David Farnor | On 07, Oct 2020

The line-up for the 2020 London Film Festival has officially been unveiled, featuring a host of films from more than 40 countries around the world. A hybrid of online event and theatrical previews, the festival will stream 58 films online as virtual premieres, while a number of features will also have in-person previews at BFI Southbank and in other cinemas across the UK. The result is the LFF’s most accessible year yet. Our guide to the top films to stream from this year’s feature line-up is here.

The films

Running from 7th to 18th October, the festival kicks off with the European premiere of Mangrove, starring Letitia Wright, from Steve McQueen’s upcoming BBC series Small Axe, and closes with the UK premiere of Francis Lee’s Ammonite, starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan. As well as screening at the BFI Southbank, both will be screened in cinemas across the UK, with Mangrove’s screenings available for free.

The rest of the film line-up includes the usual thematic strands – Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Cult, Journey, Create, Experimenta, Family and Treasures – and each film will be presented with an intro or Q&A from the filmmakers and programmers.

While there are some omissions that might once have been on the wishlist, such as The French Dispatch and First Cow, the mostly online festival has assembled an impressive collection of titles from established and up-and-coming filmmakers. Josephine Decker’s Shirley, starring Elizabeth Moss, Abel Ferrara’s Siberia, Miranda July’s Kajillionaire, Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor, Ben Sharrock’s Limbo (acquired by MUBI) and Natalie Erika James’ Relic, Jerry Rothwell’s The Reason I Jump and Tomm Moore’s animation Wolfwalkers (to be released by Apple TV+) are all among the virtual screenings.

The cinema screenings

So how will all of this work? Six films are only in cinemas, including the opening and closing films. These are some of the biggest, star-studded titles, including Harry Macqueen’s Supernova, starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci, Pixar’s Soul, directed by Pete Docter and Kemp Powers, Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, starring Frances McDormand.

Participating cinemas including London’s Barbican Centre, ICA, Prince Charles Cinema, Ciné Lumière amd Curzon Mayfair, Nottingham’s Broadway Cinema, Chapter Cardiff, the Glasgow Film Theatre, HOME Manchester, Belfast’s Queen’s Film Theatre Sheffield’s Showroom Cinema and Bristol Watershed.

The virtual premieres

Nine of the films will be available in cinemas and online, including Supernova, Aleem Khan’s Cannes-selected After Love and David Byrne’s Broadway show American Utopia, directed by Spike Lee for HBO, as well Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, Bassam Tariq’s Mogul Mowgli, starring Riz Ahmed, and Phyllida Lloyd’s Herself.

The remaining 44 will be streamed online exclusively on BFI Player. All online features will be geo-blocked to the UK, but the festival’s Screen Talks will be available to experience for free from anywhere in the world. The LFF Expanded strand of 21 XR and Immersive Art films will also be free online worldwide and at BFI Southbank for the duration of the Festival. The international programme of short films is available for free online too.

Viewers engaging with the Festival online will be invited to vote on Virtual LFF Audience Awards in four categories: Best Fiction Feature, Best Documentary Feature, Best Short Film, and Best XR. The winners will be announced in a live online ceremony on the final weekend of the Festival.

Each digital premiere will have a specific starting time. Most films will require you to start watching within 30 minutes of that time, although some films will have a longer, 72-hour window to hit play – however, you’ll still need to have bought a ticket before its official starting time. Once you’ve begun streaming a film, you’ll have a three-hour window to finish.

The tickets

Tickets went on sale to BFI Members at 10am on Wednesday 16th September and to the general public at 10am on Monday 21st September. You can buy tickets for screenings on BFI Player here or at BFI Southbank, with a small allocation of tickets available on the day for every cinema screening. Individual tickets to cinema screenings cost £14 (for the BFI Southbank), while virtual premieres cost £12 per view.

Our full guide to the Screen Talks line-up is here. Our guide to the XR strand is here.

Meanwhile, here’s the breakdown of the full line-up, how you can watch each film and when they’re screening or streaming:

Virtual Premieres

7th October

THE DISCIPLE | Chaitanya Tamhane | Create
9pm

KAJILLIONAIRE | Miranda July | Laugh
9pm

STRAY | Elizabeth Lo | Journey
6.30pm

 

8th October

DAYS | Tsai Ming-Liang | Love
6.30pm
Available on-demand until 11th October

HONEYMOOD | Talya Lavie | Laugh
9pm
Available on-demand until 11th October

THE PAINTER AND THE THIEF | Benjamin Ree | Create
9pm

 

9th October

180° RULE | Farnoosh Samadi | Debate
6.30pm
Available on-demand until 12th October

FAREWELL AMOR | Ekwa Msangi | Love
8.45pm
Available on-demand until 12th October

THE REASON I JUMP | Jerry Rothwell | Journey
8.45pm

RELIC | Natalie Erika James | Cult
8.45pm
Available on-demand until 12th October

 

10th October

A DAY-OFF OF KASUMI ARIMURA (Series) | Hirokazu Kore-eda | Journey
1pm
Available on-demand until 13th October

CHESS OF THE WIND | Mohammad Reza Aslani | Treasures
3pm – available for free
Available on-demand until 13th October

I AM SAMUEL | Pete Murimi | Journey
6.30pm
Available on-demand until 13th October

