Thank You For Banking With Us, Four Mothers and The Extraordinary Miss Flower are to world premiere at BFI London Film Festival (October 9-20) as part of the 11-strong competition line-up.
Scroll down for the full list of LFF 2024 competition titles
Palestinian filmmaker Laila Abbas’ feature debut, Thank You For Banking With Us, follows two sisters in a race against time to assure their inheritance as a patriarchal system attempts to get in their way.
Also world premiering is UK biographical film The Extraordinary Miss Flower, directed by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, the team behind Sundance 2014 title 20,000 Days On Earth. When Geraldine Flower passed away, her family uncovered a secret cache of letters containing declarations of love from suitors around the globe, hinting at the possibility of a life of espionage.
It is a strong year in the LFF competition for Irish titles, with world premiere Four Mothers, alongside Christopher Andrews’ Toronto title Bring Them Down and Cannes Un Certain Regard film On Becoming A Guinea Fowl all with Irish producers.
Darren Thornton’s comedy drama Four Mothers is an Ireland-set adaptation of Gianni Di Gregorio’s 2008 LFF winner Mid-August Lunch. A queer, up-and-coming novelist forced to balance press commitments with caring for his aging mother. The UK’s Portobello Films and Television and Ireland’s Port Pictures produce.
Screen Star of Tomorrow 2017 Rungano Nyoni’s sophomore feature On Becoming A Guinea Fowl is produced by Ireland-UK company Element Pictures with backing from BBC Film and A24. The surrealist drama is set in Zambia, and explores themes of tradition, abuse and strength within a family. Nyoni’s debut, I Am Not A Witch, also screened at LFF in 2017.
Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbot headline Screen Star of Tomorrow 2019 Andrews’ debut feature, Bring Them Down, about a man forced to take control of his family’s farm owing to the ailing health of his father that draws him into a long conflict with a rival shepherding family. Producers include Ivana MacKinnon of the UK’s Wild Swim, whose title How To Have Sex played at BFI LFF last year, and Ireland’s Tailored Films, with support from Mubi.
The winner is to be chosen by a yet-to-be-announced jury and revealed on October 20. Recent winners of the best film award include Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist in 2023 and Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage in 2022.
“We’re immensely proud to have many UK and Irish filmmakers represented alongside films from across the globe,” said BFI LFF director Kristy Matheson, now leading her second edition.
The full LFF programme will be set on September 4.
LFF 2024 competition titles
*denotes world premiere
April (Fr-Geo-It)
Dir. Dea Kulumbegashvili
Bring Them Down (Ire-UK-Belg)
Dir. Christopher Andrews
The Extraordinary Miss Flower* (UK)
Dirs. Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard
Four Mothers* (Ire-UK)
Dir. Darren Thornton
Living In Two Worlds (Japan)
Dir. Mipo O
Memoir Of A Snail (Australia)
Dir. Adam Elliot
On Becoming A Guinea Fowl (Zambia-UK-Ire)
Dir. Rungano Nyoni
Thank You For Banking With Us* (Palestine-Ger)
Dir. Laila Abbas
The Wolves Always Come At Night (Australia-Mong-Ger)
Dir. Gabrielle Brady
Under The Volcano (Poland)
Dir. Damian Kocur
Vermiglio (It-Fr-Belg)
Dir. Maura Delpero
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