK.
Over twelve days from 5 – 16 October, the LFF will return to its fantastic flagship venues in the heart of London –
BFI Southbank and the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, which between them host Galas, Special Presentations and Official Competition. Films and series from all strands of the Festival screen in many of central London’s iconic cinemas with a curated selection of features showcased at 10 partner venues across the UK.
The full programme features films, series and immersive artworks from over 63 countries with 41% of the programme made by female and non-binary directors/creators or co-directors/creators and 34% made by ethnically diverse directors/creators.
However! 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 …
HERE ARE OUR FEATURE FILM AND DOCUMENTARY RECOMMENDATIONS …
Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical (OPENING NIGHT GALA)
Starring: Lashana Lynch (Miss Honey) | Lauren Alexander (The Actress) | Carl Spencer (Magnus the Escapologist)
Emma Thompson leads a dazzling ensemble in this rousing big screen adaptation of the smash-hit, Olivier-winning stage musical.
- Wednesday 05 October 2022 18:45 – Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
- Tuesday 13 September 2022 10:00 – Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
- Thursday 06 October 2022 11:45 – Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (CLOSING NIGHT GALA)
Starring: Janelle Monae (Cassandra Brand) | Leslie Odom (Lional Toussaint)
More an equal than a sequel, Rian Johnson reunites with Daniel Craig (who reunites with that accent) for a new Knives Out, which will delight fans and newcomers alike.
- Sunday 16 October 2022 18:45 – Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
Sunday 16 October 2022 20:10 – Prince Charles Cinema, Downstairs Screen - Sunday 16 October 2022 20:15 – Curzon Mayfair, Screen 1
- Sunday 16 October 2022 20:25 – BFI Southbank, NFT1
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Empire of Light (AMERICAN EXPRESS GALA)
Starring: Micheal Ward (Stephen) | Tanya Moodie (Delia) | Crystal Clarke (Ruby)
Set in an English seaside town in the early 1980s, Empire of Light is a powerful and poignant story about human connection and the magic of cinema. From Academy Award®-winning director Sam Mendes.
- Wednesday 12 October 2022 18:00 – Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
- Thursday 13 October 2022 11:45 – Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
- Thursday 13 October 2022 20:45 – ODEON Luxe West End, Screen 1
- Thursday 13 October 2022 21:00 – ODEON Luxe West End, Screen 2
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Till (The Mayor of London’s Gala)
Till is a profoundly emotional and cinematic film about the true story of Mamie Till Mobley’s relentless pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, who, in 1955, was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi. In Mamie’s poignant journey of grief turned to action, we see the universal power of a mother’s ability to change the world.
Director: Chinonye Chukwu
Co-written by: Chinonye Chukwu
Starring: Tosin Cole (Medgar Evers) | Whoopi Goldberg (Alma Carthan) | Danielle Deadwyler (Mamie Till-Mobley) | Frankie Faison (John Carthan)
- Saturday 15 October 2022 17:30 – Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
- Sunday 16 October 2022 14:45 – BFI Southbank, NFT1
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Causeway
A US soldier suffers a traumatic brain injury while fighting in Afghanistan and struggles to adjust to life back home.
Starring: Brian Tyree Henry (James)
- Saturday 08 October 2022 18:10 – BFI Southbank, NFT1
- Monday 10 October 2022 11:00 – Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
- Saturday 15 October 2022 12:30 – Prince Charles Cinema, Downstairs Screen
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Nanny
A mesmerising and captivating debut feature from Nikyatu Jusu. Immigrant nanny Aisha, piecing together a new life in New York City while caring for the child of an Upper East Side family, is forced to confront a concealed truth that threatens to shatter her precarious American Dream.
Director: Nikyatu Jusu
Writer: Nikyatu Jusu
Starring: Anna Diop (Aisha) | Sinqua Walls (Malik) | Leslie Uggams (Kathleen)
- Friday 07 October 2022 21:00 – Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
- Saturday 08 October 2022 12:50 – BFI Southbank, NFT2
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
The Inspection
A young, gay Black man, rejected by his mother and with few options for his future, decides to join the Marines, doing whatever it takes to succeed in a system that would cast him aside.
