It’s almost time for the 69th BFI London Film Festival and it’s such a good way to see indie, arthouse and international films early and on the cheap - tickets start at £10 - that we’re almost loath to share our most anticipated titles for this year. For all the info on the festival, which runs from 8th to 19th October in London and at cinemas around the country, check out the official site for the full programme.
Tickets go on sale on 16th September (with BFI patrons and members getting first dibs from 8th and 9th September) and it’s worth consulting the full list of cinemas. The celeb-studded Galas take place at the Royal Festival Hall but there’s also lots of screenings around the city at BFI Southbank and IMAX, Curzons, the ICA and the Prince Charles Cinema as well as further afield in Manchester, Cardiff, Birmingham, Nottingham, Bristol, Glasgow, Sheffield, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Bradford and Belfast.
Alongside a stellar slate of Screen Talks, there are nearly 250 films - including shorts and immersive projects - showing at the 2025 festival. We’ve picked out 20 films we’re excited about here - a mix of big starry titles, indie auteurs and first-time directors, across different genres and scales of filmmaking - but there’s also films from Richard Linklater, Luga Guadagnino, Jafar Panahi, Lynne Ramsay, Edward Berger, Oliver Hermanus and Kelly Reichardt that we didn’t even get to mention. So do have a good rummage around the full programme for yourself.
1. Wake Up Dead Man (dir. Rian Johnson)
The name’s Blanc, Benoit Blanc. Opening the festival on the 8th October - at London’s Royal Festival Hall and with screenings all over the country - is the international premiere of the third Knives Out Mystery from last jedi Rian Johnson, just a month after it debuts at TIFF in Canada.
The trailer is giving strong Southern Gothic vibes, the plot is set to involve a locked-room murder and, as standard now for this series, the gang that’s joining Daniel Craig’s drawling detective is mouth-watering: Josh O’Connor and Josh Brolin as small-town priests, Mila Kunis as a cop and no less than Glenn Close, Andrew Scott, Kerry Washington, Cailee Spaeny and Jeremy Renner rounding out the company.
The denouements of both the original Knives Out and its follow-up Glass Onion were ex-qui-site, so get ready for Johnson to be yet another flavour of tricksy entirely in Wake Up Dead Man.
In cinemas 28th November, on Netflix 12th December
2. No Other Choice (dir. Park Chan-wook)
Very excited about the new Park Chan-wook which has masterpiece potential - and early reviews appear to agree.
The South Korean writer-director is the man who made Oldboy, The Handmaiden and the criminally underseen and under-awarded Decision To Leave. In a story that seems like it could be a nice companion to Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite - and just as ambitious - here Lee Byung-hun plays Man-soo, a paper industry guy who gets made redundant. In his subsequent job hunt he, let’s say, gets a little extreme when it comes to his competition.
Looney Tunes has been mentioned. Black comedy late capitalism satirical thriller? Inject it.
In cinemas and on Mubi TBC
3. Jay Kelly (dir. Noah Baumbach)
Next up for the fancy Galas, on 10th October, we have Jay Kelly and from the reviews out of Venice, this seems to be slightly more sentimental than we’re used to expecting from Noah Baumbach’s dry, screwball sensibilities. George Clooney plays a charming movie star in crisis, in this story co-written by Baumbach and Emily Mortimer, and with a stacked supporting cast including (superb actor) Adam Sandler and (superb actor) Laura Dern.
The director behind Frances Ha, Marriage Story and The Squid and the Whale is always surprising and always interesting. After the London Film Festival, both this flick and the Knives Out will get short runs in cinemas before landing on Netflix. Catch ‘em on the big screen while you can.
In cinemas 14th November, on Netflix 15th December
4. Rental Family (dir. Hikari)
This one has crowd-pleaser written all over it and hopefully in a good way, not a Coda-way.
