Festivals >> London >> 2009 >> Galas And Special Screenings

An Education (Country: UK; Director: Lone Scherfig; Writer: Nick Hornby, based on a memoir by Lynn Barber; Cast: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Cara Seymour, Emma Thompson, Sally Hawkins, Rosamund Pike, Dominic Cooper, Olivia Williams, Matthew Beard)
In the early Sixties, a sharp 16-year-old with sights set on Oxford meets a handsome older man whose sophistication enraptures and sidetracks both her and her parents. Full Review See: Sundance Diary: Day Eight View Trailer

The Boys Are Back (Country: Australia, UK; Director: Scott Hicks; Writer: Allan Cubitt, from a memoir by Simon Carr; Cast: Clive Owen, Emma Booth, Laura Fraser, George MacKay, Nicholas McAnulty, Julia Blake, Chris Haywood, Erik Thomson, Natasha Little, Lewis Fitz-Gerald)
Clive Owen plays a wisecracking sportswriter suddenly forced into single parenthood by the tragic death of his wife. Forced to raise his two sons in the throes of grief, he introduces a "just say yes" style of parenting with exuberant, and potentially disastrous, results. Full Review See: Interview with Clive Owen about his career Official Site, View Trailer

Bright Star (Country: UK, Australia, France; Director: Jane Campion; Writer: Jane Campion; Cast: Abbie Cornish, Ben Whishaw, Kerry Fox, Paul Schneider)
The poet John Keats meets the woman who is to become the love of his life. Full Review See: Jane Campion talks about Bright Star and her career Official Site, View Trailer

Chloe (Country: US, Canada; Director: Atom Egoyan; Writer: Erin Cressida Wilson; Cast: Amanda Seyfried, Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, Max Thieriot)
When a wife hires a prostitute to test her husband's fidelity, trouble isn't far behind. Full Review See: San Sebastian Film Festival 2009: Diary, Chloe, Inglourious Basterds and Whatever Works reviews, Atom Egoyan interview about Chloe View Trailer

Fantastic Mr. Fox (Country: US; Director: Wes Anderson; Writer: Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach, based on the book by Roald Dahl.; Cast: Voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Wally Wolodarsky, Eric Anderson, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe, Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, Jarvis Cocker, Wes Anderson, Karen Duffy, Robin Hurlstone, Hugo Guinness, Helen McCrory, Roman Coppola, Juman Malouf, Brian Cox)
Animated version of Roald Dahl's tale about a wily fox. Full Review Official Site, View Trailer

Father Of My Children (Le père de mes enfants) (Country: Germany, France; Director: Mia Hansen-Løve; Writer: Mia Hansen-Løve; Cast: Chiara Caselli, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Alice de Lencquesaing, Michaël Abiteboul, Manelle Driss, Sandrine Dumas, Eric Elmosnino, Dominique Frot, Alice Gautier, Libertad Gills, Valerie Lang, Harald Leander, Igor Hansen Love, Antoine Mathieu, Patrick Mimoun)
A French producer struggles to balance completing his roster of films with the demands of his young family. Full Review Official Site

The Men Who Stare At Goats (Country: US; Director: Grant Heslov; Writer: Peter Straughan, based on the book by Jon Ronson; Cast: George Clooney, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, Ewen McGregor, Robert Patrick, Stephen Lang, Stephen Root)
The story of a reporter (Ewan McGregor) who stumbles upon the story of a lifetime when he meets a Special Forces operator (George Clooney) claiming to be a former psychic soldier? from a squad trained in paranormal techniques. What follows is a hilarious and eye opening mission to track down his leader, who hasbecome embroiled in a standoff with a renegade psychic. Full Review Official Site, View Trailer