Director/Writer: Elegance Bratton
Starring: Gabrielle Union (Inez French) | Bokeem Woodbine (Laws)
- Sunday 16 October 2022 14:45 – Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
- Sunday 16 October 2022 20:35 – BFI Southbank, NFT3
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Brother
A Canadian drama film adapted from David Chariandy’s award-winning novel Brother. The film centres on the relationship between Francis and Michael, two Black Canadian brothers growing up in the Scarborough district of Toronto, Ontario in the early 1990s.
Director / Writer: Clement Virgo
Starring: Aaron Pierre (Francis) | Lamar Johnson (Michael) | Marsha Stephanie Blake (Ruth)
- Sunday 09 October 2022 12:45 – BFI Southbank, NFT2
- Wednesday 12 October 2022 17:50 – BFI Southbank, NFT1
- Thursday 13 October 2022 20:30 – BFI Southbank, NFT2
- Sunday 16 October 2022 20:40 – BFI Southbank, Studio
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Saint Omer
Follows Rama, a novelist who attends the trial of Laurence Coly at the Saint-Omer Criminal Court to use her story to write a modern-day adaptation of the ancient myth of Medea, but things don’t go as expected.
Director / Co-Writer: Anna Diop
- Monday 10 October 2022 20:35 – BFI Southbank, NFT1
- Tuesday 11 October 2022 15:10 – BFI Southbank, NFT1
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Kanaval: A People’s History of Haiti in Six Chapters (DOCUMENTARY)
Haitian history is presented through an explosion of colour, dance and music, as the country prepares for its legendary carnival.
Co-director: Eddie Hutton Mills
- Thursday 06 October 2022 18:30 – ICA, Screen 1
- Friday 07 October 2022 16:00 – BFI Southbank, NFT3
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Our Lady of the Chinese Shop
When a Chinese merchant brings to a neighbourhood of Luanda a peculiar holy plastic figure of Our Lady, a mourning mother will seek peace, a committed barber starts a new cult and a stray kid will look for revenge for his lost friend.
Director / Writer: Ery Claver
- Wednesday 12 October 2022 20:40 – BFI Southbank, NFT3
- Thursday 13 October 2022 15:45 – ICA, Screen 1
- Sunday 16 October 2022 15:30 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 3
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Medusa Deluxe
A murder mystery set in a competitive hairdressing competition. Extravagance and excess collide, as the death of one of their own sows seeds of division in a community whose passion for hair verges on obsession.
- Friday 07 October 2022 21:00 – BFI Southbank, NFT1
- Saturday 08 October 2022 15:30 – Prince Charles Cinema, Downstairs Screen
- Saturday 15 October 2022 14:50 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 1
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Pretty Red Dress (BRITISH)
One dress changes everything for a family in Dionne Edwards’ spirited debut, which investigates Black masculinity and family structures.
Director / Writer: Dionne Edwards
Starring: Alexandra Burke | Natey Jones | Temilola Olatunbosun
- Sunday 09 October 2022 20:45 – BFI Southbank, NFT1
- Thursday 13 October 2022 12:15 – BFI Southbank, NFT1
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Tori and Lokita
In Belgium today, a young boy and an adolescent girl who have travelled alone from Africa pit their invincible friendship against the cruel conditions of their exile.
- Monday 10 October 2022 21:10 – Curzon Mayfair, Screen 1
- Wednesday 12 October 2022 18:00 – ODEON Luxe West End, Screen 1
- Wednesday 12 October 2022 18:15 – ODEON Luxe West End, Screen 2
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Bobi Wine: Ghetto President (DOCUMENTARY)
This passionate and revealing documentary about the Ugandan musician, actor, activist and presidential hopeful is also a portrait of a country edging towards a significant turning point.
Co-director: Moses Bwayo
- Saturday 08 October 2022 15:10 – Curzon Mayfair, Screen 1
- Sunday 09 October 2022 20:15 – BFI Southbank, NFT2
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Chee$e
A vibrant, rollicking, rags-to-riches tale follows the antics of a young Trinidadian cheesemaker-turned-drug dealer.
Director / Writer: Damian Marcano
- Wednesday 05 October 2022 20:40 – Prince Charles Cinema, Downstairs Screen
- Saturday 08 October 2022 12:30 – Curzon Mayfair, Screen 1
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Xalé
A powerful film, which unfolds across two time frames, details the fallout of a devastating incident, sensitively conveying the pain and guilt that can fester within us.
