The BFI London Film Festival (LFF) unveiled an extended record of additives to its seventieth version on Wednesday, together with the likes of xxx.
The newly unveiled films carry the entire lineup of the LFF 2026 version to 251 titles, comprised of options, shorts, collection and immersive works, from 88 nations. This yr’s pageant runs Oct. 7-18.
At LFF 2026, a complete of 109 works are made by feminine filmmakers, making up 43 p.c of this system. All options and collection will display screen to U.Okay. audiences for the primary time, with the lineup together with 33 world premieres (9 options, two collection, two mid-length movies, 19 shorts, one immersive mission), 16 international premieres (9 options, seven shorts) and 20 European premieres (13 options, seven shorts).
“When this festival first sprang to life 70 years ago, little more than a decade after the end of the Second World War, British society was in a period of rapid social change,” mentioned Kristy Matheson, the Australian in command of programming in her position as artistic director, BFI Festivals. “Then, like now, we turn to artists to synthesize our times. And what a vision they have for us in 2026; tumults of the era live inside our program, but so too do cinematic thrills, moral conundrums and a reoccurring exploration of care and community.”
The LFF beforehand unveiled its 10 competition films for 2026, in addition to Simon Stone’s Elsinore, starring Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman, as its opening film and Jesse Eisenberg‘s The Debut as its closing film.
On Wednesday, organizers highlighted that world premieres at London 2026 embrace Brad Bird’s animated caper Ray Gunn, which makes its world Netflix debut on the streamer in December, Anthony Wonke’s British boxing biopic In the Shadows, Laika’s new animation movie Wildwood from Travis Knight, Carol Morley’s beforehand introduced semi-autobiographical adaptation 7 Miles Out, adaptation of the West End hit Frank and Percy from Sean Mathias, Federico Borgia’s Prince, “hilarious cinematic autofiction The Banning Curse from Mohsen Amiryousefi,” The Whisper of Sunlight from documentarian Siu-pong Wong, Ken Fero and Tariq Mehmood’s Rebellion, a documentary in regards to the Bradford 12, Michael Winterbottom’s collection The Trip to the Northern Lights with Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan, and comic Leo Reich’s new collection It Gets Worse. Another world debut is a brand new immersive expertise from CrossLucid and Orion Facey referred to as Red the Ocean Around U.
International premieres touted by the LFF embrace “Boots Riley’s anti-capitalist vision I Love Boosters, this year’s Patron’s Gala the stylishly crafted portrait of a classical musician Behemoth! from Tony Gilroy, Giovanni Tortorici’s vibrant coming-of-age story Ketticè, Hyun Lee’s fashionably hip and charming debut French Girls, the awe-inspiring documentary Carl Sagan: We Are Made of Star Stuff from Nanette Burstein, Alejandra Pérez González’ glorious Mexican animation My Friend the Sun, heartfelt hybrid documentary about filmmaker Ashley Duong’s father Ba’s Book, Jessica Johnson and Ryan Ermacora’s richly cinematic 35mm documentary Concrete Turned to Sand and allegorical sci-fi fable Tropical Fractals from Leonardo Pirondi.”
Galas, going down on the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London, embrace Siân Heder’s Being Heumann, Cannes Palme d’Or winner Fjord by Cristian Mungiu, such Cannes favorites as Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Minotaur, Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beloved, Paweł Pawlikowski’s Fatherland, Jordan Firstman’s Club Kid, in addition to Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo’s La Bola Negra, Florian Zeller’s Bunker, in addition to Luca Guadagnino‘s Artificial.
This yr’s Mayor’s Gala is Danny Boyle’s Ink about Rupert Murdoch’s Fleet Street profession, whereas Taika Waititi’s Klara and the Sun, Andrew Haigh’s A Long Winter, James Gray’s Paper Tiger, Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love, Susanna White’s Prima Facie, and Mike Leigh’s Tender Loving Care additionally get the gala remedy. Rounding out the LFF 2026 gala screenings are Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine and Bassam Tariq’s Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.
Among filmmakers returning to LFF for this yr’s seventieth version are the likes of Pawlikowski, McDonagh, Waititi, Zvyagintsev, Mungiu, Lee, Boyle, Haigh, Leigh, Florian Zeller and Ava DuVernay.
Highlighted LFF organizers: “The festival is also delighted to introduce audiences to an incredible new generation of filmmakers from the U.K. and across the globe with debut feature directors in LFF 2025 including Jordan Firstman, Harvey Zielinski, Manon Coubia, Sompot Chidgasornpongse, Ashley Walters, Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, Aung Phyoe, Anna Foglietta, Shalini Adnani, Rachel Rose, Grace Harper Brighouse, David Greaves, Erik Shirai, Theo Rollason, Ankur Hooda, Asmahan Bkerat, Ian de la Rosa, Bernard Auguste Kouemo Yanghu, Kim Bartley, John Wilson, Dario Russo, Sarah Arnold, Ramzi Bashour, Rafael Manuel, Nolitha Refilwe Mkulisi, Jack Auen, Kevin Walker, Hyun Lee, Zhong Kaifeng, Hoda Taheri, Boris Hadžija, Abinash Bikram Shah, Rami Kodeih, Maryam Ataei, Andrea Pallaoro, Mokya Shin, Marine Atlan, Zou Jing, Fernanda Salgado, Paula Delsol, Adam Bonke and Louise Bagnall.”
