LONDON FILM FESTIVAL ON ITS WAY!

London Film Festival – Pre-Festival Round-up

This year’s The Times BFI 51^st London Film Festival’s full programme includes 184 features and 133 shorts as well as a host of screen talks, masterclasses and live events.

Opening the Festival on Thursday 17 October is the UK premiere of David Cronenberg’s EASTERN PROMISES with Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel, whilst Wes Anderson closes the Festival on November 1 with the UK premiere of THE DARJEELING LIMITED, starring Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson and Adrien Brody.

Both films have been garnering a lot of interest all over the world, with Eastern Promises receiving rave reviews from both press screening in London and public screenings at the Toronto Film Festival.

The LFF is also host to a number of Galas and Screening in the square brining together some of the most respected and challenging filmmakers of today together: From Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion winner Ang Lee’s LUST, CAUTION, to renowned director of ‘Russian Ark’ Alexander Sokurov’s ALEXANDRA, Abdellatif ,from director François Ozon, the director of last year’s intensely humane ‘TIME TO LEAVE’ ; ANGEL based on the novel by Elizabeth Taylor, to Sean Penn’s INTO THE WILD, Ermanno Olmi ,from director Michael Haneke his intensely anticipated remake of his own title FUNNY GAMES, ,to the glorious madness of Takeshi Kitano in GLORY TO THE FILMMAKER!, from Andrew Dominik’s THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD), to Todd Hayness’ intriguing I’M NOT THERE and Nobuhiro Yamashita’s THE MATSUGANE POTSHOT AFFAIR . Audiences will also discover debut feature directors including: Céline Sciamma (WATER LILIES), Rodrigo Plá (LA ZONA), Shivajee Chandrabhushan (FROZEN) and Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud (PERSEPOLIS).

As always London film festival will also be surrounded by special events, screenings and master talks. Giving both the cinephiles and the casual audiences the chance to learn, understand and question more about their favourite films and filmmakers, the festival will include events and classes from directors as diverse as Wes Anderson to Robert Rodriguez. Other expected guests include David Cronenberg, Naomi Watts, Cristian Mungiu, Sienna Miller, Andrew Dominik, Tang Wei, Ang Lee, Jason Schwartzman, Julian Schnabel, Tom Cruise, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Jan Svĕrák, Michael Moore, Asif Kapadia, Halle Berry, Susanne Bier, Sean Penn, Michael Pitt, Todd Haynes, Casey Affleck, Tamara Jenkins, Carlos Reygadas, Esther Robinson, Amy Adams, James Marsden, Jason Reitman and Kevin Lima.

Celebrating restorations from archives around the world, Treasures from the Archives showcases features and shorts including: the magnificent ENAMORADA, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and extraordinary, neglected classic KILLER OF SHEEP. The big screen will also come to Trafalgar Square for two nights, ablaze with archive films that celebrate London as one of the world’s great cinematic cities, including Alfred Hitchcock’s BLACKMAIL.

All in all this seems like an intensely interesting and packed to the brims year for the festival If you’d like to get an idea of some of the must-sees of the festival, continue reading for the monsters & Critics’ choice of Top 10 titles to see at The Times Bfi London Film Festival.

TOP TEN MUST-SEES FOR THIS YEAR’S LONDON FILM FESTIVAL:

This is a list intended for those who already have chosen a few titles but would also like to take a chance and see others which they might not know much about. The list isn’t in order in importance but rather in order of appearance on the festival website.

1) 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days (Director: Cristina Mingu): This year’s Palme D’or winner, this Romanian film depicts a harrowing portrait of an illegal abortion in Communist-era Romania. Although the subject matter is grim, this low-budget film achieves a sense of social realism not seen on the screen since the heyday of Mike Leigh and Ken Loach.

2) The Band's Visit (Director: Eran Kolirin): Raising more than a few eyebrows when playing in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival, Eric Kolirin’s debut is a highly infectious, warm and joyful affair sure to win the hearts of any audience member who watches it. Focusing on the story of a small Egyptian police band that comes to Israel in the early 1990s to perform at an Arab cultural centre in Petach Tikva, the film balances wide farce with wit and emotion , creating an undeniably tempting concoction.

