The 68th BFI London Film Festival (LFF) recorded the highest in-person attendance for 10 years as Darren Thornton’s Four Mothers wins the audience award.
This year’s edition reached an audience of 230,342. This is up by 18% from 2023 and breaks the record previously held from 2018 of 205,630 attendees.
The figure includes the 12 days of screenings in London and across the UK, and encompasses features, series, shorts, immersive art and extended reality works via LFF Expanded, LFF For Free events, and the LFF Industry Forum.
Occupancy across paid-for and free screenings increased to 92% with 49% of tickets coming from first-time attendees.
Audience awards
Taking home the audience award for best feature was Irish drama Four Mothers which made its world premiere in competition at LFF and follows a queer novelist caring for his ageing mother.
Sophie Compton and Daisy-May Hudson’s Holloway won the audience award for best documentary. The film follows six women recently incarcerated in what was once the largest women’s prison in Europe.
This year marked Kristy Matheson’s second edition as festival director. “It was a delight to see audiences engage with each other and this programme – proving once again the joy and comfort we all find in screen culture,” Matheson said.
More than 815 international and UK filmmakers attended the festival including the likes of Angelina Jolie, Andrew Garfield, Elton John, Julianne Moore, Selena Gomez, Steve McQueen, Richard Curtis and Amy Adams. Sean Baker, Mike Leigh, Denis Villeneuve and Zoe Saldaña were among the participants of the Screen Talks.
As previously announced, winners of the competition strand included Adam Elliot’s Memoir Of A Snail for best film and Laura Carreira’s On Falling in best first feature.
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