London Film Festival Unveils 11 Competition Titles
Barry Keoghan, Nick Cave, and the voices of Sarah Snook and Eric Bana will feature in the competition lineup of the 68th BFI London Film Festival (LFF), held this fall in partnership with American Express. The Extraordinary Miss Flower, the new film from Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, known for their Cave movie 20,000 Days on Earth, and the Luca Guadagnino-produced April from Georgia’s Dea Kulumbegashvili, whose feminist debut feature Beginning drew rave reviews, will be among the 11 movies competing for the best film award in London.
So will a drama about Islamic inheritance laws and gender dynamics, as well as a film about a Ukrainian family that most cope with the Russian invasion of their home country while away on a beach holiday.
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Organizers on Thursday also unveiled such competition titles as Chris Andrews’ Bring Them Down, starring Keoghan and Christopher Abbott, Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, which premiered at Cannes, as well as Adam Elliot’s animated Memoir of a Snail, which premiered at Annecy and whose voice cast includes Bana, Snook, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Cave again.
The competition program will “showcase inspiring, inventive, and distinctive international filmmaking,” the festival said – “from a gripping Irish portrait of deep-rooted generational rivalry to a stop-motion animated tale of self-discovery, and a moving portrait of living with deaf parents in Tokyo to a follow-up feature from one of Zambia’s most distinctive voices.”
The LFF established the best film award in its competition in 2009. Its winners have included the likes of Jacques Audiard for A Prophet, Marie Kreutzer for Corsage, and, in 2023, Ryusuke Hamaguchi for Evil Does Not Exist.
“We have a stellar lineup for audiences and our jury’s consideration,” said fest director Kristy Matheson. “We’re immensely proud to have many U.K. and Irish works represented 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.”
The 68th BFI London Film Festival will take place Oct. 9-20. The competition winner will receive the best film award on the final day of the fest.
Check out the full list of movies set for the London Film Festival’s main competition and more information on them below.
Competition
April (director Dea Kulumbegashvili)
“Nina is the best gynecologist in her area, but after a newborn dies during a difficult birth, blame is directed at her,” the LFF said. “Stoically unshakeable in her beliefs, Nina continues providing care to those who need it, even if her position on respecting women’s wishes regarding their bodies puts her at risk.”
Bring Them Down (director Christopher Andrews)
“Because of his father’s failing health, Michael is forced to take more responsibility for the family’s farm. It draws him into a long history of conflict with a rival shepherding family, sparking a devastating chain of events,” says a plot synopsis for Andrews’ feature debut.
The Extraordinary Miss Flower (directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard)
“When Geraldine Flower passed away, her family uncovered a secret cache of letters containing declarations of love from suitors around the globe, hinting at the possibility of a life of espionage,” according to the LFF blurb. “Taking inspiration, Icelandic songstress Emilíana Torrini recorded an album, which forms the spine of this filmic fever dream.”
Four Mothers (director Darren Thornton)
The adaptation of Gianni Di Gregorio’s 2008 LFF winner Mid-August Lunch is about Edward, “a queer, up-and-coming novelist forced to balance press commitments with caring for his aging mother,” explains a plot description. “Pressure to go on a U.S. book tour might be mounting. But when his three closest friends, desperate to feel young and carefree again, go off on an impromptu Pride holiday, they leave their aging mothers in Edward’s care.”
Living in Two Worlds (director Mipo O)
Writer-director Mipo O’s highly sixth feature follows the complex inner journey of Dai, a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults), as he navigates worlds of sound and silence. “Dai grows up in a small town, interpreting for his loving deaf parents, until he moves to Tokyo in search of his own independent life,” the plot summary says.
Memoir of a Snail (director Adam Elliot)
“Twins Grace and Gilbert are separated as children due to tragic circumstances; Grace goes to live with a ‘swinger’ couple, while Gilbert is ensconced with a religious fundamentalist family,” explains a synopsis. |Then Grace’s life changes when she meets old Pinkie who has ‘done it all’ from making love to John Denver to playing ping pong with Fidel Castro.”
On Becoming a Guinea Fowl (director Rungano Nyoni)
“Driving home one night, Shula seems unfazed by the sight of her uncle’s dead body on the road. Later, while helping in funeral proceedings, her cool exterior melts as she questions her family’s complicity towards the abuse she and her cousins suffered.”
Thank You for Banking With Us (director Laila Abbas)
LFF calls the tale of two sisters racing against time to ensure their inheritance “an inspiring story of unity against unfair patriarchal systems.” The plot: “Noura and Mariam must put aside their differences and find a solution to ensure they receive the money their recently deceased father left in the bank, before their distant brother, entitled to half the funds due to his gender, finds out.”
Under the Volcano (director Damian Kocur)
A Ukrainian family on a beach holiday abroad must navigate a seismic political shift in the form of Russia’s attack and the outbreak of war in their home country in Kocur’s second feature. LFF organizers said it “explores the precariousness of our lives and the brittle line between safety and uncertainty, stability and upheaval. Tenerife’s volcano looms in the background, but it’s the human drama of a family unable to return to their home that generates the tension.”
Vermiglio (director Maura Delpero)
“In the last days of the Second World War, a deserting soldier disrupts a tranquil and isolated mountain community,” says a synopsis of the filmmaker’s second feature. “For one family, his arrival brings excitement and romance, but tragedy lies in wait.”
The Wolves Always Come at Night (director Gabrielle Brady)
“The hybrid documentary is taken to new levels” with this portrait of life for one family in rural Mongolia, LFF said. “Davaa and Zaya (credited as co-writers of the film) live with their children and flock. But the titular wolf is never far from the door; the climate is changing, which forces the family into an urban center.”
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