Director: Moussa Sene Absa
Co-Writers: Ben Diogaye Beye | Moussa Sene Absa
- Thursday 06 October 2022 18:10 – BFI Southbank, NFT3
- Thursday 06 October 2022 18:25 – BFI Southbank, NFT2
- Friday 07 October 2022 20:45 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 2
- Friday 07 October 2022 21:00 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 3
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
After Sherman (DOCUMENTARY)
A story of inheritance and the tension that defines our collective American history which explores coastal South Carolina as a site of pride and racial trauma through Gullah cultural retention and land preservation.
Director: Jon Sesrie Goff
- Monday 10 October 2022 18:15 – ICA, Screen 1
- Tuesday 11 October 2022 13:45 – BFI Southbank, NFT2
- Stream in the UK on BFI Player – from 14 to 23 October
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Aisha (BRITISH)
While caught for years in Ireland’s immigration system Aisha Osagie develops a close friendship with former prisoner Conor Healy. This friendship soon looks to be short-lived as Aisha’s future in Ireland comes under threat.
Starring: Letitia Wright
- Thursday 06 October 2022 18:15 – Curzon Mayfair, Screen 1
- Saturday 08 October 2022 12:00 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 1
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Know Your Place
Amidst the landscape of a transforming city, a young Eritrean-American boy confronts the realities of change and loss.
Director: Zia Mohajerjasbi
- Thursday 13 October 2022 20:30 – ICA, Screen 1
- Friday 14 October 2022 20:30 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 2
- Friday 14 October 2022 20:45 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 3
- Stream in the UK on BFI Player – Available to watch from 14 to 23 October
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Shabu (DOCUMENTARY)
Meet Shabu, a 14-year-old Dutch-Surinamese wannabe rapper who you’re sure to never forget, in Shamira Raphaëla’s hilarious and heartwarming documentary.
- Sunday 09 October 2022 17:45 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 2
- Sunday 09 October 2022 18:00 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 3
- Monday 10 October 2022 16:15 – ICA, Screen 1
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Summer of Hope
A prestigious competition sets the stage for a conspiracy of collusion between two young swimmers, family members, and their communities.
- Tuesday 11 October 2022 20:30 – BFI Southbank, NFT2
- Thursday 13 October 2022 15:20 – BFI Southbank, NFT3
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Super Eagles ‘96 (DOCUMENTARY)
An engrossing history of the Nigerian national football team and its importance upon the country’s political and cultural landscape.
Director: Yemi Bamiro
- Thursday 13 October 2022 20:30 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 1
- Saturday 15 October 2022 12:30 – ODEON Luxe West End, Screen 1
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
The African Desperate
The first 24 hours as an MFA. Palace (Diamond Stingily) is a tall black Aquarius and a sculptor on the up. She was in the Venice Biennale, among other shows, which pisses people off; they think her success is not because of her art, but other attributes. She is exhausted, frustrated, and wants to go home to see her family.
Director / Co-Writer: Martine Syms
- Tuesday 11 October 2022 18:15 – Prince Charles Cinema, Downstairs Screen
- Wednesday 12 October 2022 18:00 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 2
- Wednesday 12 October 2022 18:15 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 3
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande (Documentary)
A riveting documentary about the British Black super group that never made it, but whose music you will definitely have heard.
- Thursday 13 October 2022 18:15 – ICA, Screen 1
- Sunday 16 October 2022 12:45 – BFI Southbank, NFT2
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
God Said Give ‘Em Drum Machines (DOCUMENTARY)
Revisit the African-American origins of techno music in Kristian R Hill’s fascinating, hugely enjoyable and often surprising journey through the musical genre.
Director: Kristian R. Hill
- Thursday 06 October 2022 20:30 – ICA, Screen 1
- Saturday 08 October 2022 12:15 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 2
- Saturday 08 October 2022 12:30 – Curzon Soho Cinema, Screen 3
- Stream in the UK on BFI Player – Available to watch from 14 to 23 October
Tickets on sale Tuesday 13 September 2022 @ 10:00 – BOOK HERE
The BFI Film Festival runs from 5th-16th October 2022
You can find the link to the full LFF programme here.