London Film Festival unveils 2011 programme including 13 world premieres

The LFF programme - Sandra Hebron’s last as artistic director - features 13 world premieres, 18 international premieres and 22 European premieres, including a host of favourites from Cannes, Venice and Toronto and a strong emphasis on British features.

Michael Winterbottom’s Trishna, Lynne Ramsay’s We Need To Talk About Kevin, Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights, Steve McQueen’s Shame and Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus are amongst the high-profile British films to screen at the festival, which runs Oct 12-27.

First time feature debuts from British filmmakers include Nick Murphy’s Toronto-bound supernatural drama The Awakening starring Rebecca Hall and Dominic West; Dexter Fletcher’s Wild Bill; and the world premieres of D.R. Hood’s Wreckers and Tinge Krishnan’s urban drama Junkhearts starring Eddie Marsan.

Marc Evans’ Wales-set ’70s musical feature Hunky Dory will also have its world premiere at the festival along with Screen 2011 Star of Tomorrow Frances Lea’s Strawberry Fields which was funded via Film London’s microbudget Microwave scheme. 11 of the 13 world premieres are British features.

Other British films to make the cut include Nick Broomfield’s documentary Sarah Palin - You Betcha!, Andrew Haigh’s second feature Weekend, Nirpal Bhogal’s urban drama Sket (world premiere) and Alexandra McGuiness’ Lotus Eaters.

Meanwhile George Clooney, who is expected to attend the festival, will feature in two of the LFF’s gala presentations, political thriller The Ides Of March and the Alexander Payne’s The Descendents, which will have its European premiere at the LFF.

Payne and Michael Winterbottom are expected to take part in the LFF Screen Talks, while Miranda July, composer Alexandre Desplat and cinematographer Barry Ackroyd will all be giving masterclasses.

Other high-profile international titles to screen at the LFF include David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, Madonna’s W.E and Roman Polanski’s Carnage, all of which world premiered at Venice, while Roland Emmerich’s Anonymous, and Werner Herzog’s Into The Abyss, which are screening in Toronto, will also be in the line-up.

US titles to make the line up include Jonathan Levine’s 50/50, Sean Durkin’s debut Cannes/Sundance hit Martha Marcy May Marlene, and Jonathan Demme’s I’m Carolyn Parker.

The festival will also shine the spotlight on French Cinema with films including Dominik Moll’s The Monk, Mathieu Demy’s Americano and Mathieu Amalric’s The Screen Illusion. The Dardenne Brothers’ Cannes Grand Prix winner The Kid With The Bike will also screen at the LFF.

The 55th BFI London Film Festival, sponsored by American Express for the second year running, will open with Fernando Meirelles’ 360 and close with Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea, both of which star British actress Rachel Weisz.   

World premieres, BFI London Film Festival 2011

The First Born, dir Miles Mander (UK)
Hunky Dory, dir Marc Evans (UK)
Dreams Of A Life, dir Carol Morley (UK)
How To Re-Establish A Vodka Empire, dir Daniel Edelstyn (UK)
Lawrence Of Belgravia, dir Paul Kelly (UK)
Junkhearts, dir Tinge Krishnan (UK)
Sket, dir Nirpal Bhogal (UK)
The Somnambulists, dir Richard Jobson (UK)
Strawberry Fields, dir Frances Lea (UK)
Wreckers, D.R Hood (UK)
Hut In The Woods, dir Hans Weingartner (Germany)
Anda Union: From The Steppes To The City, dir Tim Pearce, Sophie Lascelles, Marx Tiley, (UK)
Asmaa, dir Amr Salama (Egypt)