BFI London Film Festival 2022 unveils full line-up

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Source: London Film Festival

[Clockwise top left:] ‘White Noise’, ‘The Whale’, ‘Decision To Leave’, ‘The Eternal Daughter’

Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, Noah Baumbach’s White Noise, Joanna Hogg’s The Eternal Daughter, and Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave are among the titles that will play at the 66th BFI London Film Festival (LFF), that runs from October 5-16.

A total of 164 feature films (up from last year’s 159), including 23 world premieres, six international premieres and 15 European premieres have been programmed, with a curated programme of over 20 features and 15 short films available digitally across the whole of the UK on BFI Player until October 23.

Scroll down for the full LFF 2022 line-up

Over 60 countries are represented, with 41% of the programme from female and non-binary directors and creators or co-directors and co-creators. This is up from last year, when this figure stood at 39%.

Ethnically diverse directors and creators make up 34% of the line-up. This is down from last year’s 40%, but this could be partly owing to a change in the festival’s definition of ‘ethnically diverse’ – this now does not include all Latin American filmmakers, only indigenous and Black Latin Americans.

The festival is maintaining the thematic strands from previous additions: Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Create, Experimenta, Family and Treasures, and, as per last year, the strands will also include TV series.

As previously announced, the festival will open with the world premiere of Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical, and close with the European premiere of Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. World premiere features include stop-motion animation Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio and Asif Kapadia’s Creature.

Following last year’s debut, the LFF Series will also return with eight series, which will include, as previously announced, the world premiere of Hugo Blick’s series The English, starring Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer, and the third season of Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom Trilogy.

Debuts

LFF will also feature 39 debut features, with UK debuts including Medusa Deluxe from Thomas Hardiman – a murder mystery set in a competitive hairdressing competition, that was produced by Emu Films and world premiered at Locarno. Further UK debuts include Georgia Oakley’s Blue Jean, that stars Screen Star of Tomorrow 2022 Rosy McEwen and is set in Margaret Thatcher-era Britain, in which a teacher grapples with concealing her sexuality, debuting in Venice’s Giornate Degli Autori section. Both play in the first feature competition.

Another UK debut is Screen Star of Tomorrow 2019 Dionne Edwards’ Pretty Red Dress, which world premieres in the Love strand. The film stars Natey Jones, singer Alexandra Burke, and new talent Temilola Olatunbosun, in the story of a south London family and how their lives revolve around one red dress.

LFF will return to the BFI Southbank and the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, which between them will host galas, special presentations and official competition. Films and series from all strands of the festival will screen in select cinemas in London with a curated selection of features showcased at 10 partner venues across the UK, which include Home in Manchester, Watershed in Bristol and the Glasgow Film Theatre.

Industry

The majority of this year’s industry and education programme will be events and activities taking place in person as well as being accessible online. Discussions and events will look at topics including how technology is expanding the possibilities of creativity; how screen storytelling is challenging how we see and respond to the world; and how the sector is exploring ways to engage audiences faced by a world in economic turmoil, social and political flux.

The festival’s UK Talent Days (7-10 October), now running in-person for a second year, will connect major international industry professionals with UK creative talent and emerging professionals. This strand of activity includes the festival’s third edition of a works-in-progress showcase, which will be presenting feature films and documentaries made by emerging talent to international buyers, commissioners, producers and programmers.

The industry programme also includes the two-day Film London Production Finance Market (October 11-12), which connects filmmakers and financiers from around the world. This year the market returns as an in-person event for the first time since 2019. Full industry programme details will be announced later this month.

Tricia Tuttle, BFI London Film Festival director said: “As we emerge from an unprecedented period of disruption and change – a global health crisis, instability, climate change, artists are our north star, helping guide us and shape our understanding in a complex and often confusing world. And the work here reminds me again of why we love films, television, visual storytelling of all kinds…it has the power to help us see.”

