After Venice, TIFF, and NYFF, the BFI London Film Festival closes out the main slate of Fall film festivals before the industry flips to awards season mode. But let’s not discredit London as a lesser festival: it isn’t, and its competition lineup this year has plenty of films that deserve to win its top prize, even if they premiered at Cannes, TIFF, or elsewhere earlier this year.
Case in point: “Bring Them Down,” Christopher Andrews‘ new film that stars Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbott as the scions of two feuding farm families in rural Ireland. Andrews’ feature debut has its world premiere in Toronto on September 8, but it’s an early favorite to win BFI London’s Best Film Award. Its competition will be tough, however. Other films vying for the festival’s top prize include Cannes favorite “On Becoming A Guinea Fowl” from Rungao Nyoni, and Darren Thornton‘s queer writer drama “Four Mothers.”
There’s other homegrown talent in the competition pool beyond Thorton and Andrews, although the 11-film program features movies from thirteen different countries. Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard‘s latest doc “The Extraordinary Miss Flower” is about a woman whose international love affairs inspired an album by Icelandic singer Emilíana Torrini. Check out the rest of the Official Competition line-up below.
“We have a stellar lineup for audiences and our jury’s consideration,” said Kristy Matheson, BFI London Film Festival Director, in a press statement. “We’re immensely proud to have many UK and Irish works alongside films from across the globe. Boasting an enormous breadth in terms of cinematic styles, there’s a world of cinema to be enjoyed in our 2024 Official Competition.”
Previous winners of BFI London’s Best Film Award include Ryusuke Hamaguchi‘s “Evil Does Not Exsist” and Marie Kreutzer‘s “Corsage.” Other awards given out at the festival include The Audience Awards, which also return this year. BFI Southbank will be home again this year for screenings of the Official Competition titles. Award winner will be announced the festival’s final night, October 20.
The BFI London Film Festival runs from October 9-October 20 this year. Stay tuned for more line-up announcements in the coming weeks. In the meantime, check out the Official Competition line-up below.
“April” (France-Georgia-Italy, dir-scr. Dea Kulumbegashvili)
“Bring Them Down” (Ireland-UK-Belgium, dir-scr. Christopher Andrews)
“The Extraordinary Miss Flower” (UK, dir. Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard)
“Four Mothers” (Ireland-UK, dir. Darren Thornton)
“Living in Two Worlds” (Japan, dir. Mipo O)
“Memoir of a Snail” (Australia, dir-scr. Adam Elliot)
“On Becoming a Guinea Fowl” (Zambia-UK-Ireland, dir-scr. Rungano Nyoni)
“Thank You for Banking with Us” (State of Palestine-Germany, dir-scr. Laila Abbas)
“The Wolves Come at Night” (Australia-Mongolia-Germany, dir. Gabrielle Brady)
“Under the Volanco” (Poland, dir. Damian Kocur)
“Vermiglio” (Italy-France-Belgium, dir-scr. Maura Delpero)