FULL PROGRAMME AVAILABLE AT https://www.bfi.org.uk/lff
London Film Festival Lineup: Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Kitty Green & Christos Nikou To Play In Competition
HEADLINE GALAS
Opening Night Gala – SALTBURN (UK, dir.-scr. Emerald Fennell)
Closing Night Gala – THE KITCHEN (UK, dir. Kibwe Tavares, Daniel Kaluuya)
American Express Gala – ONE LIFE (UK, dir. James Hawes)
ALL OF US STRANGERS (UK, dir.-scr. Andrew Haigh)
THE BIKERIDERS (USA, dir. Jeff Nichols)
THE BOOK OF CLARENCE (USA, dir.-scr. Jeymes Samuel)
The Mayor of London’s Gala – CHICKEN RUN: DAWN OF THE NUGGET (UK, dir. Sam Fell)
Cunard Gala – THE HOLDOVERS (USA, dir. Alexander Payne)
THE KILLER (USA, dir. David Fincher)
KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON (USA, dir. Martin Scorsese)
MAESTRO (USA, dir. Bradley Cooper)
MAY DECEMBER (USA, dir. Todd Haynes)
NYAD (USA, dir. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin)
POOR THINGS (UK, dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
THE BOY AND THE HERON (Japan, dir. Hayao Miyazaki)
COBWEB (South Korea, dir. Kim Jee-woon)
BFI Patron’s Special Presentation – THE END WE START FROM (UK, dir. Mahalia Belo)
FALLEN LEAVES (Finland, dir.-scr. Aki Kaurismäki)
FOE (Australia, dir. Garth Davis)
Series Special Presentation – GRIME KIDS (UK, dir. Abdou Cisse)
HIT MAN (USA, dir. Richard Linklater)
BFI Flare Special Presentation – HOUSEKEEPING FOR BEGINNERS (North Macedonia-Poland-Croatia-Serbia-Kosovo, dir.-scr. Goran Stolevski)
LES INDÉSIRABLES (France-Belgium, dir. Ladj Ly)
MEMORY (Mexico-USA-Chile, dir.-scr. Michel Franco)
OCCUPIED CITY (UK-Netherlands, dir. Steve McQueen)
PRISCILLA (USA-Italy, dir.-scr. Sofia Coppola)
THE ZONE OF INTEREST (USA-UK-Poland, dir.-scr. Jonathan Glazer)
THE 67th BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FILMS SELECTED TO SCREEN IN COMPETITION
11 films which showcase inspiring, inventive and distinctive international filmmaking screen in Official Competition, competing for the Best Film Award
11 films screen in the First Feature Competition, which recognises the most original and imaginative directorial debut, competing for the Sutherland Award
8 films screen in the Documentary Competition, competing for the Grierson Award
10 films screen in the Short Film Competition, competing for the Short Film Award
Winners will be chosen by LFF Awards Juries and revealed on 15 October
Also returning will be the popular LFF Audience Awards
International premiere of Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn will open LFF 2023
World premiere of Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya’s The Kitchen is this year’s Closing Night Gala
OFFICIAL COMPETITION
BALTIMORE (Ireland-UK, dir-scr. Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor)
DEAR JASSI (India, dir. Tarsem Singh Dhandwar)
EUROPA (Austria-UK, dir-scr. Sudabeh Mortezai)
EVIL DOES NOT EXIST (Japan, dir-scr. Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
FINGERNAILS (USA, dir-scr. Christos Nikou)
GASOLINE RAINBOW (USA, dir-scr. Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross)
I AM SIRAT (India, dir. A collaboration between Deepa Mehta and Sirat Taneja)
THE ROYAL HOTEL (Australia, dir-scr. Kitty Green)
SELF PORTRAIT: 47 KM 2020 (China, dir. Zhang Mengqi)
STARVE ACRE (UK, dir-scr. Daniel Kokotajlo)
TOGETHER 99 (Sweden-Denmark, dir-scr. Lukas Moodysson)
FIRST FEATURE COMPETITION
BLACK DOG (UK, dir-scr. George Jaques)
EARTH MAMA (USA, dir-scr. Savanah Leaf)
HOARD (UK, dir-scr. Luna Carmoon)
IN CAMERA (UK, dir-scr. Naqqash Khalid)
MAMBAR PIERRETTE (Belgium-Cameroon, dir-scr. Rosine Mbakam)
PARADISE IS BURNING (Sweden-Italy-Denmark-Finland, dir-scr. Mika Gustafson)
PENAL CORDILLERA (Chile-Brazil, dir-scr. Felipe Carmona)
THE QUEEN OF MY DREAMS (Canada, dir-scr. Fawzia Mirza)
SKY PEALS (UK, dir-scr. Moin Hussain)
TIGER STRIPES (Malaysia-Taiwan-Singapore-FranceGermany-Netherlands-Indonesia-Qatar, dir-scr. Amanda Nell Eu)
TUESDAY (UK-USA, dir-scr. Daina O. Pusic)
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
