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The BFI announce the full LFF 2021 programme

The 65th BFI London Film Festival (LFF), in partnership with American Express, has revealed the full 2021 programme line-up.

Over twelve days from 6 – 17 October, flagship venue BFI Southbank and the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, the LFF Gala venue for 2021, will make London’s South Bank one of two London hub’s at the heart of the film festival experience. Films will also screen in a number of cinemas in London’s West End, with a selection of films at 10 venues in cities and towns across the UK.

Films in Official Competition will be presented at BFI Southbank itself with a host of London cinemas also screening titles from the programme including: Odeon West End, the Prince Charles Cinema, ICA, Curzon Soho and Curzon Mayfair. 

This year’s Headline Galas are:

  • American Express Gala – THE POWER OF THE DOG (d. Jane Campion)
  • American Airlines Gala BELFAST (d. Kenneth Branagh)
  • THE FRENCH DISPATCH (d. Wes Anderson)
  • BENEDETTA (d. Paul Verhoeven)
  • KING RICHARD (d. Reinaldo Marcus Green)
  • LAST NIGHT IN SOHO d. (Edgar Wright)
  • BFI Patrons’ Gala – MOTHERING SUNDAY (d. Eva Husson)
  • THE LOST DAUGHTER (d. Maggie Gyllenhaal)
  • The Londoner Gala – THE SOUVENIR: PART II (d. Joanna Hogg)
  • SPENCER (d. Pablo Larraín)
  • RON’S GONE WRONG (d. Sarah Smith, Jean Philippe-Vine)

Also screening at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, this year’s Special Presentations are:

  • The Mayor of London’s Special Presentation – ALI & AVA (d. Clio Barnard)
  • DRIVE MY CAR (d. Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
  • BENEDICTION (d. Terence Davies)
  • GREAT FREEDOM (d. Sebastian Meise)
  • THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN (d. Craig Roberts) – in association with Empire Magazine
  • MEMORIA (d. Apichatpong Weerasethakul) – in association with Sight and Sound –
  • TITANE (d. Julia Ducournau) – in association with Time Out
  • PARIS, 13TH DISTRICT (d. Jacques Audiard)
  • THE VELVET UNDERGROUND (d. Todd Haynes)
  • BFI Flare Special Screening – FLEE (d. Jonas Poher Rasmussen)
  • Experimenta Special Screening – NEPTUNE FROST (d. Saul Williams, Anisia Uzeyman)
  • Series Special Screening – SUCCESSION (Creator-Showrunner Jesse Armstrong)

As previously announced, this year’s Opening Film will be Netflix’s THE HARDER THEY FALL, directed by Londoner Jeymes Samuel, with Joel Coen’s bold and fierce adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic play, THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH closing the festival.

Check out the full festival programme here.