LFF 2022 programme line-up

*denotes world premiere

Headline Galas

Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical (UK) opening night
Dir. Matthew Warchus

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (US) closing night
Dir. Rian Johnson

Empire Of Light (UK-US)
Dir. Sam Mendes

Bardo, False Chronicle Of A Handful Of Truths (Mex)
Dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu

Decision To Leave (S. Korea)
Dir. Park Chan-wook

Living (UK)
Dir. Oliver Hermanus

Guillermo del Toro’s PInocchio (US)*
Dirs. Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson

She Said (US)
Dir. Maria Schrader

The Son (UK)
Dir. Florian Zeller

Till (US)
Dir. Chinonye Chukwu

The Whale (US)
Dir. Darren Aronofsky

White Noise (US)
Dir. Noah Baumbach

The Wonder (UK-Ire)
Dir. Sebastián Lelio

Special presentations

Allelujiah (UK)
Dir. Richard Eyre

Causeway (US)
Dir. Lila Neugebauer

The English (UK-Sp) TV series*
Dir. Hugo Blick

The Eternal Daughter (UK-US)
Dir. Joanna Hogg

Holy Spider (Den-Ger-Swe-Fr)
Dir. Ali Abbasi

My Imaginary Country (Chile-Fr)
Dir. Patricio Guzmán

My Policeman (UK)
Dir. Michael Grandage

Nanny (US)
Dir. Nikyatu Jusu

Nil By Mouth (UK)
Dir. Gary Oldman

The Swimmers (UK)
Dir. Sally El Hosaini

Triangle Of Sadness (Swe-Ger-Fr-UK)
Dir. Ruben Östlund

Women Talking (US)
Dir. Sarah Polley

The Inspection (US) BFI Flare special presentation
Dir. Elegance Bratton

Piaffe (Ger) Experimenta special presentation
Dir. Ann Oren

Official competition

Argentina, 1985 (Arg)
Dir. Santiago Mitre

Brother (Can)
Dir. Clement Virgo

Corsage (Austria-Lux-Ger-Fr)
Dir. Marie Kreutzer

Les Damnes Ne Pleurent Pas (Fr-Belg-Mor)
Dir. Fyzal Boulifa

Enys Men (UK)
Dir. Mark Jenkin

Godland (Den-Ice-Fr-Swe)
Dir. Hlynur Palmason

Nezouh (UK-Syria-Fr)
Dir. Soudade Kaadan

Saint Omer (Fr)
Dir. Alice Diop

First Feature

1976 (Chile-Arg-Qat)
Dir. Manuela Martelli

Blue Jean (UK)
Dir. Georgia Oakley

Jeong-Sun (S Kor)
Dir. Jeong Ji-hye

Joyland (Pak)
Dir. Saim Sadiq

Medusa Deluxe (UK)
Dir. Thomas Hardiman

Our Lady Of The Chinese Shop (Ang)
Dir. Ery Claver

Robe Of Gems (Arg-Mex)
Dir. Natalia López Gallardo

Rodeo (Fr)
Dir. Lola Quivoron

Documentary competition

All That Breathes (India-UK-US)
Dir. Shaunak Sen

All That Beauty And The Bloodshed (US)
Dir. Laura Poitras

Casa Susanna (Fr-US)
Dir. Sébastien Lifshitz

The Future Tense (Ire-UK)
Dirs. Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor

Kanaval: A People’s History Of Haiti In Six Chapters (Haiti-UK)*
Dirs. Leah Gordon, Eddie Hutton Mills

Lynch/Oz (US)
Dir. Alexandre O. Philippe

Name Me Lawand (UK)*
Dir. Edward Lovelace

What About China? (US-China-Sing)
Dir. Trinh Minh-ha

Immersive/XR competition

All Unsaved Progress Will Be Lost (Fr)
Lead artist: Melanie Courtinat

Apparatus Ludens (UK-Swe)
Lead artist: Untold Garden

As Mine Exactly (UK)
Lead artist: Charlie Shackleton

The Choice (Can-Pol)
Lead artist: Joanne Popinska

Black Movement Library – Movement Portraits (US)
Lead artist: LaJune McMillian

Digital Motions (Ger)
Lead artists: Helge Letonja, Marcel Karnapke, Bjorn Lengers, Anke Euler

Framerate: Pulse Of Earth (UK)
Lead artists: Matthew Shaw, William Trossell, ScanLAB Projects

