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Find out moreProgramme updates
Additions, changes and corrections to the BFI London Film Festival 2020 programme. Last updated 8 October.
Find out moreCast your vote in the Virtual LFF Audience Awards
As a one-off for the 2020 BFI London Film Festival, we want audiences to take the place of the festival’s official jury.
Find out moreLaugh
From laugh-out-loud through romantic comedy to dry and understated – humour in all its forms.
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On their wedding night, a quarrelling couple hit the streets of Jerusalem to confront family, ex-partners, random oddballs and whether they have a future together.
Honeymood
Evan Rachel Wood, Richard Jenkins and Debra Winger play a family of unusually creative grifters trying to scam the system in Miranda July’s deadpan, offbeat love story.
Kajillionaire
The latest feature by LFF regular Małgorzata Szumowska is a characteristically fresh, funny and thought-provoking tale highlighting the indiscreet charms of the Polish bourgeoisie.
Never Gonna Snow Again (Śniegu już nigdy nie będzie)
Journey
Whether it’s the journey or the destination, these films transport you and shift your perspective.
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Mads Mikkelsen reunites with Thomas Vinterberg (The Hunt) in this spirited and thought-provoking drama that asks if a regular tipple is the key to unlocking the best version of yourself.
Another Round (Druk)
There goes the neighbourhood! It’s the last night ever at the Roaring 20s cocktail lounge, and all’s fair in boozy truths and wavy fictions.
Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
Playing a fictional version of herself, actor Kasumi Arimura enjoys a day off in this charming example of Hirokazu Koreeda’s rarely seen television work.
A Day-Off of Kasumi Arimura (Arimura Kasumi No Satsukyu)
Visionary Filipino director Lav Diaz returns with another beguiling allegory of human greed and brutality, illuminated by his hallucinatory monochrome long takes.
Genus Pan (Lahi, Hayop)
The provocative tale of a young woman lost in Paris represents a dazzling debut showcase for writer/director Anna Cazenave Cambet and fearless lead Tallulah Cassavetti.
Gold For Dogs (De l'or pour les chiens)
This courageous feature debut offers an intimate portrait of young gay couple Samuel and Alex as they navigate their way in a country where homosexuality is criminalised.
I Am Samuel
Ben Sharrock follows Pikadero with an assured second feature about a Syrian musician waiting out his asylum request on a remote Scottish island.
Limbo
Frances McDormand illuminates Chloé Zhao’s follow up to The Rider, a humane and lyrical film about people living on the road in the American West.
Nomadland
Veteran documentarian Gianfranco Rosi’s (Fire at Sea) delicate and poignant meditation journeys into the border communities of Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria and Lebanon.
Notturno
Four Black figures from recent US history meet in this visually stunning directorial debut from Academy Award-winning actor Regina King.
One Night in Miami…
Award-winning director Jerry Rothwell's compelling documentary is a rare cinematic and sensorial insight into the world of non-speaking autistic people.
The Reason I Jump
A young artist relocates to coastal Bangladesh to practice his art, but in doing so up-turns the local community’s age-old customs and taboos.
The Salt in our Waters (Nonajoler Kabbo)
A soulful new voice emerges in Elizabeth Lo’s evocative award-winning debut documentary, which details life on the streets of Istanbul from the perspective of the city’s stray dogs.
Stray
Arie and Chuko Esiri’s stunning debut and luminous cast take Nigerian cinema to incredible new heights in a richly woven tale of city life.
Eyimofe (This is My Desire)
Dare
In-your-face, up-front and arresting: films that take you out of your comfort zone.
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A sweltering Roman summer turns up the heat for the dark doings of a group of dysfunctional families in this slyly humorous, occasionally grotesque, but always gripping noir.
Bad Tales (Favolacce)
There are echoes of Lucrecia Martel’s The Headless Woman in this gripping tale of class divisions and ethical responsibility in contemporary Argentina.
A Common Crime (Un crimen común)
Érica Rivas (the memorable bride in Wild Tales) plays an overdub artist on the edge in this playful and deeply enjoyable giallo-infused Argentinian psycho-thriller.
The Intruder
Bassam Tariq’s visceral directorial debut, co-written with Riz Ahmed, finds a British-Pakistani rapper’s life spiralling out of control when, on the cusp of success, he succumbs to a debilitating illness.
Mogul Mowgli
A society wedding in a gated home in Mexico City serves as the ground for Michel Franco’s taut and terrifying exploration of class schisms, inequalities and corruption.
New Order (Nuevo Orden)
Going nowhere with a novel, Shirley Jackson (Elisabeth Moss) gets the inspiration she needs when two young newlyweds come to stay. Directed by the masterful Josephine Decker.
Shirley
Idiosyncratic auteur Abel Ferrara returns with an extraordinarily vivid, visually dazzling and characteristically strange rumination on sex, dreams and death, starring Willem Dafoe.
Siberia
Sisterly bonds are pushed to breaking point in this simmering drama set on the Irish border, the debut feature from acclaimed shorts director Cathy Brady.
Wildfire
Create
Films that channel the electricity of the creative process, celebrating artistic expression in all its forms.
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Imagine if you could be front row, onstage even, for one of the most electrifying performances of David Byrne’s career? This must be the place.
David Byrne’s American Utopia
This psycho-acoustic exploration of electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire time-travels like that famous fictional doctor, as Cosey Fanni Tutti dreams of connective sonic pathways.
