BFI London Film Festival 2023 Unveils Line-Up: From ‘Poor Things’ To ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

The BFI London Film Festival revealed its program for the 2023 edition. With twenty-nine world premieres, seven international premieres, and thirty European premieres, the line-up is nothing short of big names and upcoming talent. Due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, we might not see many stars walking the red carpet this year, but we will undoubtedly see them sparkling on the big screen.

As previously announced, the festival opens on the 4^th of October with Saltburn, the latest movie by director Emerald Fennell. It closes with Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya’s The Kitchen on the 15^th of October. In between, we will see the fantastic work from director Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon), Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things), Steve McQueen (Occupied City), James Benning (Allensworth), Claire Simon (Our Body), Molly Manning Walker (How To Have Sex), Dominic Leclerc (All the Lights Still Burning), Frederick Wiseman (Menu-Plaisirs Les Troisgros), etc. as many of them return to London with their latest features.

The festival doesn’t only celebrate exclaimed and established filmmakers but also gives upcoming directors the spotlight they deserve. There will be forty-seven debut features at this year’s festival, including movies from Mika Gustafson (Paradise Is Burning), Erica Tremblay (Fancy Dance), Randall Park (Shortcomings), Fox Maxy (Gush), Chloe Abrahams (The Taste of Mango), Julia Jackman (Bonus Track), Zoljargal Purevdash (If Only I Could Hibernate), Amjad Al Rasheed (Inshallah A Boy), Amanda Nell Eu (Tiger Stripes), Stéphan Castang (Vincent Must Die), and many more!

The entire programme can be found on the official festival website but here we give you already a snippet of the headline galas, special presentations and the movies in the official competition and first feature competition:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=wvs-1LdjsY4%3Fsi%3D3yphJa6B5lxiw1Yo

Headline Galas

• Saltburn by director Emerald Fennell
• The Kitchen by directors Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya
• One Life by director James Hawes
• All of Us Strangers by director Andrew Haigh
• The Bikeriders by director Jeff Nichols
• The Book of Clarence by director/writer Jeymes Samuel
• Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget by director Sam Fell
• Holdovers by director Alexander Payne
• The Killer by director David Fincher
• Killers of the Flower Moon by director Martin Scorsese
• Maestro by director Bradley Cooper
• May December by director Todd Haynes
• Nyad by directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhely and Jimmy Chin
• Poor Things by director Yorgos Lanthimos

Special Presentations

• The Boy and the Heron by director Hayao Miyazaki
• Cobweb by director Kim Jee-Woon
• The End We Start From by director Mahalia Belo
• Fallen Leaves by director/writer Aki Kaurismäki
• Foe by director Garth Davis
• Grime Kids by director Abdou Cisse
• Hit Man by director Richard Linklater
• Housekeeping For Beginners by director/writer Goran Stolevski
• Les Indésirables by director Ladj Ly
• Memory by director/writer Michel Franco
• Occupied City by director Steve McQueen
• Priscilla by director/writer Sofia Coppola
• The Zone of Interest by director/writer Jonathan Glazer

Official Competition

• Baltimore by director/writer Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor
• Dear Jassi by director Tarsem Singh Dhandwar
• Europa by director/writer Sudabeh Mortezai
• Evil Does Not Exist by director/writer Ryusuke Hamaguchi
• Fingernails by director Christos Nikou
• Gasoline Rainbow by directors/writers Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross
• I Am Sirat (A collaboration between Deepa Mehta and Sirat Taneja)
• The Royal Hotel by director Kitty Green
• Self Portrait: 47 km 2020 by director Zhang Mengqi
• Starve Acre by director/writer Daniel Kokotajilo
• Together 99 by director/writer Lukas Moodyson

First Feature Competition

• Black Dog by director George Jaques
• Earth Mama by director/writer Savanah Leaf
• Hoard by director/writer Luna Carmoon
• In Camera by director/writer Naqqash Khalid
• Mambar Pierrette by director/writer Rosine Mbakam
• Paradise Is Burning by director Mika Gustafson
• Pena Cordillera by director/writer Felipe Carmona
• The Queen of My Dreams by director/writer Fawzia Mirza
• Sky Peals by director/writer Moin Hussain
• Tiger Stripes by director/writer Amanda Nell Eu
• Tuesday by director/writer Daina O. Pusić

The 67th BFI London Film Festival, in partnership with American Express, takes place between the 4^th of October and the 15^th of October. Tickets go on sale on the 12^th of September and can be booked here. BFI Members can book early from the 6^th of September, and American Express® Cardmembers can access presale from the 8^th of September.