Rental Family is, of course, another step in the Brendan Fraser renaissance, which we’re all here for. He plays a down-and-out American actor, living in Tokyo, who ends up working as a ‘stand-in’ family member for Japanese families. (A real thing since the 90’s!) It’s co-written and directed by the Japanese film-maker Hikari who directed three episodes of Netflix’s excellent road rage show Beef from 2023 and it co-stars Takehiro Hira, who you’ll know from Shōgun, Giri/Haji and John Maclean’s terrific samurai-in-Scotland film Tornado.
Judging by the trailer, it’s shot rather beautifully and you know we can never resist the plaintive vocals of David Byrne in the background. Rental Family will play at a Gala towards the end of the London Film Festival on 16th October. Things could get weepy.
In cinemas 9th January 2026
5. Bad Apples (dir. Jonatan Etzler)
It is our firm belief that Saoirse Ronan can do anything she wants as an actor. After Lady Bird, Little Women and last year’s magnificent recovery story The Outrun, she’s taken on a smaller project, leading this title from Swedish director Jonatan Etzler.
The plot? Ronan plays the primary school teacher of a class of ten-year-old kids, who is dealing with one particularly disruptive pupil. We’ve no trailer yet but Bad Apples is described as a ‘satirical thriller’ with ‘genre elements’. We also know that the script has been adapted by writer Jess O’Kane from a novel by Rasmus Andersson and that Bad Apples was shot in Bristol with a cast including Jacob Anderson (Game of Thrones’ Grey Worm).
Like a few of these titles, this is coming to London in-competition after a September premiere in Toronto. Colour us intrigued.
In cinemas TBC
6. Hedda (dir. Nia DaCosta)
The role of Hedda Gabler has been called the ‘female Hamlet’, probably because Ibsen’s female protagonist really does allow phenomenal actresses to unleash their full range. Complex is an understatement. Ruth Wilson and Maggie Smith have played Hedda on the West End, Cate Blanchett, Fiona Shaw and Glenda Jackson have all portrayed her over the years and even Lily Allen gave it a crack on the stage this summer.
Now, it’s Tessa Thompson’s turn in this stylised, glossy-looking take on the classic from American director Nia DaCosta of Candyman, The Marvels and the-next-28-Years-Later fame. The addition of German actress Nina Hoss, in this story of one very emotional, very destructive night, is particularly exciting, with Imogen Poots and the legendary Kathryn Hunter showing up to play, too. We’re hoping this one is as electric as the trailer suggests.
In cinemas 22nd October, on Prime Video 29th October
7. Rose of Nevada (dir. Mark Jenkin)
It’s sci-fi, it’s ghost ship, it’s George MacKay and - Mr Dua Lipa - Callum Turner. Need we say more?
If we must, the mysterious, lo-fi Rose of Nevada is from Cornish director Mark Jenkin, he of the cult horror Enys Men, and has had very strong reviews from the critics at Venice Film Festival; it’s also swinging by Toronto and the New York Film Festival on its way to London.
The premise: a boat vanishes into the unknown then reappears in the same village 30 years later. Produced by the likes of BFI and Film4, and shot in collaboration with students at Falmouth University’s Sound/Image Cinema Lab, this is set to be a really unique British indie title. Side note: George MacKay is making some fantastic arthouse choices post-1917 - if you haven’t caught the strange, strange Bertrand Bonello film The Beast from last year, it’s well worth seeking out.
In cinemas TBC
8. 100 Nights of Hero (dir. Julia Jackman)
This looks bonkers. Julia Jackman’s 100 Nights of Hero will close out the LFF with a Gala on 19th October with what appears to be a zany, fearless, cinematic folk tale.
Jackman’s second film is an adaptation of the historical fantasy graphic novel by Isabel Greenberg from 2016, which centres on Cherry, her maid Hero and a sexy villain named Manfred, who is sent by Cherry’s husband to test her fidelity, and who the two women must outwit, 1001 Nights-style, by telling stories.
The ensemble cast clearly had a lot of fun making this and includes Emma Corrin as Hero, Nicholas Galitzine as Manfred and Maika Monroe as Cherry plus Richard E. Grant, Felicity Jones, and, yes, everyone’s favourite millennial, Charli xcx.