Delia Derbyshire: The Myths and Legendary Tapes
Executive produced by Alfonso Cuarón, Chaitanya Tamhane’s sublime Mumbai-set sophomore feature finds a classically trained musician both striving for and questioning the notion of excellence.
The Disciple
Winner of the Creative Storytelling Prize at Sundance, Benjamin Ree’s (Magnus, LFF 2016) expertly plotted, genre-blending documentary explores the personal repercussions of an extraordinary art heist.
The Painter and the Thief
Writer/director Wei Shujun presents a restless odyssey of the post-90s generation in Beijing, centring on the wayward life of hard-headed film school dropout Kun.
Striding Into the Wind
The spirit of rock ‘n roll pulses through the veins of this psychedelic Casablanca-set love story between faded rockstar Larsen Snake and jaded prostitute Rajae.
Zanka Contact
Love
Sweet, passionate, tough – love is a complex and many splendoured thing.
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In this knockout feature debut from BAFTA-nominated short filmmaker Aleem Khan, Joanna Scanlan is superb as a woman left reeling upon discovering her late husband’s secrets.
After Love
Francis Lee follows up God’s Own Country with a film that is every bit as immersive, tactile and emotionally powerful, aided by the devastatingly good Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan.
Ammonite
As a young man embarks on a new relationship, he is forced to face the traumas of his past in this remarkable debut feature.
Cicada
Tsai Ming-Liang’s profound commitment to less is more flourishes in this exuberantly corporeal work, which is anchored by Lee Kang-Sheng’s transfixing performance.
Days (Rizi)
Migration, memory and the importance of home are deftly explored in this affecting feature debut, which sees a New York-based Angolan man finally reunited with his wife and daughter.
Farewell Amor
Phyllida Lloyd (Mamma Mia!) reunites with her all-female Shakespeare collaborators, Clare Dunne and Harriet Walter, for a stirring drama about a woman who refuses to be broken.
Herself
This intoxicating dance piece exploring the floating feelings of love and desire won the Berlinale’s Teddy Award for Best Documentary, awarded for films with LGBTIQ+ content.
If It Were Love (Si c’était de l’amour)
Oscar®-winner Steve McQueen takes a sensual excursion into romance, style and extraordinary sound systems of 1980s Black London.
Lovers Rock
Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci shine as a long-term couple dealing with the onset of illness in this warm and tender drama.
Supernova
Paula Beer embodies a modern-day incarnation of the mermaid myth in the latest from contemporary German cinema’s most audacious storyteller Christian Petzold.
Undine
Cult
From the mind-altering and unclassifiable to fantasy, sci-fi and horror.
In the near future, a cool and ruthless assassin who uses other people’s bodies to carry out execution-style killings comes unstuck when her latest vehicle resists.
Possessor
Three generations of women are plagued by a supernatural presence in one of the year’s most terrifying films.
Relic
An isolated couple must keep a dark secret hidden at all costs in this quietly unnerving and deeply affecting chamber piece.
Rose: A Love Story
Debate
Riveting films that amplify, scrutinise, argue and surprise. The Debate strand is supported by Col and Karen Needham
With her much-anticipated debut feature Farnoosh Samadi crafts a delicately woven portrait of tragedy whilst examining the structures that subtly control our lives.
180° Rule
In Ameen Nayfeh’s accomplished feature debut, a Palestinian father navigates the complexities of life under occupation, where the wall separates him from his family.
200 Meters
Rob Lemkin’s harrowing yet urgent documentary shines a lens on the trauma and legacy of colonialism in one of Africa’s poorest nations, Niger.
African Apocalypse
This compelling first feature finds a mother embarking on an Odyssey-like search for her missing son across a border terrain where law and order has effectively broken down.
Identifying Features (Sin Señas Particulares)
A group of young graduates navigate the cutthroat world of international finance in this electrifying series from British writing duo Konrad Kay and Mickey Down.
Industry
Multi-award winning director Steve McQueen’s rousing tale of Black solidarity and resistance brings a seminal moment in British history into sharp focus.
Mangrove
South Londoner Yemi Bamiro’s pacey, engrossing Michael Jordan documentary reveals the darker side of marketing trainers.
One Man and His Shoes
Bohdan Sláma’s striking epic is a unique account of life in a Czech-Austrian border village from the 1930s-1950s, which saw a community sacrificed to political ideology.
Shadow Country (Krajina ve stínu)
Enduring love and social justice lie at the heart of this poignant documentary about a mother's battle for the release of her incarcerated husband.
Time
15 years after Ken Fero’s ground-breaking film Injustice, which examined deaths in police custody, comes a compelling follow-up that feels as timely as ever.
Ultraviolence
Family
Films for the young... and young at heart.
Pete Docter writes and directs his first Pixar film since Inside Out. And this time he wonders where our core essence comes from.
Soul
The filmmakers behind the award-winning The Song of the Sea and The Breadwinner deliver another beautifully realised animated drama.
Wolfwalkers
Treasures
Revived and restored from the world’s archives.
Beautifully restored by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, this suspenseful melodrama by filmmaking pioneers the McDonagh sisters charts the adventures of a confidence woman.
The Cheaters
Like the Persian lovechild of Tennessee Williams and Ingmar Bergman, the rediscovery and restoration of Aslani’s landmark of Iran’s pre-revolution cinema is a revelation.
Chess of the Wind (Shatranj-e Baad)
Tilda Swinton plays an extra-terrestrial android discussing life’s big questions with a British war correspondent in this unique sci-fi by influential film theorist Peter Wollen.
Friendship’s Death