Jurors across LFF prizes include John Madden, Sam Taylor Wood, Andrew Eaton, Andy Harries, and Anne-Marie Duff.

The 55th BFI London Film Festival will give its highest honour, the BFI Fellowship, to David Cronenberg, director of A Dangerous Method, and Ralph Fiennes [pictured], director of Coriolanus, as part of this year’s LFF awards ceremony on Oct 26.

David Cronenberg said: “This is a monumental, in fact overwhelming, honour, and my being the first Canadian to receive it makes it all the sweeter.British cinema has been a potent inspiration for me, and to be associated with this particular group of filmmakers is tremendously exhilarating.”

Fiennes added: “I’m extremely honoured and delighted to be given this fellowship by the BFI.”

The festival has also announced its jurors and awards shortlists for the 2011 edition.

The jury for the Best Film Award, presented in partnership with American Express, will include director John Madden, actress Gillian Anderson, director Asif Kapadia, producer Tracey Seaward, writer Andrew O’Hagan and artist/filmmaker Sam Taylor Wood.

Festival organisers have shortlisted the following films for Best Film:

  • 360, Fernando Meirelles (UK/Austria/France/Brazil)
  • The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius (France)
  • The Deep Blue Sea, Terence Davies (UK)
  • The Descendants, Alexander Payne (US)                                                    
  • Faust, Aleksandr Sukurov (Russia)                 
  • The Kid With A Bike, Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne (Belgium/France/Italy)
  • Shame, Steve McQueen (UK)
  • Trishna, Michael Winterbottom (UK)
  • We Need To Talk About Kevin, Lynne Ramsay (UK/US)    

The jury for Best British Newcomer will include Anne-Marie Duff, Tom Hollander, Nik Powell, Andy Harries, Edith Bowman and Stephen Woolley.

The shortlist for Best British Newcomer is:

  • Nick Murphy, director, The Awakening
  • Tinge Krishnan, director, Junkhearts
  • Candese Reid, actress, Junkhearts
  • Nirpal Bhogal, writer/director, Sket
  • Aimee Kelly, actress, Sket
  • Tom Cullen, actor, Weekend
  • Chris New, actor, Weekend
  • D.R. Hood, writer/director, Wreckers

The LFF will also present the Sutherland Award, presented to the director of the most original and imaginative feature debut in the programme. The jurors will be artist Phil Collins, producer Andrew Eaton, director Joanna Hogg, director Peter Kosminsky, actress Saskia Reeves, Icon UK’s Hugo Grumbar and journalist Tim Robey.

The Sutherland shortlist is:

  • Corpo Celeste, Alice Rohrwacher, (Italy/Switzerland/France)
  • Eternity, Sivaroj Kongsakul (Thailand)
  • Here, Braden King (US)
  • The House, Zuzana Liová (Czech Republic)
  • Las Acacias, Pablo Giorgelli (Argentina/Spain)
  • Last Winter, John Shank (Belgium/France)
  • Michael,  Markus Schleinzer (Austria)
  • Mourning, Morteza Farshbaf (Iran)
  • She Monkeys, Lisa Aschan (Sweden)
  • Snowtown, Justin Kurzel (Australia)
  • The Sun-Beaten Path, Sonthar Gyal (China)
  • Without, Mark Jackson (US)

The Grierson Award for Best Documentary, presented in partnership with the Grierson Trust will have jurors including filmmakers Adam Curtis and Kim Longinotto, Mandy Chang of the Grierson Trust, and BBC head of documentary commissioning Charlotte Moore.

This year’s shortlist is:

  • Bernadette: Notes On A Political Journey, Lelia Doolan (Ireland)
  • Better This World, Katie Galloway, Kelly Duane de la Vega (US)
  • The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, Goran Hugo Olsson (Sweden/US)
  • Dragonslayer, Tristan Patterson (US)
  • Dreams of a Life, Carol Morley (UK/Ireland)
  • Into The Abyss: A Tale Of Death, A Tale Of Life,  Werner Herzog (US)
  • Last Days Here, Don Argott & Demian Fenton (US)

The LFF awards are supported by MontBlanc.