BYE BYE TIBERIAS (France-Palestine-Belgium-Qatar, dir-scr. Lina Soualem)
CELLULOID UNDERGROUND (UK-Iran, dir. Ehsan Khoshbakht)
CHASING CHASING AMY (USA, dir. Sav Rodgers)
A COMMON SEQUENCE (USA-Mexico, dir. Mary Helena Clark, Mike Gibisser)
DANCING ON THE EDGE OF A VOLCANO (Germany-Lebanon, dir-scr. Cyril Aris)
THE KLEZMER PROJECT (Austria-Argentina, dir-scr. Leandro Koch, Paloma Schachmann)
QUEENDOM (France-USA, dir. Agniia Galdanova)
THE TASTE OF MANGO (UK-USA, dir. Chloe Abrahams)
SHORT FILM COMPETITION
THE ARCHIVE: QUEER NIGERIANS (UK, dir. Simisolaoluwa Akande)
AREA BOY (UK, dir. Iggy London)
BOAT PEOPLE (Canada, dir. Thao Lam, Kjell Boersma)
ESSEX GIRLS (UK, dir. Yero Timi-Biu)
THE GOOSE’S EXCUSE (Egypt-UK, dir. Mahdy Abo Bahat, Abdo Zin Eldin)
KHABUR (Germany-Iran, dir. Nafis Fathollahzadeh)
ONSET (UK-Poland, dir. Anna Engelhardt, Mark Cinkevich)
THE SINGER (UK, dir. Cora Bissett)
THE WALK (UK, dir. Michael Jobling)
WELLS OF DESPAIR (Netherlands, dir. sata taas)
LOVE
20,000 SPECIES OF BEES (Spain, dir.-scr. Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren)
ÀMA GLORIA (France, dir.-scr. Marie Amachoukeli)
BANEL & ADAMA (France-Senegal-Mali, dir.-scr. Ramata-Toulaye Sy)
BLACKBIRD BLACKBIRD BLACKBERRY (Switzerland-Germany-Georgia, dir. Elene Naveriani)
THE ETERNAL MEMORY (Chile, dir. Maite Alberdi)
FANCY DANCE (USA, dir. Erica Tremblay)
GIRL (UK, dir.-scr. Adura Onashile)
GOODBYE JULIA (Sudan-Egypt-Germany-France-Saudi Arabia-Sweden, dir.-scr. Mohamed Kordofani)
MONSTER (Japan, dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda)
OUR BODY (France, dir. Claire Simon)
PERFECT DAYS (Japan, dir. Wim Wenders)
ROBOT DREAMS (Spain-France, dir.-scr. Pablo Berger)
SILVER HAZE (Netherlands-UK, dir.-scr. Sacha Polak)
SLOW (Lithuania-Spain-Sweden, dir.-scr. Marija Kavtaradze)
TÓTEM (Mexico-Denmark-France, dir. Lila Avilés)
UNICORNS (UK, dirs. Sally El Hosaini, James Krishna Floyd)
DEBATE
ALLENSWORTH (USA, dir. James Benning)
FIRE THROUGH DRY GRASS (USA, dir. Alexis Neophytides, Andres ‘Jay’ Molina)
FOUR DAUGHTERS (France-Tunisia-Germany-Saudi Arabia, dir.-scr. Kaouther Ben Hania)
THE GOLDMAN CASE (France, dir. Cédric Kahn)
HIGH & LOW – JOHN GALLIANO (France-USA-UK, dir.-scr. Kevin Macdonald)
KIDNAPPED (Italy-France-Germany, dir. Marco Bellocchio)
THE MISSION (USA, dir. Jesse Moss, Amanda McBaine)
ON THE ADAMANT (France-Japan, dir. Nicolas Philibert)
THE PIGEON TUNNEL (UK, dir. Errol Morris)
THE RYE HORN (Spain-Portugal-Belgium, dir.-scr. Jaione Camborda)
SHOSHANA (UK-Italy, dir. Michael Winterbottom)
WILDING (UK, dir. David Allen)
YOUTH (SPRING) (France-Luxembourg-Netherlands, dir. Wang Bing)
LAUGH
ASOG (Philippines-Canada, dir. Seán Devlin)
BONUS TRACK (UK, dir. Julia Jackman)
THE BOOK OF SOLUTIONS (France, dir.-scr. Michel Gondry)
DAAAAAALI! (France, dir.-scr. Quentin Dupieux)
THE HYPNOSIS (Sweden-Norway-France, dir. Ernst De Geer)
MOLLI AND MAX IN THE FUTURE (USA, dir.-scr. Michael Lukk Litwak)
THE NATURE OF LOVE (Canada-France, dir.-scr. Monia Chokri)
THE PRACTICE (Argentina-Chile-Portugal, dir. Martín Rejtman)
POOLMAN (USA, dir. Chris Pine)
SHORTCOMINGS (USA, dir. Randall Park)
TERRESTRIAL VERSES (Iran, dir.-scr. Ali Asgari, Alireza Khatami)
DARE
ANIMALIA (France-Morocco-Qatar, dir.-scr. Sofia Alaoui)
BEHIND THE MOUNTAINS (Tunisia-France-Belgium-Italy-Saudi Arabia-Qatar, dir.-scr. Mohamed Ben Attia)
DO NOT EXPECT TOO MUCH FROM THE END OF THE WORLD (Romania-Luxembourg-France-Croatia, dir.-scr. Radu Jude)
EILEEN (USA, dir. William Oldroyd)
FOREMOST BY NIGHT (Spain-Portugal-France, dir. Víctor Iriarte)
INSIDE THE YELLOW COCOON SHELL (Vietnam-Singapore-France-Spain, dir.-scr. Thien An Pham)
LAST SUMMER (France, dir. Catherine Breillat)
LITTLE GIRL BLUE (France-Belgium, dir.-scr. Mona Achache)
MUSIC (Germany-France-Serbia, dir.-scr. Angela Schanelec)
OMEN (Belgium-Netherlands-Democratic Republic of Congo-France-South Africa, dir.-scr. Baloji)
THE PEASANTS (Poland-Serbia-Lithuania, dir.-scr. DK Welchman, Hugh Welchman)
POWER ALLEY (Brazil-France-Uruguay, dir. Lillah Halla)
