LFF announces ‘LFF Connects: When Dance Meets Film’ with Asif Kapadia & Akram Khan

The 66th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express has announced that Academy Award-winning filmmaker Asif Kapadia and acclaimed choreographer Akram Khan will be headlining the Festival’s LFF Connects discussion about what happens when dance meets film. Creature, Kapadia’s new film based on Khan’s original concept and choreography for English National Ballet’s 2021 stage production, receives its World Premiere at the Festival.

The Festival’s LFF Connects series explores the intersection between film and other creative industries through storytelling, creativity and innovation.  In this year’s LFF Connects discussion, the creative team behind Creature will share the journey of this fascinating encounter between film and dance, a genre-busting, immersive experience which challenges established boundaries between arts sectors.

Asif Kapadia and Akram Khan will be joined by director of photography Daniel Landin (Under the Skin, Ray & Liz) and editor Sylvie Landra (Leon, The Fifth Element). The discussion will be hosted by Mariayah Kaderbhai, Head of Programmes at BAFTA.

Tricia Tuttle, BFI London Film Festival director, says: “As a filmmaker, Asif Kapadia has been such an exciting explorer of form, a creator of tremendous invention, artistry, and always as consummate storyteller.  Last year, we were delighted to host the world premiere of his stunning first foray into VR animation with Laika in our LFF Expanded programme; and he’s back at LFF again this year with a beautiful new work, made with Akram Khan, one of the world’s best choreographers and also a pioneer of form and a gifted storyteller. We welcome this unique opportunity to hear more about their creative collaboration, as they’ve worked to bring the formal tools of film and dance together in Creature.”

In 2021 Akram Khan (DESH, Until the Lions), one of the most celebrated and respected dance artists today, created Creature, his third collaboration with English National Ballet. One year later, Creature has become a film by multi award-winning director Asif Kapadia (Senna, Amy, Diego Maradona), one of the most influential filmmakers of our generation.

Creature takes inspiration from Georg Büchner’s seminal play Woyzeck and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. This vivid cinematic experience is a beautiful, tragic tale of an outsider’s search for belonging, the insatiable desires of the powerful, and the enduring hope found in human connection and compassion.

Asif Kapadia is an American Academy, BAFTA, Grierson and Grammy award-winning film director, writer and producer. His seminal film Senna was a huge hit around the world, winning the BAFTA for Best Documentary and the universally acclaimed Amy is the most successful theatrical British documentary of all time, winning Academy, BAFTA and Grammy awards. The Warrior, starring the late great Irrfan Khan and shot in India, won BAFTAs for Outstanding British Film and Outstanding Debut. He directed episodes of the Netflix series Mindhunter and series directed the critically acclaimed 1971: The Year Music Changed Everything. He also co-directed and exec produced the mental health series The Me You Can’t See, starring Oprah, Prince Harry and Lady Gaga. In 2022 he will create a new four-part series about Camden’s musical history for Disney+.

Akram Khan is one of the most celebrated and respected dance artists today contributing significantly to the arts in the UK and abroad. He has been the recipient of numerous awards including two Laurence Olivier Awards, the Bessie Award (New York Dance and Performance Award) and nine Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards.  In recent years, Khan has moved into television, specifically documentaries. He has created 3 documentaries with Swan Films for Channel 4, the Sky Arts documentary series Why Do We Dance, and an episode of the Netflix series MOVE.   His previous collaborators include the National Ballet of China, actor Juliette Binoche, ballerina Sylvie Guillem, choreographers/dancers Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Israel Galván, singer Kylie Minogue and indie rock band Florence and the Machine, visual artists Anish Kapoor, Antony Gormley and Tim Yip, writer Hanif Kureishi and composers Steve Reich, Nitin Sawhney, Jocelyn Pook and Ben Frost.

British cinematographer Daniel Landin BSC has collaborated with filmmakers, musicians and artists whose work has been acclaimed for their visual aesthetic and ambitious storytelling  including Under The Skin directed by Jonathan Glazer and Ray & Liz directed by Richard Billingham.  He has worked with visual music artists including Björk, Radiohead, David Bowie and Madonna; created films for multiple screen projection accompanying live music; with Alexander McQueen on his many highly conceptual fashion shows; and with Danny Boyle on the Isles of Wonder opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Sylvie Landra ACE has a distinguished career as an editor, with four César nominations including Leon, The Fifth Element and Joan of Arc.  Sylvie’s passion for exploring different styles, from sci-fi to comedy, drama to documentaries and political thriller, has earned respect and recognition and she has enjoyed working with international and Oscar® awarded directors cutting films for István Szabó, Menno Meyjes and Agnieszka Holland. Her constant curiosity and interest for new experiences brought her to collaborate with contemporary Germany’s leading artist Tobias Rehberger; recently she has collaborated on an international documentary by French leading artist JR.

Mariayah Kaderbhai is Head of Programmes at BAFTA, overseeing industry events and initiatives across film, television and games industries. She began her career at the BFI and has also worked on Al Jazeera’s former flagship film show The Fabulous Picture Show’ as a producer/journalist.

Creature is directed by Asif Kapadia, choreography and stage direction is by Akram Khan. An English National Ballet production, the producer is Uzma Hasan (Firstborn, The Infidel) of Little House Productions.   It will be released in cinemas in the UK and Ireland by BFI Distribution in 2023.  The film will receive its World Premiere on Saturday 15 October at the BFI Southbank, NFT1.

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LFF Connects: when dance meets film
Friday 7 October, 11:00-12:00, Odeon Luxe West End, Screen 2
Open to LFF Industry Delegates only