Sheffield film fans will get the chance to experience some of the world’s newest cinema without leaving the city this October, as the Showroom Cinema hosts screenings as part of the 70th BFI London Film Festival
Running from the 7 to 18 October, this year’s festival will bring together 251 films, shorts and immersive works from 88 countries, including 33 world premieres.
For Sheffield audiences, selected films from the festival will be shown at the Showroom as part of the BFI’s UK partner cinema network. The cinema is one of ten venues across the country bringing selected LFF screenings to regional audiences, meaning local audiences can experience part of the festival without travelling to London.
The festival was first held in 1957, after a conversation between film critic Dilys Powell and film administrator James Quinn about the lack of a major film festival in London at a dinner party in 1953. Quinn, of the British Film Institute, helped turn the idea into reality, with the first festival taking place at the National Film Theatre, now BFI Southbank. It was originally designed as a “festival of festivals”, bringing acclaimed international films to British audiences.
This year’s festival will open with the European premiere of Simon Stone’s Elsinore, starring Andrew Scott as actor Ian Charleson. The closing film will be Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut, receiving its UK premiere.
The programme includes a number of major new releases and premieres. Danny Boyle’s Ink, a film about Rupert Murdoch’s career in Fleet Street, will have its UK premiere, while Taika Waititi’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun will also screen as part of the festival’s Gala programme. Mike Leigh’s Tender Loving Care and Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine are among the other new films from established directors.
The festival’s Official Competition includes ten films competing for the Best Film Award, including Carol Morley’s 7 Miles Out, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Look Back, Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert’s The Idiot(s) and Rubaiyat Hossain’s The Difficult Bride. The selection spans films from the UK, Ireland, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan and Poland.
7 Miles Out is Carol Morley’s semi-autobiographical film about adolescence in Stockport during the 1970s and 1980s. Starring Lucy Halliday, the film follows Ann as she deals with the death of her father while finding escapism through the emerging new-wave punk movement. Morley is a frequent visitor to the Showroom Cinema and has previously been a guest at Sheffield DocFest.
Other world premieres include Wildwood, the latest animation from Coraline studio Laika and director Travis Knight, Brad Bird’s animated caper Ray Gunn, and Michael Winterbottom’s The Trip to the Northern Lights, starring Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan.
Alongside the new releases, the festival will feature Screen Talks with figures including Andrew Scott, Ava DuVernay, Brad Bird, Cynthia Erivo, Jesse Eisenberg, John Malkovich, Mahershala Ali, Naomi Ackie and Sofia Coppola. Danny Boyle will also take part in a Screen Talk at HOME in Manchester, marking the first time the series has been held outside London.
The screenings will form part of the Showroom’s autumn programme, bringing the festival into Sheffield’s established cinema calendar.
Image Credits – Isabel Kershaw