SIBERIA | Abel Ferrara | Dare
8.30pm

SOUND FOR THE FUTURE | Matt Hulse | Experimenta
8.30pm
Available on-demand until 13th October

WILDFIRE | Cathy Brady | Dare
8.30pm
Available on-demand until 13th October

WOLFWALKERS | Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart | Family
6.30pm

 

11th October

200 METERS | Ameen Nayfeh | Debate
8.30pm

THE CHEATERS | Paulette McDonagh | Treasures
1pm
Available on-demand until 14th October

EYIMOFE | Arie Esiri, Chuko Esiri | Journey
3.50pm
Available on-demand until 14th October

GENUS PAN | Lav Diaz | Journey
5.30pm
Available on-demand until 14th October

INDUSTRY (Series) | Lena Dunham, Tinge Krishnan, Ed Lilly | Journey
5.15pm
Available on-demand until 14th October

NEVER GONNA SNOW AGAIN | Małgorzata Szumowska, Michał Englert | Laugh
8.30pm

 

12th October

CICADA | Matt Fifer and Kieran Mulcare | Love
8.30pm

THE INTRUDER | Natalia Meta | Dare
8.30pm
Available on-demand until 15th October

ULTRAVIOLENCE | Ken Fero | Debate
6.30pm

 

13th October

A COMMON CRIME | Francisco Márquez | Dare
8.30pm

BLOODY NOSE, EMPTY POCKET | Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross | Journey
8.30pm

ONE MAN AND HIS SHOES | Yemi Bamiro | Debate
6.30pm
Available on-demand until 16th October

ROSE: A LOVE STORY | Jennifer Sheridan | Cult
8.30pm
Available on-demand until 16th October

THE SALT IN OUR WATERS | Rezwan Shahriar Sumit | Journey
6.30pm
Available on-demand until 16th October

 

14th October

BAD TALES | Fabio D’Innocenzo, Damiano D’Innocenzo | Dare
8.45pm

IF IT WERE LOVE | Patric Chiha | Love
8.30pm
Available on-demand until 17th October

SHADOW COUNTRY | Bohdan Sláma | Debate
8.45pm
Available on-demand until 17th October

 

15th October

DELIA DERBYSHIRE: THE MYTHS AND LEGENDARY TAPES | Caroline Catz | Create
6.30pm
Available on-demand until 18th October

GOLD FOR DOGS | Anna Cazenave Cambet | Journey
8.30pm
Available on-demand until 18th October

IDENTIFYING FEATURES | Fernanda Valadez | Journey
8.30pm

NOTTURNO | Gianfranco Rosi | Journey
8.30pm

 

16th October

AFRICAN APOCALYPSE | Rob Lemkin | Debate
9pm
Available on-demand until 19th October

LIMBO | Ben Sharrock | Journey
6.30pm

NEW ORDER | Michel Franco | Dare
6.30pm

POSSESSOR | Brandon Cronenberg | Cult
9pm

STRIDING INTO THE WIND | Wei Shujun | Create
6.30pm

ZANKA CONTACT | Ismaël El Iraki | Create
9pm
Available on-demand until 19th October

 

17th October

FRIENDSHIP’S DEATH | Peter Wollen | Treasures
1pm
Available on-demand until 20th October

Only In Cinemas

MANGROVE | Steve McQueen | Opening
From 7th October, 5pm

ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI | Regina King | Journey
From 11th October, 1.45pm

SOUL | Pete Docter, Kemp Powers | Family
From 11th October, 4.40pm

NOMADLAND | Chloé Zhao | Journey
From 16th October, 5.40pm

AMMONITE | Francis Lee | Closing
From 17th October, 5.25pm

THE HUMAN VOICE | Pedro Almodóvar | Shorts
From 17th October, 12pm

LOVERS ROCK | Steve McQueen | Love
From 18th October, 5pm

Virtual and In Cinemas

8th October
HERSELF | Phyllida Lloyd | Love
6.30pm

9th October
SHIRLEY | Josephine Decker | Dare
6.30pm
Available on-demand until 12th October

10th October
MOGUL MOWGLI | Bassam Tariq | Dare
6.30pm
Available on-demand until 13th October

11th October
SUPERNOVA | Harry Macqueen | Love
8.30pm

11th October
TIME | Garrett Bradley | Debate
2.10pm

12th October
UNDINE | Christian Petzold | Love
6.30pm
Available on-demand until 15th October

14th October
ANOTHER ROUND | Thomas Vinterberg | Journey
6.30pm

14th October
DAVID BYRNE’S AMERICAN UTOPIA | Spike Lee | Create
8.45pm – available for free

15th October
AFTER LOVE | Aleem Khan | Love
6.30pm
Available on-demand until 18th October

 

Screen Talks

Talent from the festival’s line-up answer questions and talk about their career. The conversations will all stream for free on the BFI YouTube channel and be available worldwide.

8th October
Letitia Wright
6.30pm

Miranda July
8.30pm

9th October
Tsai Ming-liang
8.30pm

11th October
Riz Ahmed
6.30pm

14th October
Christian Petzold
8.30pm

15th October
David Byrne
8.30pm

17th October
Michel Franco
8.30pm

18th October
George Clooney
4pm

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