London’s biggest film festival turns 70 this week. The BFI London Film Festival runs from 7 to 18 October, and its opening-night gala goes to a film about a stage actor: Elsinore, directed by Simon Stone.
According to the festival’s entry on Wikipedia, which summarises the programme announcements, Elsinore is a biographical drama about the Scottish actor Ian Charleson. It will have its European premiere on the opening night, 7 October. The film is a co-production between the United Kingdom, the United States and Italy.
A closing film with a Hollywood actor behind the camera
The festival closes with The Debut, directed by Jesse Eisenberg. The same film is also billed as the opening-night premiere at the San Diego International Film Festival, which lists a screening on 14 October at The Lot in La Jolla, California. Its synopsis there begins with an unassuming housewife. Neither source gives more detail on the plot, and the two screenings fall on different sides of the Atlantic, so the film will be travelling the festival circuit within days.
A third headline gala, Artificial from Luca Guadagnino, is scheduled for 11 October.
The gala line-up
The list of headline galas, as compiled on the festival’s Wikipedia page, mixes familiar names from several countries. It includes:
- Behemoth!, directed by Tony Gilroy (United States)
- Ink, directed by Danny Boyle (United Kingdom)
- Being Heumann, directed by Siân Heder (United States)
- The Beloved (El ser querido), directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen (Spain)
- La bola negra, directed by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo (Spain, France)
- Bunker, directed by Florian Zeller (France, Spain)
- Club Kid, directed by Jordan Firstman (United States)
- Fatherland, directed by Paweł Pawlikowski (Poland, Germany, Italy, France)
The page lists more titles than these. This article covers only the ones visible in the sources reviewed, so the full programme should be checked on the BFI’s own site.
Where to see it
Seven London venues will host screenings: BFI Southbank, BFI IMAX, the Institute of Contemporary Arts, the Prince Charles Cinema, the Royal Festival Hall, Vue West End and Curzon Soho. The mix of a large-format cinema, an arts institute and a repertory house is typical of the festival’s spread across the capital.
The festival was founded in 1957. Its competition prize is the Sutherland Trophy, and its previous edition, the 69th in 2025, opened with Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, according to the same reference page.
What to watch for
Festival openers often set the tone for the press coverage that follows. Choosing a drama about a Scottish stage actor, directed by an Australian-born theatre and film maker, points to a programme that leans into British theatrical tradition at the start, while the galas range from Spanish and French productions to Polish and American ones.
One caveat applies. The sources used here are a Wikipedia summary and a separate festival page for The Debut, not the BFI’s official announcement. Dates, titles and venues are as reported there and could change. Reviews and reaction will begin once the opening-night screening takes place on Wednesday.