London announces line-up

Galas include Brooklyn and Trumbo.

by Amber Wilkinson

Fifties Ireland: Eilis must confront a terrible dilemma — a heartbreaking choice between two men and two countries, between duty and true love.
Fifties Ireland: Eilis must confront a terrible dilemma — a heartbreaking choice between two men and two countries, between duty and true love. Photo: Kerry Brown
The full programme of the 59th London Film Festival has been announced by director Clare Stewart.

Galas will include the European premieres of John Crowley's Brooklyn and Jay Roach's Trumbo, while Johnnie To's Office, Jonás Cuarón's Desierto and Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya's Very Big Shot will all have their European premiere in the Official Competition.

The festival will screen 238 features, including 16 world premieres, eight international premieres, 40 European premieres and 11 archive films.

As previously announced, the 59th edition will open with Sarah Gavron's Suffragette and close with Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs - both European premieres.

Each of the festival's nine strands will feature its own gala. They are Luca Guadadnino’s A Bigger Splash, Stephen Frears’ The Program, Yorgos Lathimos’ The Lobster, the Ondi Timoner’s documentary Brand: A Second Coming (European premiere), Deepa Mehta’s Beeba Boys (international premiere), S Craig Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk (international premiere), Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Assassin, Hany Abu-Assad’s The Idol (European premiere) and Rob Letterman’s Goosebumps (European premiere).

The films in competition and the gala screenings are below:

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)

First Feature Competition

Titles In Consideration For The Sutherland Award In The First Feature Competition Recognising An Original And Imaginative Directorial Debut Are:

  • 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)

Documentary Competition

  • (be)longing (João Pedro Plácido)
  • Censored Voices (Mor Loushy)
  • The Fear Of 13 (David Sington)
  • Frame By Frame (Alexandria Bombach, Mo Scarpelli)
  • Francofonia (Alexander Sokurov)
  • In Jackson Heights (Frederick Wiseman)
  • Jia Zhangke, A Guy From Fenyang (Walter Salles)
  • Mr. Gaga (Tomer Heymann)
  • The Pearl Button (Patricio Guzmán)
  • Public House (Sarah Turner)
  • Sherpa (Jennifer Peedom)
  • Something Better To Come (Hanna Polak)

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 (AV 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)

Short Film Award

  • Command Action (João Paulo Miranda Maria)
  • Dissonance (Till Nowak)
  • Edmond (Nina Gantz)
  • The Exquisite Corpus (Peter Tscherkassky)
  • A Hole In My Heart (Mees Peijnenburg)
  • Lili (An Van Dienderen)
  • Mother(s) (Maïmouna Doucouré)
  • An Old Dog’s Diary (Shai Heredia, Shumona Goel)
  • Operator (Caroline Bartleet)
  • Over (Jörn Threlfall)
  • Red Moon Rising (Vivienne Dick)
  • Tuesday (Ziya Demirel)
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