A PRINCE (France, dir. Pierre Creton)
RED ISLAND (France-Belgium-Madagascar, dir. Robin Campillo)
SAMSARA (Spain, dir. Lois Patiño)
THRILL
THE ANIMAL KINGDOM (France, dir. Thomas Cailley)
THE BUCKINGHAM MURDERS (India-UK, dir. Hansal Mehta)
COPA ’71 (UK, dir. Rachel Ramsay, James Erskine)
CULPRITS (UK, dir-scr. J Blakeson)
GASSED UP (UK, dir. George Amponsah)
LOST IN THE NIGHT (Mexico-Germany-Netherlands, dir. Amat Escalante)
LUBO (Italy-Switzerland, dir. Giorgio Diritti)
ONLY THE RIVER FLOWS (China, dir. Shujun Wei)
SHAME ON DRY LAND (Sweden-Malta, dir.-scr. Axel Petersén)
STOLEN (India, dir. Karan Tejpal)
UNMOORED (UK-Poland-Sweden, dir. Caroline Ingvarsson)
CULT
THE BEAST (France-Canada, dir.-scr. Bertrand Bonello)
BIRTH/REBIRTH (USA, dir. Laura Moss)
LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL (Australia, dir.-scr. Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes)
NIGHTWATCH – DEMONS ARE FOREVER (Denmark, dir.-scr. Ole Bornedal)
RED ROOMS (Canada, dir.-scr. Pascal Plante)
SCALA!!! (UK, dir.-scr. Jane Giles, Ali Catterall)
STOPMOTION (UK, dir. Robert Morgan)
VINCENT MUST DIE (France-Belgium, dir. Stéphan Castang)
JOURNEY
ALL DIRT ROADS TASTE OF SALT (USA, dir.-scr. Raven Jackson)
THE BRIDE (Rwanda, dir.-scr. Myriam U. Birara)
THE DELINQUENTS (Argentina, dir.-scr. Rodrigo Moreno)
THE ECHO (Mexico-Germany, dir.-scr. Tatiana Huezo)
EXPATS (USA-Hong Kong, dir.-scr. Lulu Wang)
HAAR (UK, dir.-scr. Ben Hecking)
HOW TO HAVE SEX (UK-Greece, dir.-scr. Molly Manning Walker)
IF ONLY I COULD HIBERNATE (Mongolia-France-Switzerland-Qatar, dir.-scr. Zoljargal Purevdash)
INSHALLAH A BOY (Jordan-France-Saudi Arabia-Qatar-Egypt, dir. Amjad Al Rasheed)
THE LOST BOYS (Belgium-France, dir. Zeno Graton)
THE NEW BOY (Australia, dir.-scr. Warwick Thornton)
RAMONA (Dominican Republic-UK, dir. Victoria Linares Villegas)
THE SETTLERS (Chile-Argentina-France-Denmark-UK-Taiwan-Sweden-Germany, dir. Felipe Gálvez Haberle)
SHAYDA (Australia, dir.-scr. Noora Niasari)
THE SPECTRE OF BOKO HARAM (Cameroon-France, dir. Cyrielle Raingou)
THE SWEET EAST (USA, dir. Sean Price Williams)
THAT THEY MAY FACE THE RISING SUN (Ireland-UK, dir. Pat Collins)
CREATE
ANITA (USA, dir. Alexis Bloom, Svetlana Zill)
ANSELM (Germany, dir. Wim Wenders)
APOLONIA, APOLONIA (Denmark- Poland-France, dir. Lea Glob)
CLOSE YOUR EYES (Spain-Argentina dir. Víctor Erice)
THE DAUGHTERS OF FIRE (Portugal, dir. Pedro Costa)
CROMA KID (Dominican Republic, dir. Pablo Chea)
GOING TO MARS: THE NIKKI GIOVANNI PROJECT (USA, dir.-scr. Michèle Stephenson, Joe Brewster)
IN RESTLESS DREAMS: THE MUSIC OF PAUL SIMON (USA, dir. Alex Gibney)
MENU-PLAISIRS LES TROISGROS (USA, dir. Frederick Wiseman)
THE POT AU FEU (France, dir. -scr. Anh Hung Tran)
RYUICHI SAKAMOTO | OPUS (Japan, dir. Neo Sora)
SWAN SONG (Canada, dir. Chelsea McMullan)
THEY SHOT THE PIANO PLAYER (Spain-France-Netherlands, dir. Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal)
THIS IS GOING TO BE BIG (Australia, dir. Thomas Charles Hyland)
YOU CAN CALL ME BILL (USA, dir.-scr. Alexandre O. Philippe)
EXPERIMENTA
THE LOST ART OF THE FUTURE (Canada, dir.-scr. Theo Cuthand)
A RADICAL DUET (UK, dir. -scr. Onyeka Igwe)
SPEECH FOR A MELTING STATUE (Belgium-Democratic Republic of Congo, dir. Collectif Faire-part)
WELLS OF DESPAIR (Netherlands, dir.-scr. sata taas)
THE ARCHIVE: QUEER NIGERIANS (UK, dir. Simisolaoluwa Akande)
EVERYTHING WORTHWHILE IS DONE WITH OTHER PEOPLE (UK, dir.-scr. Rehana Zaman)
NIGHT FISHING WITH ANCESTORS (Australia, dir. Elizabeth Povinelli)
MINEVISSAM (I AM WRITING) (UK, dir.-scr. Niki Kohandel)
NOTES FROM GOG MAGOG (Indonesia, dir.-scr. Riar Rizaldi)
CODERS (Lithuania, dir.-scr. Anastasia Sosunova)
PLATFORM GHOSTS – TURKER, FARMER, BOT (India, dir. Aarti Sunder)
ONSET (UK-Poland, dir. Anna Engelhardt, Mark Cinkevich)
GUSH (USA, dir. Fox Maxy)
PACIFIC CLUB (France-Qatar, dir.-scr. Valentin Noujaïm)
IT CAN’T BE THAT NOTHING THAT CAN BE RETURNED (Ukraine. dir. Dana Kavelina)
TIMEKEEPERS OF THE ANTHROPOCENE (Mexico-USA, dir. Federico Cuatlacuatl)