The Infinite Library (India-Ger-Cze)
Lead artist: Mika Johnson

In Pursuit Of Repetitive Beats (UK)
Lead artist: Darren Emerson

Intravene (UK-Can)
Lead artists: Darkfield, Crackdown, Brenda Longfellow

The Last Time I Saw Snow (UK)
Lead artists: Isabel Mascarenhas-Whitman, Alex Tennyson

Line Of Contact (Neth-UK-Ukr)
Lead artist: Dani Ploeger

Monoliths (UK)
Lead artists: Lucy Hammond, Hannah Davies, Asma Elbadawi, Carmen Marcus

Missing Pictures Ep. 3: Catherine Hardwicke: The Monkey Wrench Gang (Fr-UK-Tai-Lux-S Kor)
Lead artist: Clement Deneux

On The Morning You Wake (To The End Of The World) (UK-Fr-US)
Lead artists: Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio, Mike Brett, Steve Jamison, Arnaud Colinart, Pierre Zandrowicz

Pan + Tilt (UK)
Lead artists: Ruth Gibson, Bruno Martelli

Planet City (US-China)
Lead artists: Liam Young, Kayvan Boudai, Eilliot Ordower, James Clar

Walzer (Neth)
Lead artists: Frieda Gustavs, Leo Erken

Love

Aftersun (UK-US)
Dir. Charlotte Wells

Blue Bag Life (UK)*
Dirs. Lisa Selby, Rebecca Hirsch Lloyd-Evans, Alex Fry

The Blue Caftan (Fr-Mor-Bel)
Dir. Maryam Touzani

Close (Bel-Fr-Neth)
Dir. Lukas Dhont

The Cloud Messenger (Ind)
Dir. Rahat Mahajan

Lady Chatterley’s Lover (UK)
Dir. Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre

Last Flight Home (US)
Dir. Ondi Timoner

Love Life (Jap-Fr)
Dir. Kôji Fukada

Malintzin 17 (Mex-Switz)
Dirs. Eugenio Polgovsky, Mara Polgovsky

Mammals (UK)*
Dir. Stephanie Laing

Maya Nilo (Laura) (Swed)
Dir. Lovisa Sirén

More Than Ever (Fr-Ger-Lux-Nor)
Dir. Emily Atef

One Fine Morning (Fr-Ger)
Dir. Mia Hansen-Løve

Pretty Red Dress (UK)*
Dir. Dionne Edwards

A Room Of My Own (Georgia-Ger)
Dir. Ioseb ‘Soso’ Bliadze

She Is Love (UK)*
Dir. Jamie Adams

Tori And Lokita (Bel-Fr)
Dirs. Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne

Winter Boy (Fr)
Dir. Christophe Honoré

Debate

Blaze (Australia)
Dir. Kathryn Barton

Blue Island (Hong Kong-Jap-Taiwan)
Dir. Chan Tze-woon

Bobi Wine: Ghetto President (Uganda)
Dirs. Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp

Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power (US)
Dir. Nina Menkes

Call Jane (US)
Dir. Phyllis Nagy

Declaration (Ind)
Dir. Mahesh Narayanan

Exterior Night (It-Fr)
Dir. Marco Bellocchio

Hidden Letters (China-US-Nor-Ger)
Dirs. Violet Du Feng, Zhao Qing

If The Streets Were On Fire (UK)*
Dir. Alice Russel

Klondike (Ukr)
Dir. Maryna Er Gorbach

Next Sohee (S. Korea)
Dir. July Jung

Palm Trees And Power Lines (US)
Dir. Jamie Dack

Stonewalling (Jap)
Dirs. Huang Ji, Ryuji Otsuka

The Store (Swe-It)*
Dir. Ami-Ro Sköld

Laugh

Chee$e (Trinidad and Tobago-US)
Dir. Damian Marcano

The Estate (US)*
Dir. Dean Craig

Fast & Feel Love (Thai)
Dir. Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit

I Love My Dad (UK-US)
Dir. James Morosini

Klokkenluider (UK-US)*
Dir. Neil Maskell

The Middle Ages (Arg)
Dirs. Luciana Acuña, Alejo Moguillansky

Rimini (Austria-Fr-Ger)
Dir. Ulrich Seidl

Sick Of Myself (Nor-Swe)
Dir. Kristoffer Borgli

Dare

Butterfly Vision (Ukraine-Czech-Cro-Swe)
Dir. Maksym Nakonechnyi

Coma (Fr)
Dir. Bertrand Bonello

De Humani Corporis Fabrica (Fr)
Dirs. Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Verena Paravel

