BFI London Film Festival Unveils 2017 Lineup

Events, Film Festivals, Past Events

Joe Utichi | Deadline Hollywood

The 61st BFI London Film Festival has announced its full lineup for the 2017 festival. Running October 4-16, the festival will screen 242 films with 29 world premieres, 8 international premieres and 34 European premieres. There will be on-stage Q&As with talent including Julian Rosefeldt & Cate Blanchett, David Fincher, Ian McEwan and Takashi Miike.

In addition to the already announced opener and closer (Breathe and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri respectively), gala slots will go to Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, Alexander Payne’s Venice opener Downsizing, Paul McGuigan’s Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, Saul Dibb’s Journey’s End, Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Richard Linklater’s Last Flag Flying, Dee Rees’ Mudbound, Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water and Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here.

Each of the festival’s themed strands will have its own gala. They are Amant Double in Dare, The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales in Family, Blade of the Immortal in Thrill, Foxtrot in Debate, The Meyerowitz Stories in Laugh, On Chesil Beach in Love, Redoubtable in Create, Shiraz: A Romance of India in Cult and Wonderstruck in Journey.

There will be special presentations for Clio Barnard’s Dark River, Michael Haneke’s Happy End, Sally Potter’s The Party, Lucrecia Martel’s Zama, Sebastián Lelio’s A Fantastic Woman, Greg Barker’s The Final Year and Shirin Neshat’s Looking for Oum Kulthum. In addition, the festival will present the first two episodes of the David Fincher-produced series Mindhunter for the first time to European audiences.

Here’s the full competition line-up:

OFFICIAL COMPETITION

  • Robin Campillo, 120 BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE)
  • Vivian Qu, ANGELS WEAR WHITE
  • Majid Majidi, BEYOND THE CLOUDS (World Premiere)
  • Nora Twomey, THE BREADWINNER (European Premiere)
  • Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra, GOOD MANNERS
  • Xavier Beauvois, THE GUARDIANS (European Premiere)
  • Andrew Haigh, LEAN ON PETE
  • Andrey Zvyagintsev, LOVELESS
  • Azazel Jacobs, THE LOVERS (European Premiere)
  • Warwick Thornton, SWEET COUNTRY
  • Cory Finley, THOROUGHBRED (International Premiere)
  • Annemarie Jacir, WAJIB

FIRST FEATURE COMPETITION

  • Daniel Kokotajlo, APOSTASY
  • Léa Mysius, AVA
  • Michael Pearce, BEAST (European Premiere)
  • Ofir Raul Graizer, THE CAKEMAKER
  • Gilles Coulier, CARGO
  • Kogonada, COLUMBUS
  • Rungano Nyoni, I AM NOT A WITCH
  • Léonor Serraille, JEUNE FEMME
  • Ana Asensio, MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND
  • Carla Simón, SUMMER 1993
  • Hlynur Pálmason, WINTER BROTHERS
  • John Trengove, THE WOUND

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

  • Maryam Goormaghtigh, BEFORE SUMMER ENDS
  • Elvira Lind, BOBBI JENE
  • Arash Kamali Sarvestani, Behrouz Boochani, CHAUKA, PLEASE TELL US THE TIME (International Premiere)
  • Radu Jude, THE DEAD NATION
  • Shevaun Mizrahi, DISTANT CONSTELLATION
  • Frederick Wiseman, EX LIBRIS – THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
  • Agnès Varda, JR, FACES PLACES
  • Austin Lynch, Matthew Booth, GRAY HOUSE
  • Brett Morgen, JANE (European Premiere)
  • Lucy Cohen, KINGDOM OF US (World Premiere)
  • Emmanuel Gras, MAKALA
  • Sonia Kronlund, THE PRINCE OF NOTHINGWOOD

SHORT FILM AWARD

  • Gabriel Abrantes, THE ARTIFICIAL HUMORS
  • Phil Collins, DELETE BEACH
  • Billie Pleffer, FYSH (International Premiere)
  • Anna Cazenave Cambet, GABBER LOVER
  • Karishma Dube, GODDESS
  • Aegina Brahim, LAWS OF THE GAME
  • Jonathan Vinel, MARTIN CRIES
  • Patrick Bresnan THE RABBIT HUNT
  • Moin Hussain, REAL GODS REQUIRE BLOOD
  • Kibwe Tavares, ROBOT & SCARECROW
  • Kazik Radwanski, SCAFFOLD
  • Harry Lighton, WREN BOYS (World Premiere)