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With film fans and industry types all set to descend on the capital for next month’s BFI London Film Festival, we thought we’d take you on a whistlestop tour of some of the titles featuring Film London alumni, friends and peers, from rising stars to those who’ve already received significant recognition.
Ink, this year’s Mayor of London's Gala Screening, might feature a Yorkshireman and an Australian as its main protagonists, but it is very much a London story. Set amid the chaotic bustle of Fleet Street, the film serves as a thrilling, high-adrenaline time capsule from a period that would fundamentally change British culture. While director Danny Boyle’s career has taken him from Glasgow and Liverpool to Utah and Mumbai, he’s certainly no stranger to London: his 2002 horror masterpiece 28 Days Later not only made deft use if the capital’s iconic backdrops but also received money from the East London Film Fund which was secured by the London Film and Video Development Agency – an early precursor to Film London. Buy tickets to inkhere.
Clio Barnard’s I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning wowed audiences at Cannes this year and took home the coveted Directors’ Fortnight People’s Choice Award. Long before her work set the Croisette abuzz, however, she was working with the FLAMIN team: nominated for the 2011 Jarman Award and receiving FLAMIN funding for her 2004 film/installation Road Race.
Carol Morley, whose shorts Everyday Something and The Madness of the Dance were backed by Film London, returns with the semi-autobiographical 7 Miles Out. The film, which has a scorching post-punk soundtrack, has its debut at the LFF.
Winner of the 2024 Jarman Award, Maryam Tafakory presents Shab-Nameh: Women of Iran’s Forgotten Left, a life film performance which explores erased histories of women’s political resistance in Iran. Other FLAMIN alumni featuring at the festival include Hope Strickland, Patrick Hough, Sadia Pineda Hameed, Onyeka Igwe, Beatrice Gibson, Christine Molloy and Joe Lawler
Three short films in the Festival’s ‘I See Myself’ strand were supported by Film London via BFI NETWORK, made possible through National Lottery funding. Calvin Demba's The Animals, Remi R.M. Moses' Hindsight and Kristina Pringle's In Dreaming all feature in this exciting, carefully curated package of shorts. Elsewhere, in the ‘Altered States’ strand, Elham Ehsas’ Forgotten Spaceman is being shown. Elham previously made There Will Come Soft Rains which was funded by Film London and Climate Spring as part of the inaugural The Hot House: Shorts programme.