In cinemas TBC
9. Frankenstein (dir. Guillermo del Toro)
The maestro is really cooking with this epic, sumptuously decaying and disturbing Frankenstein.
In retrospect, it was only a matter of time before del Toro tackled Mary Shelley’s classic horror. We have Oscar Isaac as the original mad scientist Victor, Jacob Elordi as the monster with Mia Goth and Christoph Waltz lending their own very particular haunting qualities to round out the cast.
This is a Netflix film, with a short cinema release as LFF is winding down, but don’t fear that this means Netflix slop: del Toro was given a $120 million budget in order to meet his imaginative, meticulous standards of production design, costuming and practical effects. Perfect for spooky season.
In cinemas 17th October, on Netflix 7th November
10. The Testament of Ann Lee (dir. Mona Fastvold)
The Letterboxd ‘spread’ of star ratings for The Testament of Ann Lee, starring Amanda Seyfried, is already doing the rounds on social media, after its premiere in Venice. And it runs the gamut from one star to five — always the sign of an interesting movie.
If you don’t recognise the name of Norwegian director Mona Fastvold, you should: she co-wrote The Childhood of a Leader, Vox Lux and last year’s Oscar-winning The Brutalist with her director-partner Brady Corbet. Why the full spread, then? Well, this is in fact a period musical about Ann Lee, the founder of the Shakers, the Christian sect that spread through mid-18th century America. Why the hell not? Can’t wait.
In cinemas TBC
![BUGONIA - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters October 24 - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/bd_5HcTujfc/maxresdefault.jpg)
11. Bugonia (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)
Bugonia looks to be on the freakier end of the Yorgos Lanthimos filmography spectrum (Dogtooth, The Lobster), as opposed to the Oscar-friendly, Tony McNamara-written end of the spectrum (Poor Things, The Favourite). Just as ambitious as No Other Choice, it’s set to be a tone-shifting, state-of-the-nation piece that takes in corporate CEOs and conspiracy theorists, specifically what happens when one kidnaps the other. Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons here turn the weird up to eleven.
In cinemas 7th November
![HAMNET - Official Teaser Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters Thanksgiving - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/E2xtmPkuksA/maxresdefault.jpg)
12. Hamnet (dir. Chloe Zhao)
Director Chloe Zhao, who you might know from Nomadland, has adapted Maggie O’Farrell’s novel about William Shakespeare, his wife Anne Hathaway and the loss of their son, Hamnet into what looks like a beautiful portrait of the couple’s grief and the way Shakespeare channeled his experiences into writing one of his most famous plays, Hamlet.
The performances of Jessie Buckley as Anne and Paul Mescal as the Bard are already receiving a lot of attention at festivals like Telluride so it’s likely we’ll hear a lot about this film as the Awards season gets underway. At the London Film Festival, it’s first showing at the Mayor of London’s Gala on 13th October. No less than Ryan Coogler told Zhao “you’re finally being seen” after watching this.
In cinemas 9th January 2026
13. My Father’s Shadow (dir. Akinola Davies Jnr)
If you’re on the hunt for hidden gems and talented filmmakers you’ve never heard of, check out My Father’s Shadow. This is Akinola Davies Jnr’s directorial debut - he works as a video artist between the UK and West Africa - and earlier this year at Cannes, it won the Camera d’Or Special Mention prize. Here in London, it’s competing in the Best First Feature Sutherland Award.
As for the film itself, it’s 1993 in Lagos, there’s an election crisis brewing and we follow two young brothers over the course of one day, spending time with their estranged dad Fola - played by Gangs of London’s Sope Dirisu - in the city.
In cinemas and on Mubi TBC
14. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere (dir. Scott Cooper)
Early reviews of the Springsteen flick - you know, the one where Jeremy Allen White plays The Boss - suggest that this isn’t a boring, by-the-humbers music biopic. And with that we let out a huge sigh of relief.