3) The Edge Of Heaven (Director: Fatih Akin): Fatih Akin burst onto the European movie scene with his shocking and intense Turco-German drama Against The Wall (Gegen Die Wand). With this multi-layered, intricately plotted drama about the story of a Turkish man travels to Istanbul to find the daughter of his father's former live-in prostitute girlfriend confirms that he is one of the names to watch. The film is a blueprint for economy and precision in film-making with each scene, each line and each shot counting towards the end result.

4)Grace Is Gone (Director: James C. Strouse): Last year, filmgoers experienced James C. Strouse’s writing in Steve Buscemi’s Lonesome Jim. This year they get to experience his debut feature. A stunning central performance from John Cusack as Stanley Phlilps, a father of two whose soldier wife gets killed in Iraq, Grace Is Gone is an eloquent, touching look at the impact of war on one average family.

5) In Memory Of Me (Director: Saverio Contanzo) : Saverio Contanzo’ s first film , Private , was a stunning story of a Palestinia family trapped in their house by Israeli soldiers. His second, In Memory Of Me , continues Contanzo’s ability to create large-scale drama in small-scale locations by telling the story of Andrea whose quest to find himself leads him into being accepted by a small Jesuit seminary isolated on an island near Venice. To reveal anymore would ruin the joy of experience Saverio Contanzo’s film, with patterns, dynamics and stories slowly but surely exposing themselves through the routines and the training at the seminary under the ever-watchful and stern eye of the Father Superior.

6) In Prison All My Life (Direcotr: Marc Evans) : In a year that is exceptionally strong in the documentaries category, In Prison All My Life, stands out as a compelling statement on the issue of death penalty in America.. Through the figure of William Francomme, a middle-class Englishman, who gets involved directly in the case of Mumia Abu-Jabul who has been in jail awaiting his execution since being sentenced in 1981 for the killing of a police officer. A thoughtful, insightful affair, In Prison All My Life, shows why documentaries continue to be one of the strongest arms of both cinema in general and film festivals.

7) The Trap (director: Srdan Golubovic) : A modern day film noir as well as an updating of ‘Crime And Punishment’ this tense drama ; adapted from the novel by Nenad Teofilovic, rests on a monumental performance by Melina Pota as Mladen who is forced to take extreme measures in order to obtain the 26,000 Euros for an operation to save his son.

8) Saturno Contro (Director: Ferzan Ozpetek): A group of friends, now edging towards their 40s, have managed to remain a tight knit group throughout the changes in their lives. However, their solidarity is threatened by the shocking circumstances they experience when one of them is suddenly taken ill. Returning to familiar ground, Ferzan Ozpetek weaves a tale of close-knit friends and creates wholly believable characters who reactions always stay this side of interesting.

9) Planet Terror (Director: Robert Rodriguez): Yes, it might be coming out in cinemas everywhere soon but this might be your only chance to catch something so outrageous and so cult within the oeuvre of The Times Bfi 51^st London Film Festival. Literally a love letter to all the gore-soaked films of the 70’s, Planet Terror is a disgusting, gory, unbelievable and funny ride that once seen you will never, ever forget.

10) Tuya’s Marriage (Director: Wang Quan An) : One of the unforeseen pleasures of this year's Berlinale, Golden Bear-winning Tuya's Marriage is the story of one woman's struggle to support her family, set against the backdrop of a disappearing way of life.. An enjoyable slice-of-life drama suffused with gentle humour, the film focuses on Tuya, a young Mongolian woman who reluctantly aggress to divorce her incapacitated husband and see new suitors but with one condition: the man who marries her will look after her old husband Bater as well as her family. As she sees one suitor after next and fails to find someone, her drunken but kind-hearted neighbor Sen’ge watches on.

UPDATE:

The BFI 51^st LONDON FILM FESTIVAL BOOKING PERIOD STARTS

From the 29^th September, the London Film Festival will be open for public bookings! Now is your chance to enjoy this year’s many Gala’s and First-Time screenings. Tickets can be booked by one of the two easy methods: By visiting the festival website at www.lff.org.uk or by calling 0207 928 32 32.

Due toLondon Film Festival being first and foremost a public film festival, it means that you, the public can actually buy tickets to attend huge glitzy premieres, as well as having the opportunity to see future award-winning films and world cinema gems before they go on general release. Last year film such as ‘HALF NELSON’ , ‘LAST KING OF SCOTLAND’ and ‘THE LIVES OF OTHERS’ were first screened at the London Film Festival before anywhere.

Remember though a lot of screening sell-out very quickly! So you have to be quick off the mark to catch the tickets!

Enjoy the festival!