Micmacs (Micmacs à tire-larigot) (Country: France; Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet; Writer: Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Guillaume Laurant; Cast: Dany Boon, André Dussollier, Nicolas Marié, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Yolande Moreau, Julie Ferrier, Omar Sy, Dominique Pinon, Michel Crémadès, Marie-Julie Baup, Urbain Cancelier, Patrick Paroux, Jean-Pierre Becker, Stéphane Butet, Philippe Girard)
Satire on the arms trade, tracking one man's plan to blow up arms manufacturers. Full Review View Trailer

Nowhere Boy (Country: UK; Director: Sam Taylor-Wood; Writer: Matt Greenhalgh, based on the book by Julia Baird; Cast: Aaron Johnson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Anne-Marie Duff, Thomas Brodie Sangster, David Morrissey, David Threlfall, Josh Bolt, Andrew Buchan)
Biopic of John Lennon's younger years. Full Review View Trailer

A Prophet (Un prophète) (Country: France, Italy; Director: Jacques Audiard; Writer: homas Bidegain and Jacques Audiard, based on an original screenplay by Abdel Raouf Dafri and Nicolas Peufaillit; Cast: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Reda Kateb, Hichem Yacoubi, Jean-Philippe Ricci, Gilles Cohen, Antoine Basler, Leïla Bekhti, Pierre Leccia, Foued Nassah, Jean-Emmanuel Pagni, Frédéric Graziani, Slimane Dazi)
An illiterate teenager struggles when he is sent to jail, but after embarking on a series of "missions" for a gang leader, he begins to hatch plans of his own. Full Review See: French Film Festival preview Official Site, View Trailer

The Road (Country: US; Director: John Hillcoat; Writer: Cormac McCarthy, Joe Penhall; Cast: Charlize Theron, Viggo Mortensen, Garret Dillahunt, Guy Pearce, Robert Duvall, Molly Parker, Michael K. Williams, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Brenna Roth, Bob Jennings, Jeremy Ambler, David August Lindauer, Jack Erdie, Nick Pasqual, Jared Pfennigwerth)
An unnamed father and son travel through a post-apocalyptic America in this adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize winning novel. Full Review See: Viggo Mortensen BAFTA interview Official Site, View Trailer

A Serious Man (Country: US; Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen; Writer: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen; Cast: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick, Simon Helberg, Adam Arkin, Amy Landecker, Aaron Wolff, Jessica McManus)
Black comedy about a professor whose life starts to unravel. Full Review

Toy Story 2 (Toy Story 2 (3D)) (Country: UK/US; Director: John Lasseter; Writer: Andrew Stanton, Rita Hsiao, Doug Chamberlin, Chris Webb; Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Kelsey Grammer, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts, Wayne Knight, John Morris, Jonathan Harris)
Living toys take on a shady collector in excellent sequel. To be shown in 3D at London Film Festival. Full Review

Underground (Country: UK; Director: Anthony Asquith; Writer: Anthony Asquith; Cast: Brian Aherne, Elissa Landi, Cyril McLaglen, Norah Baring)
Story of love, treachery and murder on the London underground. Restored and presented with a live performance of Neil Brand's new score by the Prima Vista Social Club.

Up In The Air (Country: US; Director: Jason Reitman; Writer: Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner, based on the novel by Walter Kirn; Cast: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Danny McBride, Melanie Lynskey, Sam Elliott, JK Simmons)
George Clooney stars a corporate downsizing expert who, faced with being grounded, makes one last trip in a bid to convince his employers to keep him in the air. Full Review Official Site, View Trailer

The White Ribbon (Das weiße Band Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte) (Country: Austria, Germany, France, Italy; Director: Michael Haneke; Writer: Michael Haneke; Cast: Ernst Jacobi, Christian Friedel, Susanne Lothar, Leonie Benesch, Ulrich Tukur, Ursina Lardi, Burghart Klaussner, Rainer Bock, Josef Bierbichler, Branko Smarovski)
Palme d'Or winner considers tensions in a German town on the eve of the First World War. Full Review Official Site, View Trailer

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