Simon Stone’s Elsinore, starring Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman, will open the BFI London Film Festival 2026 (LFF October 7-18).
The film will receive its European premiere at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, after a Canadian premiere at Toronto, with a Telluride world premiere expected to be announced later this month.
Billie Piper, Johnny Flynn and Monica Dolan are among the cast of the 1980s-set film about the last year in the life of Scottish Chariots Of Fire star Ian Charleson, as he prepared play Hamlet at the National Theatre in London, close to the LFF venue Royal Festival Hall, before dying of Aids aged 40.
Andrea Occhipinti of Italy’s Lucky Red produces with Gabrielle Tana of the UK’s Magnolia Mae Films, along with Pete Shilaimon and Mickey Liddell of US-based LD Entertainment and Stefano Massenzi and Carolyn Marks Blackwood.
Studiocanal will release in UK-Ireland cinemas on January 29 2027. Focus Features has acquired Elsinore for the US, to release November 20.
Australian Bafta-nominated The Dig filmmaker Stone directs from a script by Pride writer Stephen Beresford.
The full festival programme will be revealed on September 2.
“We couldn’t be prouder to be able to present this quintessentially London film on the opening night of the BFI London Film Festival,” said Stone. “Ian Charleson had many of his greatest triumphs on the stages of the West End, at the Young Vic and of course the National, where he ended his short but dazzling career playing an unforgettable Hamlet. We are so lucky to have Andrew Scott, a London Hamlet himself, breathing delicate inspiring life into this beautiful story.”
“Anchored by Andrew Scott’s astounding central performance, few films will leave a lasting imprint on audiences this year quite like Elsinore,” added LFF director Kristy Matheson. ”Stephen Beresford’s script offers a richly drawn world from which Ddrector Simon Stone and his exceptional ensemble of some of the UK’s greatest talents vividly bring the story of renowned actor Ian Charleson to the screen.”
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