TRISTXTOTL (UK, dir. M?d?lina Zaharia)
MANGOSTEEN (Thailand, dir. Tulapop Saenjaroen)
THE GOOSE’S EXCUSE (Egypt-UK, dir. Mahdy Abo Bahat, Abdo Zin Eldin)
ROOM IN A CROWD (Philippines, dir.-scr. John Torres)
TEMPO (Japan, dir. Yu Araki)
ALL THE DAYS OF MAY (Canada, dir.-scr. Miryam Charles)
WOOD FOR THE TREES (Germany, dir. Rob Crosse)
SUNFLOWER SIEGE ENGINE (USA, dir.-scr. Sky Hopinka)
A THROWING FORTH (USA-China, dir. Xiao Zhang)
LEVITATE (Italy-Spain-France, dir. Iván Argote)
DESERT DREAMING (Sri Lanka, dir.-scr. Abdul Halik Azeez)
KHABUR (Germany-Iran, dir. Nafis Fathollahzadeh)
SHORTS
PU EKAW TNOD (UK, dir. Rebecca Culverhouse)
STRANGERS (UK, dir.-scr. Rob Price)
DORIS (Ghana-USA, dir. Edem Dotse)
PREDATORS (UK, dir.-scr. Jack King)
THE TEST (USA, dir.-scr. Olivia Marie Valdez)
YUMMY MUMMY (UK, dir.-scr. Gabriela Staniszewska)
FOREIGNERS ONLY (Bangladesh-USA, dir. Nuhash Humayun)
THE GARDEN OF HEART (Hungary-Slovakia, dir.-scr. Olivér Hegyi)
TORN (Denmark-Sweden, dir. Jahfar Muataz)
SOUTH FACING (UK, dir.scr. Reneque Samuels)
HAFEKASI (Australia, dir.-scr. Annelise Hickey)
NOW AND THEN (UK, dir. Harris Alvi)
RIZOO (Iran-USA, dir. Azadeh Navai)
I AM MORE DANGEROUS DEAD (USA-Nigeria-UK, dir.-scr. Majiye Uchibeke)
BOAT PEOPLE (Canada, dir.-scr. Thao Lam, Kjell Boersma)
WAKING UP IN SILENCE (Ukraine-Germany, dir.-scr. Mila Zhluktenko, Daniel Asadi Faezi)
GRAVEYARD OF HORSES (China, dir. Xiao Xuan Jiang)
WILDMEN OF THE GREATER TORONTO AREA (Canada, dir.-scr. Solmund MacPherson)
THE WALK (UK, dir. Michael Jobling)
ESSEX GIRLS (UK, dir. Yero Timi-Biu)
ALL THE LIGHTS STILL BURNING (UK, dir. Dominic Leclerc)
THE SCOTTISH PLAY (UK, dir. James Soldan)
FESTIVAL OF SLAPS (UK, dir. Abdou Cissé)
ONLY YOURSELF TO BLAME (UK, dir. Noomi Yates)
SMOKING DOLPHINS (UK, dir. Sean Lyons)
THE SINGER (UK, dir. Cora Bissett)
BLOOD (UK-Australia, dir.-scr. Vathana Suganya Suppiah)
AREA BOY (UK, dir.-scr. Iggy London)
MOTHER OF MINE (UK, dir.-scr. Jesse Lewis Reece)
MAKING BABIES (Canada, dir.-scr. Eric K. Boulianne)
SOUND & COLOUR (Ireland, dir. Emma Foley)
GORKA (UK, dir.-scr. Joe Weiland)
LFF EXPANDED
COLORED (France-Taiwan, Lead Artists – Pierre-Alain Giraud, Stéphane Foenkinos, Tania de Montaigne)
CONSENSUS GENTIUM (UK-Australia-USA, Lead Artist – Karen Palmer)
FLOW (Netherlands-France, Lead Artist – Adriaan Lokman)
FORAGER (USA, Lead Artists – Winslow Porter, Elie Zananiri)
THE FURY (USA, Lead Artist – Shirin Neshat)
THE IMAGINARY FRIEND (Netherlands-Belgium, Lead Artist – Steye Hallema)
LETTERS FROM DRANCY (UK-USA, Lead Artist – Darren Emerson)
MURALS (Poland-Ukraine-USA, Lead Artists – Alex Topaller, Daniel Shapiro, Artem Ivaneko)
THINGS FALL APART: A MUSICAL INSTALLATION IN MIXED REALITY (Germany-Israel-India, Lead Artist – CyberRäuber)
HAUNTED HOTEL – A MELODRAMA IN AUGMENTED REALITY (Germany, Lead Artist – Guy Maddin)
FLEETING FIGURES (Sweden-UK, Lead Artists – Åsa Cederqvist, Lundahl & Setil, Untold Garden, Pastelae, Oscar Häggström, SONG)
GHOSTS OF SOLID AIR (UK, Lead Artist – Amy Rose)
MY TRIP 2023 (UK, Lead Artist – Bjarne Melgaard)
ELSEWHERE IN INDIA (India-UK-USA, Lead Artists – Murthovic, Thiruda)
FAMILY
DANCING QUEEN (Norway, dir. Aurora Gossé)
DEEP SEA (3D) (China, dir.-scr. Xiaopeng Tian)
KENSUKE’S KINGDOM (UK-Luxembourg-France, dir. Kirk Hendry, Neil Boyle)
THE SACRED CAVE (Cameroon-Burkina Faso-France, dir. Daniel Minlo)
ANIMATED SHORTS FOR YOUNGER AUDIENCES
POND (Switzerland, dir.-scr. Lena von Döhren, Eva Rust)
SWING TO THE MOON (France, dir. Marie Bordessoule, Adriana Bouissie, Nadine De Boer, Elisa Drique, Chloé Lauzu, Vincent Levrero, Solenne Moreau)
THE DAY I BECAME A BIRD (UK, dir. Andrew Ruhemann)
THE SWINEHERD (Denmark, dir. Magnus Igland Møller, Peter Smith)
ONCE UPON A STUDIO (USA, dir. Trent Correy, Dan Abraham)
AHRU (Argentina, dir. Leandro Martinez)
HOOBA (Netherlands, dir.-scr. Sem Assink)
UPSIDE DOWN (Latvia, dir.-scr. Dace R?d?ze)
TREASURES
THE BLACK PIRATE (USA, dir. Albert Parker)
THE DUPES (Syria, dir.-scr. Tewfik Saleh)
