LFF announces 2024 competition juries

The 68th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express announces its jury line-up for this year’s Festival Awards.

The Official Competition jury is led by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Alexandre O. Philippe who is celebrated for his incisive documentaries that take on the role of unpacking the most influential works of master filmmakers and dissecting seminal screen moments.

His most recent offering Chain Reactions, winner of the Venice Classics Lion Award for Best Documentary on Cinema at the 81st Venice International Film Festival 2024, widely considered to be his best film yet, was commissioned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of iconic cult horror movie The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the profound impact it had on five artists over the years. As well as Chain Reactions O. Phillipe’s critically acclaimed body of work includes 78/52 (Sundance 2017), MEMORY: The Origins Of Aliens (Sundance 2019), LEAP OF FAITH: William Friedkin (Venice 2019, Sundance 2020) and Lynch/Oz (Tribeca 2022).

The First Feature Competition (Sutherland Award) jury will be headed up by acclaimed British writer and director Dionne Edwards whose universally praised directorial debut Pretty Red Dress, was a breakthrough hit in 2022. Dionne is a 2019, Screen International ‘Star of Tomorrow’ and an alumnus of the Sundance Institute’s Screenwriting and Directing Labs. Dionne’s TV directing credits include the upcoming Disney series A Thousand Blows, created by Steven Knight and Netflix’s Everything Now.

Award-winning film curator, archivist and international consultant in Pan-African Cinema for forty years, founder of the June Givanni Pan-African Cinema Archive, and BAFTA 2024 winner of the Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award recipient June Givanni will lead the jury selecting the winner of the Grierson Award for Best Documentary.

The list is rounded off by LFF and BIFA 2023 award winning writer and director Chloe Abrahams, whose debut feature The Taste of Mango had its world premiere at True/False 2023, with the film going on to win the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the BFI London Film Festival 2023, followed by the BIFA for Best Debut Director – Feature Documentary. She will lead the jury selecting the best short film.

The BFI London Film Festival Awards are a celebration of the most exciting, innovative new films and cinematic storytelling. Creative, beautiful and often provocative, the nominees showcase an incredible range of talent from across the world.

Kristy Matheson, BFI London Film Festival Director, said: “Each of our 2024 jury members are leading talents in their fields. We’re excited to welcome them to BFI London Film Festival this October and have the opportunity to introduce them to the films in competition.”

OFFICIAL COMPETITION  

Alexandre O. Philippe, Official Competition Jury President said: “Over the past few years, I’ve had the great privilege of screening many of my films at the BFI London Film Festival, which feels like home to me. This year, in addition to the UK premiere of CHAIN REACTIONS, I’m beyond honored to serve as jury president for the official competition. I greatly look forward to working with my fellow jury members, learning from their insights and perspectives; and I’m excited to experience a new facet of an event that means more to me with each passing year.”

Alexandre O.Phillipe is joined this year by: Award winning film industry and trade journalist Manori Ravindran (The Ankler, Variety, Broadcast) and critically acclaimed and award-winning American filmmaker Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard, Bob Marley: One Love, We Own This City).

The Best Film Award recognises inspiring, inventive and distinctive filmmaking. The Official Competition films are:

• APRIL (France-Italy-Georgia, dir.-scr. Dea Kulumbegashvii)

• BRING THEM DOWN (Ireland-UK-Belgium, dir.-scr. Christopher Andrews)

• THE EXTRAORDINARY MISS FLOWER (UK, dir. Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard)

• FOUR MOTHERS (Ireland-UK, dir. Darren Thornton)

• LIVING IN TWO WORLDS (Japan, dir. Mipo O)

• MEMOIR OF A SNAIL (Australia, dir.-scr. Adam Elliot)

• ON BECOMING A GUINEA FOWL (Zambia-UK-Ireland, dir.-scr. Rungano Nyoni)

• THANK YOU FOR BANKING WITH US (Palestine-Germany, dir.-scr. Laila Abbas)

• UNDER THE VOLCANO (Poland, dir. Damian Kocur)
• VERMIGLIO (Italy-France-Belgium, dir.-scr. Maura Delpero)

• THE WOLVES ALWAYS COME AT NIGHT (Australia-Mongolia-Germany, dir. Gabrielle Brady)

FIRST FEATURE COMPETITION  

Dionne Edwards, First Feature Competition Jury President said: “I’m stoked to be Jury President of the Sutherland Award at the 68th BFI London Film Festival. LFF is my home festival, where I debuted my first feature, and it has been instrumental in my filmmaking career so far. I can’t wait to explore and support this year’s cinematic visionaries debuting their first features.”

Alongside Edwards will be: Artistic Co-Director of the Munich Film Festival Julia Weigl and Curator of Film Programs at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and former Senior Director of Film Programs for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Bernardo Rondeau.

