The 2020 BFI Lon­don Film Fes­ti­val line-up has been announced

If noth­ing else, this wretched year has spurred inno­va­tion with­in the cre­ative sec­tor. Accept­ing that the time is not yet now for mass gath­er­ings and busi­ness-as-usu­al cel­e­bra­tions of glob­al art, insti­tu­tions such as the BFI have retooled their annu­al Lon­don Film Fes­ti­val to make it more fit­ting for these test­ing times. Phys­i­cal screen­ings are still in play, though in mas­sive­ly dimin­ished num­bers. Where, in pre­vi­ous years, indus­tri­ous timetablers may have been able to catch six fea­tures in the cin­e­ma on a sin­gle day, in 2020, it may be more like catch­ing one film over six days.

But where phys­i­cal film screen­ings have been wise­ly lim­it­ed in the name of pub­lic health, a small­er, more del­i­cate cor­nu­copia of cin­e­mat­ic delights is being served up dig­i­tal­ly, via the BFI Play­er. Per artis­tic direc­tor Tri­cia Tut­tle, plans had always been afoot to expand the fes­ti­val in three dis­tinct ways, and this year, those plans have been expe­dit­ed. So we have expand­ed access, with lots of films avail­able out­side of the cap­i­tal. We also have an expand­ed indus­try pro­gramme which seeks to make sure Lon­don is also a hub for cre­ative nur­tur­ing and deal­mak­ing. And final­ly, to expand into the world of XR, which is ​“crossed real­i­ty” and the world of mixed media.

Most of the films screen­ing at this year’s fes­ti­val will do so as vir­tu­al pre­mieres. There are 58 films and most will be avail­able to view on the BFI play­er. Then, 13 will be tak­en out to cin­e­mas in Lon­don and across the UK. Exper­i­men­tal and archive films will be free to view, as will the works that play in the immer­sive XR sec­tion. It’s being described as a hybrid mod­el, where dig­i­tal and live screen­ings inter­min­gle. Maybe this is a vision of future fes­ti­vals? Maybe film­mak­ers will find val­ue in doing things this way? We can only wait and see.

Open­ing this year’s fes­ti­val is Steve McQueen’s Man­grove, the high­ly pre­scient chron­i­cle of the so-called Man­grove Nine, a group of Not­ting Hill activists who were able to prove in court that they were sub­ject to racist abuse from the Met­ro­pol­i­tan Police. It’s part of a series of sto­ries under the Small Axe ban­ner, all of which are direct­ed and co-writ­ten by McQueen and will be even­tu­al­ly air­ing on the BBC. Clos­ing things out is Fran­cis Lee’s Ammonite, his high­ly antic­i­pat­ed fol­low-up to 2017 crit­i­cal dar­ling, God’s Own Coun­try, which stars Saoirse Ronan and Kate Winslet as a pair who fall in love while fos­sil hunt­ing in Lyme Regis.

Else­where, ani­ma­tion lovers can see the new Pixar movie Soul direct­ed by Pete Doc­ter and Kemp Pow­ers, and there’s also a new one from Ireland’s Car­toon Saloon (The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea) called Wolfwalk­ers, direct­ed by Tomm Moore and Ross Stew­art. There’s also some inter­est­ing look­ing British selec­tions at this year’s fes­ti­val, includ­ing Har­ry Macqueen’s Super­no­va, a dra­ma about demen­tia star­ring Stan­ley Tuc­ci and Col­in Firth, Ben Sharrock’s Scot­land-set refugee com­e­dy, Lim­bo, and Aleem Kahn’s After Love, which stars Joan­na Scan­lan as a woman who dis­cov­ers her late hus­band was had anoth­er fam­i­ly in Calais.

Oth­er things we’re excit­ed for include a restora­tion of the late Peter Wollen’s Friendship’s Death, star­ring a very young Til­da Swin­ton as an alien explor­ing Earth, and also Cholé Zhao’s Nomad­land, the director’s fol­low-up to her excel­lent 2017 film The Rid­er, which stars the ever-reli­able Frances McDor­mand. We’ve seen Josephine Decker’s Shirley, star­ring Elis­a­beth Moss and Michael Stuhlbarg, and can already attest to its great­ness, and the same goes for the new one by Miran­da July, Kajil­lion­aire, about a fam­i­ly of pet­ty thieves.

You can explore the entire pro­gramme here. We’re going to be watch­ing along with inter­est to see whether a fes­ti­val can retain its ener­gy and impor­tance while being social­ly dis­tanced from its audience.

The BFI Lon­don Film Fes­ti­val runs from 7 – 18 Octo­ber 2020. For more info vis­it bfi​.org​.uk