MACARIO (Mexico, dir. Roberto Gavaldón)
PEEPING TOM (UK, dir. Michael Powell)
PRESSURE (UK, dir.-scr. Horace Ové)
THE STRANGER AND THE FOG (Iran, dir.-scr. Bahram Beyzaie)
EXPANDED PROGRAMME OF IMMERSIVE ART AND EXTENDED REALITY WORKS
4 OCTOBER – 22 OCTOBER 2023
BRINGING TOGETHER 14 IMMERSIVE PROJECTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD, INCLUDING THREE WORLD PREMIERES, PRESENTED ACROSS MULTIPLE LONDON VENUES, INCLUDING BARGEHOUSE AT OXO TOWER WHARF, GALLERY@OXO, OUTERNET LONDON AND SCIENCE GALLERY LONDON
Featuring British and international artists, filmmakers and creative teams, such as Shirin Neshat, Tania de Montaigne, Bjarne Melgaard, Karen Palmer, Darren Emerson and Anagram, this year’s programme offers audiences a huge diversity of approaches to storytelling at the cutting edge of screen technology. Across the programme, curated by the BFI London Film Festival’s XR and Immersive Programme Lead, Ulrich Schrauth, audiences are invited to let their curiosity reign supreme and go beyond the limits of their imagination.
The Festival is pleased to announce a major new main venue for LFF Expanded, Bargehouse at OXO Tower Wharf. This exciting and welcoming space in the heart of the cultural hub of the South Bank will play host to 9 projects, with another free work also being showcased at the nearby Gallery@Oxo; both venues are part of the Coin Street social enterprise, in the thriving local South Bank community. There will also be two free augmented reality walks in the heart of London, one which takes audiences on a local stroll along the Thames, between LFF venues Bargehouse and BFI Southbank, and one through the world-famous Trafalgar Square and the surrounding areas. Additional projects will appear at cultural hotspot Outernet London – the largest digital exhibition space in Europe, with floor to ceiling, 360-degree screens across its four-storey building – and Science Gallery London, which will be home to a groundbreaking audiovisual spectacle.
Encouraged to contemplate imagination, inner worlds and the question of illusion and reality, viewers will venture into an extraordinary visual universe by Bjarne Melgaard in My Trip 2023; presented as a fully immersive multi-screen installation at Outernet, it questions how we choose to live – exploring the never-ending flow of information that is consumed daily through a striking visualisation of a psychedelic experience. My Trip 2023 will screen at Outernet every Monday evening from 16 October – 27 November.
The programme at Bargehouse features the extraordinary Virtual Reality adventure The Imaginary Friend, in which you become the titular friend to Daniel, helping him fight demons and overcome grief – using state-of-the-art holographic filmmaking techniques, this mind-bending ride through the human psyche will move and enthral. Dive into Forager, the highly sensory VR experience that transports participants into the rich and fascinating world of fungi. Making stimulating use of sight, sound, touch and scent, this documentary explores the life cycle of fungi: from spores, mycelium and fruiting body to the inevitable states of decay. Flow, an adaptation of Adriaan Lokman’s award-winning 3D short film, immerses users in a painted world entirely composed of air, where a woman’s reality is altered by invisible elements.
The programme will also present powerful real-life experiences that take audiences to the heart of both the current news agenda, and seminal moments in history. In Colored, a new immersive experience based on the book by Tania de Montaigne, join fifteen-year-old trailblazing Civil Rights activist Claudette Colvin, who fought segregation laws in 1950s America. Follow a trail of Banksy murals to the frontlines of the war in Ukraine in the arresting and poignant Murals. In The Fury viewers are taken through the trauma and emotional turmoil a female protagonist must endure during political imprisonment in Iran, while VR documentary Letters From Drancy accompanies a child on the run during the Holocaust.
