Competition films announced for 67th BFI London Film Festival

The Grierson Award will acknowledge the feature-length documentaries with integrity, originality and social or cultural significance; 8 films will screen in the Documentary Competition. The Short Film Award will recognise short-form works with a unique cinematic voice, with 10 films selected in this category.

The winners of these four competitive awards will be chosen by LFF Awards juries, the members of which will be announced in the coming weeks, and will be revealed on the final day of the festival – 15 October – with surprise screenings of the winning features also taking place that night.

The ever-popular Audience Awards will also return for 2023, with audiences being able to vote for their favourite work they saw at this year’s festival, be it fiction, documentary, short or immersive work. Four awards for Best Feature, Best Documentary, Best British Film or Work and Best XR will be awarded; 2022 winners of LFF Audience Awards include Blue Bag Life (Best Feature) and Drop Out (Best Short).

Kristy Matheson, BFI London Film Festival director, said: “The films represented in each of these competitive strands offer audiences an exciting array of UK and global filmmaking voices and cinematic forms. We’re so proud to be showcasing each of these films and thank all the filmmaking teams in competition for sharing their films with us.”

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The films screening in Official Competition this year showcase a remarkable range of filmmaking talent from across the world, with 11 countries represented across the selection, which include a mixture of established directors and sophomore films. From a provocative sci-fi romance and an urgent, exceptionally crafted thriller to a haunting British folk horror and a sweeping love story that explores modern day relationship dynamics in Punjab, India, the films selected for Official Competition celebrate passionate and inspired global filmmaking.

The 11 films screening in Official Competition are:

• Baltimore (Ireland-UK, dir-scr. Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor)
• Dear Jassi (India, dir. Tarsem Singh Dhandwar)
• Europa (Austria-UK, dir-scr. Sudabeh Mortezai)
• Evil Does Not Exist (Japan, dir-scr. Ryusuke Hamaguchi)
• Fingernails (USA, dir-scr. Christos Nikou)
• Gasoline Rainbow (USA, dir-scr. Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross)
• I Am Sirat (Canada, dir. a collaboration between Deepa Mehta and Sirat Taneja)
• The Royal Hotel (Australia, dir-scr. Kitty Green)
• Self Portrait: 47 Km 2020 (China, dir. Zhang Mengqi)
• Starve Acre (UK, dir-scr. Daniel Kokotajlo)
• Together 99 (Sweden-Denmark, dir-scr. Lukas Moodysson)

The 2022 winner was Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage.

The films nominated for the Sutherland Award for the most original and imaginative directorial debut at this year’s festival include 11 exciting new voices, including five British filmmakers. From an unexpected road trip across the UK and a fearlessly strange and intense psychological drama to a spirited tale of siblings enjoying the pleasures and pitfalls of life ‘home alone’ and a realist drama with a playful suggestion of otherworldly science-fiction, these first-time feature filmmakers are ones to watch.

The 11 films screening in the First Feature Competition are:

• Black Dog (UK, dir-scr. George Jaques)
• Earth Mama (USA–UK, dir-scr. Savanah Leaf)
• Hoard (UK, dir-scr. Luna Carmoon)
• In Camera (UK, dir-scr. Naqqash Khalid)
• Mambar Pierrette (Belgium-Cameroon, dir-scr. Rosine Mbakam)
• Paradise Is Burning (Sweden-Italy-Denmark-Finland, dir-scr. Mika Gustafson)
• Penal Cordillera (Chile-Brazil, dir-scr. Felipe Carmona)
• The Queen of My Dreams (Canada, dir-scr. Fawzia Mirza)
• Sky Peals (UK, dir-scr. Moin Hussain)
• Tiger Stripes (Malaysia-Taiwan-Singapore-France-Germany-Netherlands-Indonesia-Qatar, dir-scr. Amanda Nell Eu)
• Tuesday (UK–USA, dir-scr. Daina O. Pusić)

The 2022 winner was Manuela Martelli’s 1976.

The Grierson Award recognises feature-length documentaries with integrity, originality and social or cultural significance. Mirroring the Sutherland Award’s recognition of first-time filmmakers, the Grierson Award champions first and second time features. Subjects of this year’s nominated films range from the life of a radical queer performance artist and the profound beauty of klezmer music to the legacy of one of Kevin Smith’s indie hits and an insight into the lives of those who fight to keep film culture alive in the face of oppression.

The 8 films screening in the Documentary Competition this year are:

• Bye Bye Tiberias (France-Palestine-Belgium-Qatar, dir-scr. Lina Soualem)
• Celluloid Underground (UK-Iran, dir. Ehsan Khoshbakht)
• Chasing Chasing Amy (USA, dir. Sav Rodgers)
• A Common Sequence (USA-Mexico, dir. Mary Helena Clark, Mike Gibisser)
• Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano (Germany-Lebanon, dir-scr. Cyril Aris)
• The Klezmer Project (Austria-Argentina, dir-scr. Leandro Koch, Paloma Schachmann)
• Queendom (France-USA, dir. Agniia Galdanova)
• The Taste of Mango (UK–USA, dir. Chloe Abrahams)

The 2022 winner was Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes.

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

The 10 films screening in the Short Film Competition are:

• The Archive: Queer Nigerians (UK, dir. Simisolaoluwa Akande)
• Area Boy (UK, dir. Iggy London)
• Boat People (Canada, dir. Thao Lam, Kjell Boersma)
• Essex Girls (UK, dir. Yero Timi-Biu)
• The Goose’s Excuse (Egypt-UK, dir. Mahdy Abo Bahat,  Abdo Zin Eldin)
• Khabur (Germany-Iran, dir. Nafis Fathollahzadeh)
• Onset (UK-Poland, dir. Anna Engelhardt,  Mark Cinkevich)
• The Singer (UK, dir. Cora Bissett)
• The Walk (UK, dir. Michael Jobling)
• Wells of Despair (Netherlands, dir. sata taas)

The 2022 winner was Yue Li’s I Have No Legs, and I Must Run.