Competition juries announced for 70th BFI London Film Festival

The Official Competition jury, which will select the winner of the Best Film Award, is led by one of America’s most acclaimed documentary filmmakers, Sam Pollard. With a career spanning more than four decades, Pollard has received Peabody and Emmy Awards, an Academy Award nomination and the International Documentary Association’s Career Achievement Award. Renowned for exploring race, history and social justice with depth and clarity, Pollard’s recent directing credits include Tutu – which won the Peace Film Prize at the 2026 Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), alongside a Special Mention from the Berlinale Documentary Award jury, I Was Born This Way (2025), The League (2023), South to Black Power (2023), Citizen Ashe (2021) and MLK/FBI (2020). Widely respected across the industry, he remains a leading voice in contemporary documentary filmmaking. 

The First Feature Competition (Sutherland Award) jury will be headed up by British Egyptian actor and producer Amir El-Masry. El-Masry won a Scottish BAFTA for his performance in Limbo and was named a 2020 BAFTA Breakthrough Brit and a 2021 Screen International Star of Tomorrow. His recent screen work includes the Naseem Hamed biopic Giant and 100 Nights of Hero. 

Leading the jury selecting the winner of the Grierson Award for the Documentary Competition is British Indian writer and director Sandhya Suri. Her Hindi-language narrative fiction debut Santosh premiered at Cannes in 2024, won the BIFA for Best Screenplay, was nominated for an Outstanding British Debut BAFTA and shortlisted for the Oscars. Suri, who originally made her debut with the 2005 documentary I For India (which played at the Sundance Film Festival), is now working with BBC Film on a JG Ballard adaptation. 

The Short Film Competition jury is led by producer, writer and Erebus Pictures co-founder Helen Simmons. Her producing credits include the BAFTA-nominated Hoard, the 2025 LFF Closing Gala film 100 Nights of Hero and Berlinale Crystal Bear winner Last Swim. She also co-wrote and co-directed the Méliès Award-winning short Measure. 

The BFI London Film Festival Awards are a celebration of the most exciting, innovative new films and cinematic storytelling. Bold, visually striking, and thought-provoking, the nominees highlight an extraordinary breadth of talent from around the globe. 

Kristy Matheson, BFI London Film Festival Director, said: “We are delighted to share our 2026 competition titles with audiences and our esteemed jury members. Our competition films bring together an extraordinary range of stories and filmmaking voices, and our juries bring distinct perspectives to the films. My thanks to each of them for their generous participation in the festival this year.”