The 2023 programme also questions the role of technology itself, the power of AI and what our society might look like in the future. Transporting audiences on a unique quest to discover what could happen if we succumb to unchecked surveillance, Karen Palmer’s award-winning Consensus Gentium integrates cutting-edge facial detection and AI. Supported by the BFI Filmmaking Fund, awarding National Lottery funding, this timely and powerful work won the South by Southwest 2023 Award for Innovation XR Experience, and is not to be missed. Things Fall Apart: a musical installation in Mixed Reality transforms W.B. Yeats’ 1919 poem The Second Coming into an artistic exploration of music, poetry and visual landscapes, with innovative use of spatial VR technology and AI-generated imagery transporting viewers to a virtual art gallery.
Venturing out into the city, there is also the opportunity to explore London as you’ve never seen it before, with two free augmented reality walks. Experienced through your smartphone, Ghosts of Solid Air is an augmented reality walk through Trafalgar Square and the surrounding areas which invites audiences to meet key historical figures during periods of civil unrest. Specially adapted for the festival, Fleeting Figures takes you on a stroll along the South Bank connecting two of the LFF’s venues, BFI Southbank and Bargehouse, with digital manifestations of public art.
Combining gaming and Carnatic electronic music, Elsewhere in India transports audiences to India, 2079 for an audiovisual electronica performance about a future world where global cultures are nearing extinction and exploring the theme of ‘AI for Cultural Good’. Presented by Science Gallery London at King’s College London and featuring digital avatars of visionary artists Murthovic and Thiruda, this groundbreaking audiovisual spectacle showcases immersive 3D worlds, generative AI art and rare moving images from the BFI National Archive’s India on Film collection.
Back this year by popular demand, Guy Maddin’s augmented reality installation, HAUNTED HOTEL – a melodrama in augmented reality, which was commissioned by the BFI and premiered at last year’s BFI London Film Festival, enfolds the audience in surreal paper worlds, filled with longing, hysteria and madness. All set to an intricate soundscape by acclaimed composer Magnus Fiennes, the piece will be on show, for free, at Gallery@Oxo from 4 – 9 October.
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK’s foremost celebration of screen culture that invites audiences to engage with the finest filmmaking talents from our shores and around the world. Each year, the Festival presents a compelling programme of more than 200 features, shorts, Series and XR works to audiences at venues across London, while a selection of the films also screen at partner cinemas across the UK.
LFF EXPANDED 2023 IMMERSIVE ART AND XR PROGRAMME:
COLORED – UK PREMIERE
6 – 22 Oct (closed 16 Oct) | Bargehouse | 32min | Lead artist(s): Pierre-Alain Giraud, Stéphane Foenkinos, Tania de Montaigne
This Augmented Reality installation tells the true story of 15-year-old Claudette Colvin, who fought segregation laws in 1950’s America. Employing holographic images and immersive sound, this powerful artwork, based on Tania de Montaigne’s biographical essay, transports us back to a pivotal moment in the history of the US Civil Rights Movement. In 1955, Colvin, a young Black girl, stood up for her beliefs in refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger. This riveting work is a potent exploration of everyday prejudice and racism.
THE FURY – UK PREMIERE
6 – 22 Oct (closed 16 Oct) | Bargehouse | 22min | Lead artist(s): Shirin Neshat
Shirin Neshat’s two-part exhibition, The Fury, takes us through the trauma and emotional turmoil a female protagonist must endure during political imprisonment. Her unshielded body becomes the distorted target for objectification and sexual assault by her oppressors. Never graphic or explicitly violent, internationally-renowned Iranian filmmaker and artist Neshat’s highly stylised and dream-like artwork, consisting of a two-channel video and a 360 VR film, is all the more arresting as a result.
LETTERS FROM DRANCY – UK PREMIERE
6 – 22 Oct (closed 16 Oct) | Bargehouse | 22min | Lead artist(s): Darren Emerson.
A captivating story of loss, longing and the power of love, Letters from Drancy compassionately evokes life amidst the horrors of the Holocaust. This VR documentary accompanies Marion Deichmann on her daring childhood journey across the borders of Northern Europe, detailing her traumatic separation from her mother, her escape from persecution with the help of the French Resistance and her vivid memories of the D-Day bombings. Marion’s story is full of loss and longing, but is also one of persevering love – a profound story of courage from those who embraced the compassion of humanity in the face of hatred.
MURALS – UK PREMIERE
6 – 22 Oct (closed 16 Oct) | Bargehouse | 9min | Lead artist(s): Alex Topaller, Daniel Shapiro, Artem Ivanenko
This immersive visual experience uses cutting-edge 3D scanning technology to place viewers face to face with the war devastation in Ukraine, capturing Banksy’s artwork left on the rubble of people’s homes, schools and infrastructure. Participants can experience these powerful images, which tackle warfare and destruction while also finding hope and determination in those caught up in the maelstrom of conflict.
CONSENSUS GENTIUM – WINNER OF SXSW 2023 AWARD FOR INNOVATION XR EXPERIENCE
6 – 22 Oct (closed 16 Oct) | Bargehouse | 25min | Lead artist(s): Karen Palmer
Winner of the South by Southwest 2023 Award for Innovation XR Experience, UK artist Karen Palmer’s Consensus Gentium (Latin for ‘if everyone believes it, it must be true’) is a powerful exploration into the implications of today’s AI technology. The award-winning international artist and TED Speaker uses interactive storytelling to explore race, bias in technology and social justice. It is an interactive, emotionally responsive smartphone film that integrates cutting-edge facial detection and AI, and transports audiences on a unique quest to discover what could happen if we succumb to unchecked surveillance. Consensus Gentium is an interactive experience designed to drive discussion about data privacy, race, unconscious biases and the power of technology.
