With summer nearly over, the year is about to tilt head-first into film festival season – which inevitably gives way to awards season. And as ever, the festivals often give the best indication of which movies are due to clean up in the trophy department, as well as highlighting the independent and foreign films that will be lighting up the big screen in the coming months. The BFI London Film Festival 2019 is nearly here, kicking off on 2 October – and the full line-up of movies has just been confirmed, boasting some incredibly exciting titles.
As previously reported, the LFF will open with Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History Of David Copperfield, a “fresh take” on the Dickens classic, and close with Martin Scorsese’s latest mob epic The Irishman in its international premiere, with Rian Johnson’s original murder-mystery whodunnit Knives Out also scheduled in. Now we can add Taika Waititi’s “anti-hate satire” Jojo Rabbit, the Tom Hanks-starring Mister Rogers movie A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood, the Timothée Chalamet historical drama The King, Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story, James Mangold’s racing drama Le Mans 66, Robert Eggers' black-and-white folk tale The Lighthouse, and more to the list.
As for the Empire Gala, we’ll be presenting Bad Education – the second film by Thoroughbreds director Cory Finley, a comedy-drama about a public school corruption scandal starring Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney, and Ray Romano – on 7 October.
Elsewhere, the line-up also includes Shia LaBeouf’s Honey Boy, the Annette Being and Bill Nighy-starring Hope Gap, twisted fairytale Judy & Punch, Bruce Springsteen’s Western Stars, Gavin Hood’s Official Secrets, Cannes hit Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, Billie Piper’s directorial debut Rare Beasts, and plenty more. Head to the LFF website to read the full, extensive list of movies.
The BFI London Film Festival 2019 will take place between 2 – 13 October, with tickets due to go on sale through the BFI website from 12 September at 10am.