EO (Pol-It)
Dir. Jerzy Skolimowski

Horseplay (Los Agitadores) (Arg)
Dir. Marco Berger

Inland (UK)*
Dir. Fridtjof Ryder

Into The Ice (Den-Ger)
Dir. Lars Henrik Ostenfeld

Manticore (Sp)
Dir. Carlos Vermut

Pacifiction (Fr-Sp-Ger-Port)
Dir. Albert Serra

Shttl (Ukraine-Fr)*
Dir. Ady Walter

Subtraction (Iran-Fr)
Dir. Mani Haghighi

Unrest (Switz)
Dir. Cyril Schäublin

The Woodcutter Story (Fin-Neth-Den-Ger)
Dir. Mikko Myllylahti

Xalé (Senegal-Ivory Coast)*
Dir. Moussa Sène Absa

Thrill

Ashkal (Fr-Tunisia-Qatar)
Dir. Youssef Chebbi

The Blaze (Fr)*
Dir. Quentin Reynaud

Boy From Heaven (Swe-Fr-Fin-Den)
Dir. Tarik Saleh

Emily The Criminal (US)
Dir. John Patton Ford

Faraaz (Ind)
Dir. Hansal Mehta

The Good Nurse (US)
Dir. Tobias Lindholm

L’Origine Du Mal (Fr-Can)
Dir. Sébastien Marnier

Senorita 89 (Mex)
Dirs. Lucía Puenzo, Nicolás Puenzo, Jimena Montemayor, Sílvia Quer

A Spy Among Friends (UK)*
Dir. Nick Murphy

The Stranger (Australia)
Dir. Thomas M. Wright

The Woman In The White Car (S. Korea)
Dir. Christine Ko

Cult

The Attachment (Den)
Dir. Gabriel Bier Gislason

The Kingdom Exodus (Den)
Dir. Lars von Trier

Linoleum (US)
Dir. Colin West

New Normal (S. Korea)
Dir. Jung Bum-shik

The Nightmare (Nor)
Dir. Kjersti Helen Rasmussen

The Origin (UK)*
Dir. Andrew Cumming

Unicorn Wars (Sp-Fr)
Dir. Alberto Vázquez

You Won’t Be Alone (Australia)
Dir. Goran Stolevski

Experimenta

100 Ways To Cross The Border (US-Mex)
Dir. Amber Bay Bemak

Becoming Plant (UK-Den-Nor)*
Dir. Grace Ndiritu

Qualities Of Life: Living In The Radiant Cold (Ger)
Dir. James Richards

The Blue Rose Of Forgetfulness (US)*
Dir. Lewis Klahr

Roary (UK)
Dir. David Lester

Staging Death (Austria-Ger)
Dir. Jan Soldat

Jill, Uncredited (Can-UK)
Dir. Anthony Ing

Blind Yellow Sunshine (UK)
Dir. Adonia Boucherhri

Herbaria (Arg-Ger)
Dir. Leandro Listorti

Seaweed (UK)
Dir Julia Parks

The Unites States Of America (US)
Dir. James Benning

Patent 1,571,148 (US)
Dir. Kevin Jerome Everson

Transparent (UK)
Dir. Siobhan Davies

Aribada (Col-Ger)
Dirs. Simon(e) Jaikiriuma Paetau, Natalia Escobar

The Severed Tail (Ger)
Dir. Marianna Simnet

I’ll Be Back (UK)
Dir. Hope Strickland

Chuu Chuu (US)
Dir. Adam Kossoff

Vision Of Paradise (Bra-US)
Dir. Leonardo Pirondi

The Ocean Analog (Sp-Mex)
Dir. Luis Macias

Sappukei (Taiwan)
Dirs. Chun Wang, Hikky Chen

A Sod State (Ire-Neth)
Dir. Eoghan Ryan

45^th Parallel (UK)
Dir. Lawrence Abu Hamdan

Chants From A Holy Book (Bra)
Dirs. Cesar Gananian, Cassiana Der Haroutiounian

Takbir (It-Afg)
Dir. Aziz Hazara

As If No Misfortune Had Occurred In The Night (UK-Den)
Dirs. Larissa Sansour, Soren Lind