The Sutherland Award recognises the most original and imaginative directorial debut. Introduced in 1958 and named in honour of BFI Patron George Sutherland Leveson-Gower. This year’s nominated directors are:

• CROCODILE TEARS (Indonesia-France-Singapore-Germany, dir.-scr. Tumpal Tampubolon)

• HANAMI (Switzerland-Portugal-Cape Verde, dir. Denise Fernandes)

• HAPPYEND (Japan-USA, dir.-scr. Neo Sora)

• LAST SWIM (UK, dir. Sasha Nathwani)

• MY ETERNAL SUMMER (Denmark, dir. Sylvia Le Fanu)

• OLIVIA & THE CLOUDS (Dominican Republic, dir.-scr. Tomás Pichardo Espaillat)

• ON FALLING (UK-Portugal, dir.-scr. Laura Carreria)

• SANTOSH (UK-France-Germany, dir.-scr. Sandhya Suri)

• SEPTEMBER SAYS (Ireland-UK-Germany, dir.-scr. Ariane Labed)

• TO A LAND UNKNOWN (UK-Palestine-France-Greece-Netherlands-Germany-Qatar-Saudi Arabia, dir. Mahdi Fleifel)

• WHO DO I BELONG TO (France-Canada-Tunisia, dir.-scr. Meryam Joobeur)

DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION  

June Givanni, Documentary Competition President said: “I could not imagine that when I was lucky enough to attend the 1987 BFI Awards at which a friend and colleague John Akomfrah was given the Grierson award for his 1986 masterpiece Handsworths Songs, (in the presence of one of my screen idols the phenomenal Bette Davis) that 37 years later I would have this surprising honour to join this year’s distinguished Grierson Documentary Jury and to feast on the wonderful crop of 2024 nominated films from around the world, as Chair.”

Joining Givanni on the jury this year is: BAFTA Breakthrough 2023 writer and director Ella Glendining, whose latest film Is There Anybody Out There won the BFI and Chanel Filmmaker Award, along with Creative Director of Sheffield DocFest, the UK’s leading all-documentary festival, Raul Niño Zambrano.

The Grierson Award recognises feature-length documentaries with integrity, originality and social or cultural significance. The selected documentaries this year are:

• COLLECTIVE MONOLOGUE – (dir-scr. Jessica Sarah Rinland)

• HOLLOWAY – (dir. Sophie Compton, Daisy-May Hudson)

• KAMAY – (dir. Ilay Yourish, Shahrokh Bikaran)

• MOTHER VERA – (dir. Cécile Embleton, Alys Tomlinson)

• RAISING UP AT NIGHT – (dir.-scr. Nelson Makengo)

• SEEKING MAVIS BEACON – (dir. Jazmin Jones)

• THE SHADOW SCHOLARS – (dir. Eloise King)
• WITCHES – (dir.-scr. Elizabeth Sankey)

SHORT FILM COMPETITION

Chloe Abrahams, Short Film Competition President comments: “I’m honoured and super excited to return to LFF this year as president of the shorts jury. I’ve always admired and enjoyed the inventiveness and experimentation that’s possible in the short format, and I look forward to immersing myself in the program!”

Joining Abrahams will be BFI London Film Festival and Encounters International Film Festival 2023 Short Film Award winner Simisolaoluwa Akande (The Archive: Queer Nigerians), and rising UK filmmaker and Screen Star of Tomorrow George Jaques, whose film Black Dog was nominated in the First Feature category at LFF 2023.

The Short Film Award recognises short-form works that speak with a unique cinematic voice, demonstrating a confident handling of theme and content. The nominated films this year are:

• ADURA BABA MI (UK, dir. Juliana Kasmu)

• COLD SNAP (UK, dir. Ellen Evans)

• DRAG FOX (UK , dir. Lisa Ott)

• I DON’T WANT TO BE JUST A MEMORY (Germany, dir. Sarnt Utamachote)

• MAGIC CANDIES (Japan, dir. Nishio Daisuke)

• MOTHER’S DAY (UK, dir. Emily Burnett)

• SEE IT, SAY IT (UK, dir. Nez Khammal)

• STOMACH BUG (UK, dir. Matty Crawford)

• THE REFUSALS (WOULD WE RECOGNISE OURSELVES UNBROKEN?) (USA, dir. Sham-e-Ali Nayeem)
• VIBRATIONS FROM GAZA (Palestine-Canada, dir. Reehab Nazzal)

The ever-popular Audience Awards will also return for 2024, with audiences being able to vote for their favourite work they saw at this year’s Festival. Three awards for Best Feature, Best Documentary and Best Short will be awarded; 2023 winners of LFF Audience Awards were Gassed Up (Best Feature), Festival of Slaps (Best British Work) and The Taste of Mango (Best Documentary).