The BFI London Film Festival has unveiled the full selection of titles for this year’s 2015Â edition and it is certainly offering up a tantalising array of films.Â
It has already been revealed that the opening and closing night films are SUFFRAGETTE and STEVE JOBS, respectively, along with Cannes-pleaser CAROL.
Benedict Cumberbatch, Dame Helen Mirren and Dame Maggie Smith are among the big British stars leading the 2015 BFI London Film Festival (LFF) and they’re expected to attend the screenings of their new films, BLACK MASS, TRUMBO and THE LADY IN THE VAN during the 12-day festival, which runs from October 7 to October 18.
Cumberbatch plays William “Billy” Bulger in the biopic about Boston mobster Whitey Bulger – played by Johnny Depp – will join director Scott Cooper, while Dame Helen will attend the premiere of Trumbo alongside co-star Bryan Cranston and filmmaker Jay Roach.
Dame Maggie stars as an elderly woman who lived in a battered car on the driveway of the writer Alan Bennett for 15 years in THE LADY IN THE VAN, directed by Nicholas Hytner and adapted from Bennett’s play.
Other major presentations at the annual British event will include HIGH-RISE, from rising British name Ben Wheatley, which stars Tom Hiddleston, Sienna Miller and Luke Evans and the highly anticipated BEASTS OF NO NATION starring Idris Elba.
This year’s star-studded list of attendees also include Meryl Streep, Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, Kate Winslet, Colin Farrell, and Cate Blanchett.
There is a large line-up of biopics at the festival including Sarah Gavron‘s drama SUFFRAGETTE, starring Streep, Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter, which opens the festival, while Danny Boyle‘s biopic about late Apple co-founder STEVE JOBS, starring Fassbender and Winslet, will close the event.
Stephen Frears‘ film about disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, featuring Ben Foster, THE PROGRAM, Yorgos Lanthimos‘ sci-fi romantic thriller THE LOBSTER starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz will also be shown as part of the gala screenings at the festival.Â
Davis Guggenheim‘s documentary HE NAMED ME MALALAÂ and James Vanderbilt‘s TRUTH, starring Blanchett, are amongst the special presentations.
Festival director Clare Stewart said this is “the year of the strong woman”, adding that Suffagette is “universal in its themes and London-specific in its story”.
There are so many fantastic films thrown into this year’s mix, we cannot wait already for the festival to begin.
Here’s the full London Film Festival line-up:Â
Official Competition
11 Minutes (Jerzy Skolimowski)
Beasts of No Nation (Cary Fukunaga)
Cemetery of Splendour (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
Chevalier (Athina Rachel Tsangari)
The Daughter (Simon Stone)
Desierto (Jonás Cuarón)
Evolution (Lucile Hadžihalilović)
Office (Johnnie To)
Room (Lenny Abrahamson)
Son of Saul (László Nemes)
Sunset Song (Terence Davies)
Tangerine (Sean Baker)
Very Big Shot (Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya)
Gala Screenings
Suffragette (Sarah Gavron)
Steve Jobs (Danny Boyle)
Carol (Todd Haynes)
Trumbo (Jay Roach)
Black Mass (Scott Cooper)
The Lady in the Van (Nicholas Hytner)
High-Rise (Ben Wheatley)
Shooting Stars (A.V. Bramble, Anthony Asquith)
A Bigger Splash (Luca Guadagnin)
The Program (Stephen Frears)
The Lobster (Yorgos Lathimos)
Brand: A Second Coming (Ondi Timoner)
Beeba Boys (Deepa Mehta)
Bone Tomahawk (Craig Zahler)
The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-Hsien)
The Idol (Hany Abu-Assad)
Goosebumps (Rob Letterman)
Special Presentations
The Forbidden Room (Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson)
He Named Me Malala (Davis Guggenheim)
Truth (James Vanderbilt)
First Feature Competition
3000 Nights (Mai Masri)
Bang Gang (Eva Husson)
The Here After (Magnus von Horn)
Krisha (Trey Edward Shults)
Lamb (Yared Zeleke)
Lights Years (Esther May Campbell)
Partisan (Ariel Kleiman)
Paula (Eugenio Canevari)
Tanna (Bentley Dean, Martin Butler)
The Wait (Piero Messina)
Wedding Doll (Nitzan Gilady)
The Witch (Robert Eggers)
The London Film Festival will run October 7th-18th.
