BFI London Film Festival 2024
October 9 - October 20
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The BFI London Film Festival will walk red carpets around the UK capital once more this October, with what promises to be an amazing programme of events.
From 9 to 20 October, there will a series of galas, special events, talks, shorts and the LFF awards.
Alongside the Cannes Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival and the Berlinale, the BFI London Film Festival is one of the leading European film festivals.
History of the London Film Festival
What began as a dinner party discussion at the home of Film critic Dilys Powell bemoaning a lack of a quality film festival in the UK capital has grown into one of Europe’s premier film events. The first festival was held at the National Film Theatre (NFT), now called the BFI Southbank, in 1957. Initially the festival was conceived as a ‘festival of festival’ screening films that had claimed awards at Cannes, Venice and Berlin. The original screening was Akira Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood. It was not until 1960 that the first British film, Karel Reisz’s Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, was screened.
By the 1970s the festival had evolved to include many UK premiers. Now the London Film Festival is truly global featuring films from all continents at venues across London and not just on the Southbank. In its 60-something years, the BFI has seen actors and directors from around the world brave the Autumnal British weather to grace the red carpet.
BFI Film Festival 2024 Highlights
This year as always there will be a series of galas. Details of the BFI London Film Festival 2024 are not yet known, but last year’s opening night gala will see Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn with Barry Keoghan, while the closing gala will be Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya’s The Kitchen.
The American Express Gala will see Anthony Hopkins in One Life, while the Headline Gala is All of Us Strangers with Andrew Scott. Other screenings include The Bikeriders, The Book of Clarence and Maestro with Bradley Cooper.
The full programme of films will be found here. Or you can look at the video below:
Screen Talks
There will also be a series of special events during the major film festival, in 2023 these included screen talks with Martin Scorsese, Greta Gerwig and Andrew Haigh.
BFI London Film Festival Awards and Competitions
The BFI Film Festival has a number of awards of which the most prestigious is the Official Competition. The deadline for entering is 24 May (5pm).
Alternatively for a more indie London film festivals, read our preview of the Raindance Film Festival.
Where is the BFI Film Festival?
The BFI Southbank (main image) is the home of the festival but there will be screenings at cinemas and venues across London including: BFI Southbank IMAX; Curzon Mayfair; Curzon Soho; Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA); Prince Charles Cinema and Vue West End. A list of all the venues can be found here.
BFI London Film Festival Tickets
To see prices and to purchase tickets for the festival, click here.
When is the 68th BFI London Film Festival?
From 9 to 20 October, 2024.
