The BFI London Film Festival (LFF) returns for its 67th iteration this October and as usual, the film festival has a brilliant line-up of movies over its 12 days.
Taking place from 4-15 October in a multitude of London cinemas, this year’s festival includes genre movies from Garth Davis, Yorgos Lanthimos, Hayao Miyazaki and more.
Here are some of the top genre picks from this year’s London Film Festival…
Asog
Set in the wake of a destructive typhoon, Asog is a witty combination of road movie and docu-drama that is a marvel of trans cinema.
Where/when
Wednesday 04 October 2023 | 20:40 | Prince Charles Cinema
Saturday 07 October 2023 | 12:10 | BFI Southbank.
Birth/Rebirth
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein gets a new lease of life in Birth/Rebirth, a chilling morality tale from debut director Laura Moss.
Pathologist Rose and nurse Celie work at the same hospital, but they are strangers to each other. Brusque and antisocial, Rose is the antithesis of Celie, a natural caregiver. However, when her daughter’s death leads Celie to discover her colleague’s sideline in reanimation, the two women are thrust together.
Where/when
Wednesday 11 October 2023 | 20:45 | Vue West End
Friday 13 October 2023 | 20:45 | Curzon Soho Cinema
Friday 13 October 2023 | 21:00 | Curzon Soho Cinema.
Deep Sea
Deep Sea is an ‘enthralling’ 3D animated movie that will be shown on the biggest screen in Britain, BFI IMAX.
On a cruise to celebrate her birthday, Shenxiu can’t shake off the loneliness she’s felt since her mother left, while her father enjoys time with his new family. She falls overboard and into a swirling ocean of vibrant colours, where magical creatures and the sinister Red Phantom await.
Where/when
Saturday 07 October 2023 | 11:00 | BFI IMAX, Waterloo
Fingernails
In Fingernails, Anna and Ryan have found true love. It’s been proven by a controversial new technology. There’s just one problem: Anna still isn’t sure. Then she takes a position at a love testing institute, and meets Amir.
Directed by Christos Nikou (Apples), the movie stars Jessie Buckley (Men), Riz Ahmed (Rogue One), Jeremy Allen White (The Bear) and Luke Wilson (Stargirl).
Where/when
Monday 09 October 2023 | 17:45 | BFI Southbank, NFT1
Thursday 12 October 2023 | 20:40 Curzon Soho Cinema
Thursday 12 October 2023 | 20:55 | Curzon Soho Cinema
Foe
Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal shine as a couple who receive an unexpected guest in Garth Davis’ unsettling science fiction thriller Foe.
Set around 40 years in the future, the movie explores the lives of a married couple – Han and Junior, played by Ronan and Mescal – that is turned upside down when a stranger, Terrance (played by The Underground Railroad’s Aaron Pierre) arrives at their rural farmhouse and informs the husband he will be sent to a large space station, and his wife will be left in the company of someone else.
Where/when
Tuesday 10 October 2023 | 21:00 | Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
Wednesday 11 October 2023 | 11:30 | Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
Late Night With The Devil
This found-footage comedy is set in October 1977 when waning late-night talk show host Jack Delroy made television history when his audience-baiting Halloween special spiralled fatally out of control. Four decades on, a rediscovered master tape finally reveals what really happened the night all hell broke loose on live TV…
Where/when
Monday 09 October 2023 | 18:20 | Prince Charles Cinema
Saturday 14 October 2023 | 20:15 | Curzon Soho Cinema
Saturday 14 October 2023 | 20:30 | Curzon Soho Cinema
Molli And Max In The Future
After a half-fish-man collides with a crystal harvester’s spaceship in Molli And Max In The Future, their on-off relationship spans multiple years, dimensions and planets, in this lo-fi, sci-fi romcom – featuring Zosia Mamet and Aristotle Athari.
Where/when
Sunday 08 October 2023 | 17:45| Prince Charles Cinema
Wednesday 11 October 2023 | 20:45 | BFI Southbank
Nightwatch – Demons Are Forever
Nightwatch – Demons Are Forever provides a journey into the Nightwatch universe. Frustrated by her father Martin’s tight-lipped indolence, forensic medicine student Emma gets a job covering the night shift at the mortuary where Martin previously worked, and from where the horror that has blighted her family emerged. When she opens the door to a monster from the past, Emma unwittingly sets off a gruesome chain of revenge.
Where/when
Sunday 08 October 2023 | 18:00| Vue West End
Monday 09 October 2023 | 20:35 | Prince Charles Cinema
Starve Acre
Starring Matt Smith, Morfydd Clark, and Erin Richards, writer and director Daniel Kokotajlo follows his award-winning debut Apostasy with a haunting adaptation of Andrew Michael Hurley’s acclaimed novel.
After relocating to their remote family estate Starve Acre, archaeologist Richard and his wife Juliette find their relationship tested when their young son starts exhibiting strange behaviour. As familial fractures deepen, Richard digs into the dark and disturbing folklore surrounding his childhood home.
Where/when
Thursday 12 October 2023 | 18:10 | BFI Southbank
Sunday 15 October 2023 | 15:00 | Prince Charles Cinema
The Kitchen
From Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya The Kitchen is set in a dystopian London in 2040, when the gap between rich and poor has been stretched to its limits. All forms of social housing have been eradicated and only The Kitchen remains.
The movie follows Izi, a hardworking loner who is counting down the days until he can leave The Kitchen and move to one of the sleek luxury penthouses that are popping up all over London. 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.