FORAGER – UK PREMIERE
6 – 22 Oct (closed 16 Oct) | Bargehouse | 8min | Lead artist(s): Winslow Porter, Elie Zananiri
Some of nature’s greatest secrets are revealed in this highly sensory VR experience that transports participants into the rich and fascinating world of fungi. Microscopic highways of mycelium, more than a million miles long, lie unseen beneath the earth. Making stimulating use of sight, sound, touch and scent, this documentary explores the life cycle of fungi: from spores, mycelium and fruiting body to the inevitable states of decay. Conceived by acclaimed director and creative technologist Winslow Porter, this experience, featuring unique volumetric time-lapse technology, uncovers a little-known world.
THE IMAGINARY FRIEND – UK PREMIERE
6 – 22 Oct (closed 16 Oct) | Bargehouse | 26min | Lead artist(s): Steye Hallema
Ever dream of stepping into someone else’s mind? In this extraordinary Virtual Reality adventure, you become 8 year-old Daniel’s imaginary friend, helping him fight demons and classroom bullies overcome grief and become the kid he was always meant to be: a healthy, happy boy on the brink of adolescence. Using state-of-the-art holographic filmmaking techniques, this mind-bending ride through the human psyche will have you defending yourself against magical monsters and soaring through the skies with your own set of wings.
FLOW – UK PREMIERE
6 – 22 Oct (closed 16 Oct) | Bargehouse | 16min | Lead artist(s): Adriaan Lokman
This adaptation of Adriaan Lokman’s award-winning 3D short film immerses users in a painted world entirely composed of air, where a woman’s reality is altered by invisible elements.
Conceived as an interactive, three-dimensional painting, through gentle movements, users float with the wind, exploring a woman’s transformative night of wanderings. When the dream-like experience concludes, the world undergoes a profound shift, forever changing its nature.
THINGS FALL APART: a musical installation in Mixed Reality – UK PREMIERE
6 – 22 Oct (closed 16 Oct) | Bargehouse | 25min | Lead artist(s): CyberRäuber
German theatre collective CyberRäuber transform W.B. Yeats’ 1919 poem ‘The Second Coming’ into an artistic exploration of music, poetry and visual landscapes. This groundbreaking mixed-reality installation blends image, sound and text into a richly rewarding collective experience. Audiences are invited to step into and interact directly with a virtual gallery, composed of AI-generated images, spoken words and a captivating soundtrack – the latter created by Israeli composer Micha Kaplan. The physical space is transformed by the innovative use of spatial VR, allowing for new perspectives on Yeats’ renowned work.
HAUNTED HOTEL – a melodrama in augmented reality
4 – 9 October | Gallery@Oxo | 20min | Lead artist(s): Guy Maddin
This fascinating immersive exhibition by acclaimed Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin ruminates on the manifold permutations of desire, deception and death. A special commission from last year’s LFF Expanded and back by popular demand, this Augmented Reality installation unravels across eight three-dimensional collages. For his first fully immersive exhibition, Maddin enfolds his audience in surreal paper worlds, filled with longing, hysteria and madness, and all set to an intricate soundscape by acclaimed composer Magnus Fiennes.
MY TRIP 2023 – WORLD PREMIERE
MON 9 OCT 21:00–23:30 OUTERNET, MON 16 OCT – 27 NOV (EVERY MONDAY), 18:00–23:30 | HERE at the Outernet | 7min | Lead artist(s): Bjarne Melgaard
Bjarne Melgaard’s artwork takes the viewer on a journey to the furthest reaches of the web and explores the apathy that our technological environments engender. My Trip 2023 features characters that have recurred in the artist’s practice for over 25 years, in addition to new mutant personalities created in collaboration with Acute Art. This artwork, presented as a fully immersive multi-screen installation at partner venue Outernet, questions how we choose to live – exploring the never-ending flow of information that is consumed daily through a striking visualisation of a psychedelic experience. Commissioned by LFF Expanded and Outernet Arts, produced by Acute Art.
GHOSTS OF SOLID AIR – WORLD PREMIERE
4 – 22 October | Trafalgar Square | approx. 60min | Lead artist(s): Amy Rose
Experienced through your smartphone, Ghosts of Solid Air is an augmented reality walk through central London which invites audiences to meet key historical figures during periods of civil unrest. Blending voices from the past with the realities of our present day viewers will explore the nature of disobedience, all against the backdrop of the monuments of state power in central London.
FLEETING FIGURES – WORLD PREMIERE
4 – 22 October | South Bank (BFI Southbank to Bargehouse) | approx. 60min | Lead artist(s): Åsa Cederqvist, Lundahl & Setil, Untold Garden, Pastelae, Oscar Häggström, SONG
This open air Augmented Reality exhibition aims to create a collective experience in public spaces, focusing on what unites and connects us. Virtually connecting BFI Southbank with this year’s LFF Expanded venue (Bargehouse@OXO Tower Wharf), this outdoor exhibition is a collection of interactive artworks from a number of Sweden-based artists. Take a stroll down Southbank and engage with digital manifestations of public art via your smartphone. Rediscover your surroundings and explore new perspectives on familiar places with this innovative virtual exhibition, created specifically for our festival.
ELSEWHERE IN INDIA
7 October, 15:00 – 16:30 | Science Gallery London | 60min | Lead artist(s): Murthovic, Thiruda
Combining gaming and Carnatic electronic music, Elsewhere in India transports audiences to India, 2079 for an audiovisual electronica performance about a future world where global cultures are nearing extinction and exploring the theme of ‘AI for Cultural Good’. Featuring digital avatars of visionary artists Murthovic and Thiruda, this groundbreaking audiovisual spectacle showcases immersive 3D worlds, generative AI art and rare moving images from the BFI National Archive’s India on Film collection.