Scott Cooper’s film focuses on a specific slice of Springsteen’s career, post-The River, and zooms in on the making of the album Nebraska in the early 80s. Jeremy Strong is playing his longtime manager, producer Jon Landau, and Stephen Graham steps up to play Bruce’s father, Douglas. So it appears there will be flashbacks in Deliver Me From Nowhere. But with these guys, we trust we’re not in for a snooze-fest.
In cinemas 24th October
15. Landmarks (dir. Lucrecia Martel)
Our first pick of the documentaries at this year’s London Film Festival is Lucrecia Martel’s look at the life of indigenous activist Javier Chocobar, who died protecting his community’s ancestral lands from land theft in Tucamán, Argentina in 2009. Martel is a master at navigating thorny moral questions and colonial conflicts in her home country of Argentina but Landmarks - or Nuestra Tierra, to give it its full Spanish title - is her first foray into documentary making after a long, celebrated career in international art cinema, including gems such as Zama and The Headless Woman.
In cinemas TBC
16. The Voice of Hind Rajab (dir. Kaouther Ben Hania)
Our second documentary pick is Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab, which with Landmarks is playing in the main Official Competition at the Festival. This will be a tough but vital watch about the war in Gaza and its horrifying effects on everyday people, including children.
Ben Hania is blending real life and fictional storytelling, including the use of real phone call audio, to reconstruct the last day of the six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in Gaza, as she tried to get help from emergency volunteers before she was killed by Israeli forces. Tunisia has announced that it will be selecting this film as its official entry in the International category at next year’s Oscars and a list of Hollywood heavyweights have signed on as executive producers including directors Jonathan Glazer and Alfonso Cuarón alongside Joaquin Phoenix, Brad Pitt and Rooney Mara.
In cinemas TBC
17. Is This Thing On? (dir. Bradley Cooper)
Following A Star Is Born and Maestro, Bradley Cooper’s latest film is still obsessed with performance, yes, but on a much smaller scale than his first two grand projects.
In Is This Thing On? Our favourite depressed horse WIll Arnett plays a New Yorker named Alex. He’s getting a divorce from his wife Tess (Laura Dern) and doing stand-up comedy on the Manhattan club circuit. So a mid-life crisis, then. This is closing out the New York Film Festival before it comes to London and we’re excited to see what Cooper can do when he’s more of a cameo in front of the camera than leading man.
In cinemas TBC
18. A Useful Ghost (dir. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke)
This looks like a riot. Thai first-time filmmaker Ratchapoom Boonbunchachachoke has written and directed this tale of a woman who returns to her factory owner husband and family as a ghost. Haunting a vacuum cleaner. It’s camp, it’s inventive and the trailer alone cracked us up with its deft deployment of horror film tropes. This is another title that’s part of the Best First Feature competition at the BFI Fest.
In cinemas TBC
19. Sentimental Value (dir. Joachim Trier)
The Worst Person In The World catapulted Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier and his lead actress Renate Reinsve into a new echelon of cinema darlings in 2021.
Their latest collaboration switches millennial angst, romance and indecision for a troubled family, headed up by the legend Stellan Skarsgard playing Gustav, the father of Reinsve’s Nora and her sister Agnes. Gustav is, unfortunately for his estranged family, a once-garlanded auteur making a semi-autobiographical film so expect plenty of food for thought on the relationship between making great art and being a good person in the world.
This release isn’t slated until the end of the year so LFF is a great chance to see it really quite early in the UK.
In cinemas 26th December
20. Ish (dir. Imran Perretta)
London-based artist Imran Perretta has exhibited at venues including Somerset House and HOME in Manchester. His debut as a director, also competing in the Sutherland Award at LFF, sees two British South-Asian teens who are harassed by police in a stop-and-search and the consequences that follow.
From the short BFI preview clip of Ish, expect naturalistic performances, a melancholy score composed by Perretta himself and typical teen boy hijinks, all shot in striking monochrome. Could be something special.
In cinemas TBC
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