The full program for LFF 2026 is available online here. Check out highlights for beneath.
FIRST FEATURE COMPETITION – SUTHERLAND AWARD
Infused with mild humor and profound humanity, Sompot Chidgasornpongse’s fiction debut 9 Temples to Heaven presents a serene passage by way of household, religion and the cycles of life.
Ashley Walters’ directorial debut, Animol, set in a younger offenders institute, is a strikingly shot and sensitively made depiction of survival, shock connections and redemption.
Cannes Camera d’Or winner Ben’Imana, directed by Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo, unfolds within the shadow of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, exploring its legacy and the opportunity of forgiveness.
Generations of ladies share totally different views as they confront their trauma collectively, in an intimate and considerate movie about resilience, sisterhood and communal therapeutic, Anna Foglietta’s fantastically noticed and impressively directed function debut, A Common Story particulars the fractures that seem in a pair’s seemingly blissful marriage.
In Manon Coubia’s visually arresting movie Forest High, solo caretakers preserve the fires burning in a distant Alpine chalet the place weary hikers discover modest lodgings.
Writer-director Aung Phyoe’s enthralling, visually placing drama Fruit Gathering charts a homoerotic friendship between two younger Burmese girls.
In a bustling Lagos, Olive Nwosu’s Lady follows a solitary feminine taxi driver who finds group amongst a gaggle of intercourse staff as she transports them across the metropolis.
Acclaimed visible artist Rachel Rose offers Mrs Dalloway a recent makeover in her arresting temper piece, with The Last Day, starring Alicia Vikander and Victoria Pedretti.
Bertil Nilsson’s distinctive debut Masc follows Robin as he strikes by way of momentary jobs and tentative relationships searching for a spot to belong.
Shalini Adnani’s poignant coming-of-age drama Our Share of Sand presents a novel perspective on India’s gaping class inequality, baby labor and the deep corruption underpinning a household’s financial standing.
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION – GRIERSON AWARD
Ashley Duong’s heartfelt hybrid Ba’s Book made in response to her father’s memoir, which recounts his experiences of the Vietnam War and Iranian Revolution.
The Calf Doll marks the arrival of a particular new voice in India’s sluggish cinema motion. Ankur Hooda’s movie explores the erosion of farming as a lifestyle, and the impression of mass city migration on villages and people left behind. A para-fiction that includes Hooda’s grandparents, who play improvised variations of themselves, the movie observes Haryana’s fogcloaked landscapes and its individuals with a eager, nearly anthropological eye. Asmahan Bkerat’s function directorial debut CONCRETE LAND is an intimate, multi-generational portrait of a mixed-raced household preventing displacement and hostility in Jordan. A Bedouin household navigates the on a regular basis indignities of being poor, Black and Palestinian. As they journey by way of Jordan, compelled from place to put, they expertise the heartbreak of displacement alongside fellow Palestinians in Gaza. This quietly highly effective exploration of familial bonds throughout generations is a narrative of discovering hope and the significance of a house.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
Ten years after her Emmy Award-winning thirteenth, this yr’s Documentary Special Presentation sees Ava DuVernay return to the U.S. Constitution with 14th, a probing take a look at the thorny historical past of the 14th modification.
Long overshadowed inside Powell and Pressburger’s canon, the main new restoration of Gone to Earth is that this yr’s Archive Special Presentation, revealing the visible splendour and dramatic depth of considered one of their most misunderstood movies.
Following a screening of her brief movie Ghazal-e Sorkh, on this yr’s Experimenta Special Presentation Shab Nameh: Women of Iran’s Forgotten Left, Jarman Award-winning artist Maryam Tafakory will current a stay movie efficiency, which explores erased histories of ladies’s political resistance in Iran.
In writer-director-actor Harvey Zielinski’s coming-of-age drama Sweet Milk Lake, a younger trans man’s homecoming leads to sudden penalties when he’s mistaken for his cisgender twin brother.
Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan are again on the street for the Series Special Presentation in Trip to the Northern Lights, sharing scrumptious meals, hilarious banter and movie star impressions as they journey by way of northern Europe. Reunited with director Michael Winterbottom for the fifth insta.lment of this award-winning collection, which artfully blends scripted and improvisational comedy, it’s inconceivable to not be charmed by Brydon and Coogan’s beloved odd couple.
This yr’s Immersive Special Presentation, Water Body, is an audiovisual expertise exploring water because the connective tissue of life on our planet.