Presented by Science Gallery London at King’s College London in partnership with LFF Expanded and BFI National Archive
The LFF will present a compelling and diverse programme of films, shorts, series and immersive works from 92 countries, featuring 79 languages playing across the 12 days of the festival. This includes 99 works made by female and non-binary filmmakers – 39% of the programme.
An impressive number of major alumni filmmakers return to LFF including: Martin Scorsese, Yorgos Lanthimos, Sally El Hosaini, Jonathan Glazer, Steve McQueen, Michel Gondry, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Adura Onashile, Bertrand Bonello, Robin Campillo, Lukas Moodysson, Maite Alberdi, William Oldroyd, DK Welchman, Hugh Welchman, James Benning, Claire Simon, Angela Schanelec, Nicolas Philibert, Lila Avilés, Tatiana Huezo, Victoria Linares Villegas, Michel Franco, Quentin Dupieux, Catherine Breillat, Mohamed Ben Attia, Molly Manning Walker, Kitty Green, Aki Kaurismäki, Marco Bellocchio, Hirokazu Koreeda, Amat Escalante, Nuhash Humayun, Kaouther Ben Hania, Tr?n Anh Hùng, Baloji, Marie Amachoukeli, Jesse Lewis Reece, Cédric Kahn, Alexandre O. Philippe, Ladj Ly, Alex Gibney, James Krishna Floyd, Dominic Leclerc, Frederick Wiseman, Fawzia Mirza, Pat Collins, Deepa Mehta, Bill Ross, Turner Ross and Mahalia Belo.
The Festival is also introducing audiences to a thrilling new generation of international filmmakers with 47 debut features in LFF from: Mika Gustafson, Raven Jackson, Erica Tremblay, Randall Park, Adura Onashile, Noora Niasari, Laura Moss, Mary Helena Clark, Mike Gibisser, Fox Maxy, Zeno Graton, Myriam U. Birara, Savanah Leaf, Agniia Galdanova, Cyrielle Raingou, Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, Leandro Koch, Paloma Schachmann, Michael Lukk Litwak, Chloe Abrahams, Felipe Carmona, Ramata-Toulaye Sy, Julia Jackman, Moin Hussain, Naqqash Khalid, Kibwe Tavares, Mohamed Kordofani, Baloji, Zoljargal Purevdash, Amjad Al Rasheed, Lillah Halla, Amanda Nell Eu, Stéphan Castang, Rosine Mbakam, Thien An Pham, Seán Devlin, Chris Pine, Ernst De Geer, David Allen, Rachel Ramsay, James Erskine, Cyril Aris, Caroline Ingvarsson, Victor Iriarte, Neo Sora, Tulapop Saenjaroen, Fawzia Mirza, Ali Catterall, Jane Giles, Thomas Hyland and Dana Kavelina.
Every feature and series will screen to audiences in the UK for the very first time, with many shown publicly for the first time ever anywhere in the world.
Premieres include 29 World Premieres (14 features, 2 series and 13 shorts), 7 International Premieres (6 features and 1 short) and 30 European Premieres (22 features, 1 series and 7 shorts). World Premieres from filmmakers and artists include: Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya’s THE KITCHEN which closes the festival, CHICKEN RUN: DAWN OF THE NUGGET by the award-winning British stop-motion giant Aardman Studios, Immersive artwork MY TRIP by Bjarne Melgaard, coming of age rom-com BONUS TRACK by Julia Jackman, Daniel Kokotajlo’s STARVE ACRE, THE BOOK OF CLARENCE by Jeymes Samuel, THE BUCKINGHAM MURDERS by Hansal Mehta, Theresa Ikoko’s GRIME KIDS from the Series strand, the BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation restoration of Michael Powell’s 1960 masterpiece PEEPING TOM in association with STUDIOCANAL, and the BFI National Archive and The Film Foundation’s restoration of Horace Ové’s pioneering 1975 debut PRESSURE. International Premieres include SALTBURN, directed, produced and written by Emerald Fennell which opens the festival, as well as collaboration between Deepa Mehta and Sirat Taneja I AM SIRAT and THIS IS GOING TO BE BIG by Thomas Charles Hyland. Major European Premieres include ONE LIFE by James Hawes starring Anthony Hopkins, EXPATS directed by Lulu Wang starring Nicole Kidman, TOGETHER 99 by Lukas Moodyson, DEAR JASSI by Tarsem Singh, Alexander Payne’s THE HOLDOVERS and ALL OF US STRANGERS by Andrew Haigh.
FESTIVAL VENUE PARTNERS
LFF partner venues around the UK include:
London:
BFI Southbank
Curzon Soho (Screen 1, 2 and 3)
Curzon Mayfair (Screen 1)
Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA)
LFF Expanded at Bargehouse at Oxo Tower Wharf
LFF Expanded at Gallery@Oxo
Vue West End
Prince Charles Cinema
The Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall
UK-Wide:
HOME, Manchester
Watershed, Bristol
Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow
Broadway, Nottingham
Showroom Cinema, Sheffield
Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast
Chapter, Cardiff
Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne
Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), Birmingham
In addition to UK-wide screenings at the Festival venues, audiences will also be able to explore LFF programmes past and present with a special collection of films on BFI Player.
Additional screenings on selected titles may also be added during the Festival window at other venues. These are at the discretion of the distributor and will be signposted on the Festival website where added.
