The 67th BFI London Film Festival (LFF) will open with the international premiere of Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn on October 4.
The Amazon Studios film will open Kristy Matheson’s first edition as BFI festivals director, with the festival running from October 4-15.
A world premiere slot for Saltburn has not yet been confirmed. Last month Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera told Screen that the film will have its world premiere in Telluride before heading to Toronto, adding that “only Amazon can say” why it is launching there and not at Venice.
The film will receive simultaneous preview screenings at multiple UK venues alongside its LFF screening, in line with recent LFF opening titles.
Saltburn is writer-director Fennell’s second feature, after Promising Young Woman, for which she won the best original screenplay Oscar in 2021. Both films were produced by Margot Robbie and Josey McNamara for their LuckyChap Entertainment, which has just crossed a $1bn worldwide box office on Barbie. MRC also produced Saltburn.
Set in the mid-2000s, Saltburn follows a student struggling to find his place at Oxford University, who is invited to the sprawling estate of the charming, aristocratic Felix Catton for a memorable summer.
Screen 2015 Star of Tomorrow Barry Keoghan leads the cast, alongside Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, 2017 Star Archie Madekwe and 2008 Star Carey Mulligan.
Amazon Studios and MGM will release Saltburn exclusively in cinemas on November 24.
The film shot in the UK in 2022. Matheson described the Saltburn as “an expertly crafted and exhilarating thrill ride of a film that showcases an enormous depth of UK talents in front of and behind the camera.”
She added that it is a “hugely ambitious film” which contains “exceptional performances, delicious plot twists and a soundtrack of early 21st century pop bangers.”
Fennell added that it “feels extra-special” that “this very British tale of excess” can have its international launch at LFF.
LFF continuity
LFF has confirmed it will return to its regular venues, including gala screenings taking place at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.
The competition programme, Screen Talks and LF for Free events will run at the BFI Southbank, with further venues including the BFI Imax, Curzon Mayfair and Soho, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Prince Charles Cinema and Vue West End.
Festival venues across the UK include Broadway Cinema in Nottingham, Chapter in Cardiff, Glasgow Film Theatre, Home in Manchester, MAC in Birmingham, Queen’s Film Theatre in Belfast, Showroom Cinema in Sheffield, Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle and Watershed in Bristol.
Press and industry screenings will take place at London’s Picturehouse Central and Odeon Luxe Leicester Square; with the festival’s press launch on Thursday, August 31.
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