Blockbusters starring Elisabeth Moss, Riz Ahmed and Colin Firth are among movies in the BFI London Film Festival’s “most accessible” line-up in its 64-year history.
Fifty-eight films from 40 countries will be broadcast in 13 cinemas nationally and digitally for the first time.
Works by Spike Lee, Miranda July, Garrett Bradley, Sir Steve McQueen and Francis Lee will be shown during the 12-day festival, which has expanded its online presence and regional screenings because of the pandemic and concerns over accessibility.
The full line-up for the festival, which runs from October 7 to 18, includes the virtual premiere of Mogul Mowgli. The film is co-written by Emmy-winner Ahmed and follows a British-Pakistani rapper, portrayed by him, whose life spirals out of control when he succumbs to a debilitating illness when on the verge of success.
Josephine Decker’s psychodrama Shirley sees Golden Globe-winner Moss portray Shirley Jackson — a novelist who is inspired for her upcoming work when a local girl disappears and two young newly-weds come to stay.
Other films to be shown include Supernova, starring Firth and Stanley Tucci as a couple grappling with dementia. The new Pixar film Soul, featuring Jamie Foxx, and Chloe Zhao’s eagerly-anticipated Nomadland, starring Oscar-winner Frances McDormand, will also be screened. Lee’s American Utopia, a concert film adaptation of David Byrne’s American Utopia, will be screened free on the BFI Player.
July will also unveil her film Kajillionaire, about a family of con artists. The 2020 opening night offering is Mangrove, part of McQueen’s Small Axe anthology about race relations in Notting Hill in the Seventies. Tricia Tuttle, director of BFI Festivals, said: “Social justice is a strong theme throughout the programme.”