Meanwhile, the residents of The Kitchen fight back against those trying to destroy it. When Benji comes to The Kitchen in search of his father, Izi is forced to step out of his isolation and become a de facto guardian. But is his bond with Benji actually stronger than he wants to admit?
Where/when
Sunday 15 October 2023 | 19:15 | Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
Sunday 15 October 2023 | 21:00 | Curzon Soho Cinema
Poor Things
Poor Things follows the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe).
Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.
Where/when
Sunday 15 October 2023 | 19:50 | BFI Southbank
Saturday 14 October 2023 | 17:30 | Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
Sunday 15 October 2023 | 10:30 | Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
Red Rooms (Les chambres rouges)
In Red Rooms, the high-profile case of serial killer Ludovic Chevalier has just gone to trial, and Kelly-Anne is obsessed. When reality blurs with her morbid fantasies, she goes down a dark path to seek the final piece of the puzzle: the missing video of a murdered 13-year-old girl, to whom Kelly-Anne bears a disturbing resemblance.
Where/when
Sunday 08 October 2023 | 20:15 | Prince Charles Cinema, Downstairs Screen
Monday 09 October 2023 | 15:00 | BFI Southbank
Robot Dreams
Adapted from Sara Varon’s graphic novel Robot Dreams follows Dog, who is lonely so buys himself a companion in the shape of Robot, delivered in parts for home assembly but soon transformed into a Robotic friend!
Where/when
Sunday 08 October 2023 | 12:00 | BFI Southbank
Sunday 08 October 2023 | 17:00 | BFI Southbank
Sunday 15 October 2023 | 18:20 | Curzon Mayfair
Stopmotion
Robert Morgan’s British horror Stopmotion centres on a filmmaker spiralling into a nightmare of delusions after the death of her domineering mother.
Where/when
Saturday 07 October 2023 | 20:45 | Prince Charles Cinema
Tuesday 10 October 2023 | 20:30 | BFI Southbank
The Animal Kingdom
A strange condition sweeps the world, as people begin sprouting wings, scales, tentacles… Meanwhile a father and son travel south to confront their own trauma in writer-director Cailley’s fantasy drama starring Romain Duris (The Beat That My Heart Skipped) and Paul Kircher (Winter Boy).
Where/when
Thursday 12 October 2023 | 18:00 | ICA, Screen 1
Friday 13 October 2023 | 14:45 | BFI Southbank
The Beast
France’s Bonello’s latest uses a Henry James story as the springboard for a leap into the science-fictional unknown. Léa Seydoux plays a fin de siècle socialite entangled with an admirer (George MacKay). But that’s just one of her lives in this blend of period drama and conceptual crystal-gazing.
When/where
Friday 13 October 2023 | 20:45 | Prince Charles Cinema
Saturday 14 October 2023 | 15:20 | BFI Southbank
The Boy And The Heron
From Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle) comes The Boy And The Heron which follows a young boy named Mahito who is yearning for his mother and ventures into a world shared by the living and the dead. There, death comes to an end, and life finds a new beginning. This is a semi-autobiographical fantasy about life, death, and creation, in tribute to friendship.
When/where
Sunday 08 October 2023 | 14:45 Southbank Centre | Royal Festival Hall
Sunday 15 October 2023 | 14:30 | Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
The End We Start From
The teaser for THE END WE START FROM is here,
Mahalia Belo’s directorial debut is set to premiere at #TIFF23 on Sunday, 10th September.@SunnyMarch_, @HeraPicturesLDN, #C2MotionPictureGroup @bfi, @BBCFilm @MahaliaBelo pic.twitter.com/TdkXGSsaKf
— Anton (@AntonCorpLtd) September 10, 2023
Starring Jodie Comer and Benedict Cumberbatch, Mahalia Belo’s feature debut brings Megan Hunter’s acclaimed 2017 dystopian novel The End We Start From to the big screen in the ultimate disaster movie. Jodie Comer leads the cast as a young woman with her newborn baby who is struggling to find a safe haven in a crumbling, dangerous society as catastrophic floods submerge Britain.
When/where
Saturday 14 October 2023 | 11:30 | Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
Friday 13 October 2023 | 18:00 | Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
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 – can they overcome these magical obstacles to save their King?
When/where
Sunday 15 October 2023 | 14:50 | BFI Southbank
Tiger Stripes
12-year-old Zaffan is the school rebel in Malaysian first-time director Amanda Nell Eu’s Ginger Snaps-esq horror. However, her strict teachers have more than illicit TikToks to worry about when Zaffan’s body starts changing in unexpected ways.
When/where
Thursday 05 October 2023 | 20:25 | BFI Southbank
Friday 06 October 2023 | 15:10 | BFI Southbank
Tuesday
Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Lola Petticrew star in Daina O. Pusić’s feature debut, Tuesday, which follows terminally ill teenager Tuesday, whose imminent death sparks a chain of events that leads mother and daughter on a wild, strange adventure.
When/where
Wednesday 11 October 2023 | 21:10 | Curzon Soho Cinema
Thursday 12 October 2023 | 15:30 | ICA
Vincent Must Die
Random strangers have suddenly started attacking Vincent with murderous intent in Stéphan Castang’s dark comedy Vincent Must Die. His existence as an unremarkable man is overturned, and as things spiral violently out of control, he is forced to flee and change his life completely…
When/where
Thursday 12 October 2023 | 20:40 | Prince Charles Cinema
Saturday 14 October 2023 | 20:45 | Vue West End
The BFI London Film Festival 2023 will be taking place on 4-15 October. Buy tickets and find out more at the LFF website here.