Journey

After Sherman (US)
Dir. Jon-Sesrie Goff

Aisha (Ire)
Dir. Frank Berry

Alcarràs (Sp-It)
Dir. Carla Simón

Autobiography (Indo-Fr-Sing-Pol-Phil-Ger-Qat)
Dir. Makbul Mubarak

Crows Are White (US)
Dir. Ahsen Nadeem

The Girl From Tomorrow (It-Fr)*
Dir. Marta Savina

High School (US-Can)
Dir. Clea DuVall

Know Your Place (US)
Dir. Zia Mohajerjasbi

Liquor Store Dreams (US)
Dir. So Yun Um

Nayola (Port-Belg-Fr-Neth)
Dir. José Miguel Ribeiro

The Passengers Of The Night (Fr)
Dir. Mikhaël Hers

Shabu (Neth)
Dir. Shamira Raphaëla

Small, Slow But Steady (Jap-Fr)
Dir. Shô Miyake

Summer With Hope (Can-Iran)
Dir. Sadaf Foroughi

Super Eagles ’96 (UK-Nig)*
Dir. Yemi Bamiro

Under The Fig Trees (Tunisia-Fr-Switz-Ger-Qat)
Dir. Erige Sehiri

Utama (Bol-Uru-Fr)
Dir. Alejandro Loayza Grisi

Create

The African Desperate (US)
Dir. Martine Syms

Creature (UK)*
Dir. Asif Kapadia

Fragments Of Paradise (US)
Dir. KD Davison

Geographies Of Solitude (Can)
Dir. Jacquelyn Mills

Getting It Back: The Story Of Cymande (UK)
Dir. Tim Mackenzie-Smith

God Said Give ‘Em Drum Machines (US)
Dir. Kristian R Hill

Leonora Addio (It)
Dir. Paolo Taviani

Meet Me In The Bathroom (UK)
Dirs. Dylan Southern, Will Lovelace

Peter Von Kant (Fr-Belg)
Dir. François Ozon

Self Portrait As A Coffee Pot (S Afr-US)
Dir. William Kentridge

Where Is This Street? Or With No Before And After (Port-Fr)
Dirs. João Pedro Rodrigues, João Rui Guerra da Mata

The Worst Ones (Fr)
Dirs. Lise Akoka, Romane Gueret

Family

The Black Pharaoh, The Savage And The Princess (Fr)
Dir. Michel Ocelot

Mini-Zlatan And Uncle Darling (Swe-Nor)
Dir. Christian Lo

My Father’s Dragon (Ire)*
Dir. Nora Twomey

My Robot Brother (Den)
Dir. Frederik Nørgaard

Neneh Superstar (Fr)
Dir. Ramzi Ben Sliman

Suzie In The Garden (Czechia-Slovakia)
Dir. Lucie Sunková

I’m Not Afraid (Ger-Nor)
Dir. Marita Mayer

Aeronaut (Neth)
Dir. Leon Golterman

Bellysaurus (Australia)
Dir. Philip Watts

Zootropolis + “Godfather Of The Bride” (US)
Dirs. Josie Trinidad, Trent Correy

Bristles (Neth)
Dir. Quentin Haberham

Hush, Hush, Little Bear (Latvia)
Dir. Māra Liniņa

Mr. Spam Gets A New Hat (UK)
Dir. William Joyce

Hello To Me In 100 Years (Tai)
Dir. Wu-Ching Chang

Treasures

All That Money Can Buy (US)
Dir. William Dieterle

The Circus Tent (India)
Dir.Aravindan Govindan

Contras’ City/Badou Boy (Senegal)
Dir. Djibril Diop Mambéty

Eight Deadly Shots (Fin)
Dir. Mikko Niskanen

Foolish Wives (US)
Dir. Erich von Stroheim

Kamikaze Hearts (US)
Dir. Juliet Bashore

The Passion Of Remembrance (UK)
Dirs. Maureen Blackwood, Isaac Julien

The Queen Of Spades (UK)
Dir. Thorold Dickinson

LFF Expanded