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The 65th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express closed with a star studded finale on Sunday with the European Premiere of THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH at new Festival venue the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall with director Joel Coen and key cast, including Frances McDormand, in attendance.
Over the 12 days of the Festival, the new Headline Gala venue helped to localise a buzzing new cultural heart for the LFF just South of the river, alongside the BFI's home at BFI Southbank. Every night saw vibrant red carpets with a truly dazzling array of international talents on stage as well as in the audience, including Jay Z, Beyonce, Idris Elba, Regina King, George Clooney, Todd Haynes, Dakota Johnson, Corey Hawkins, Liam Payne, Matt Smith, Edgar Wright, Jamie Dornan, Caitrona Balfe, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Murray, Jarvis Cocker, Virgine Efira, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Sandra Oh, Olivia Colman, Josh O’Connor, Jessie Buckley, Judi Dench, Brian Cox, Sarah Snook, Riz Ahmed, Kirsten Dunst, Ruth Negga, Rebecca Hall and Rege-Jean Page to name just a few.
The Festival also had audiences back in cinemas over the 12 days with a fresh new model which included dual West End hubs in London, 10 partner cinema venues around the UK, a new live exhibition of Immersive Art and XR at Leake St, Waterloo, as well as virtual programmes of film and XR. There were 139.4k physical attendances at screenings, events and the LFF Expanded exhibition and 152.3K virtual attendances. The Opening Night Gala, THE HARDER THEY FALL, also simultaneously screened at 41 venues around the UK.
BFI London Film Festival Director Tricia Tuttle said: "We are over the moon with the results of this year. The team absolutely exceeded themselves. Of course there were still major challenges but we brought the best of 2020 into our model, presenting physically, digitally, UK-wide and internationally, and of course working with a major new Gala venue partner the Southbank Centre - which was as amazing as we expected it to be. So many people worked together to make this happen. I could not have hoped for better results, and it was great to feel and hear how much it meant to filmmakers, artists, audiences and the industry to be out in force with real vibrancy and a sense of major occasion!"
At the annual BFI London Film Festival Awards, which this year were held virtually, on Sunday 17th October the LFF competition winners announced were:
HIT THE ROAD - Panah Panahi Best Film Award in Official Competition
PLAYGROUND - Laura Wandel Sutherland Award in First Feature Competition
BECOMING COUSTEAU - Liz Garbus Grierson Award in Documentary Competition
ONLY EXPANSION - Duncan Speakman Immersive Art and XR Award
LOVE, DAD - Diana Cam Van Nguyen Short Film Award in Short Film Competition |
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