Festival artistic director Sandra Hebron has announced that The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival will take place from Wednesday 14 October toThursday 29 October 2009.

Last year’s festival opened with the world premiere of Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon and closed with the European premiere of Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire.

The event hosted 191 feature films and 109 short films from 43 countries including 15 world premieres. There were 398 screenings and 537 visiting international filmmakers, a record 1096 industry professionals, and the highest ever audience attendance.

The event will again cater for international filmmakers, industry professionals, the media and large public audiences in London over two weeks.