The BFI London Film Festival is approaching its 70th edition with a programme designed to feel both international and distinctly British. From 7 to 18 October, the festival will present 251 titles from 88 countries across features, shorts, series and immersive work, while its opening night focuses on a story rooted only a short walk from the gala venue.
Simon Stone’s Elsinore will open the festival at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. Andrew Scott plays Ian Charleson, the Scottish actor whose final stage performance as Hamlet at the National Theatre in 1989 became part of British theatre history as he was dying of AIDS. Olivia Colman, Billie Piper, Johnny Flynn, Luke Thompson and Juliet Stevenson are among the supporting cast. Scott is also a producer on the film.
The location gives the premiere unusual resonance. The Royal Festival Hall sits close to the National Theatre, where Charleson stepped into Hamlet after Daniel Day-Lewis left the production. The film is therefore not merely arriving in Britain after a festival journey; it is being placed in the cultural landscape where its central story happened. The BFI has also scheduled screenings around the UK, making the opening more than a single London red-carpet event.
The wider programme is substantial. Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut will close the festival, while Danny Boyle’s Ink receives its UK premiere as the Mayor of London’s Gala. Ten films compete for the festival’s Best Film award, and the Screen Talks programme includes figures such as Andrew Scott, Ava DuVernay, Sofia Coppola, Danny Boyle, Cynthia Erivo, John Malkovich and Mahershala Ali.
For a 70th edition, the most interesting choice is the absence of a purely retrospective posture. The festival is marking its age by looking at the present state of filmmaking and exhibition: established directors sit beside debuts, theatrical films beside immersive work, London venues beside partner cinemas in cities including Manchester, Glasgow, Belfast, Cardiff, Newcastle and Bristol.
Elsinore captures that balance particularly well. It is a new film about an artistic life remembered through theatre, illness and community, starring one of Britain’s most visible contemporary actors. Its UK cinema release will not follow until January 2027, but the London Film Festival gives it a hometown frame first. When the lights go down at the Royal Festival Hall on 7 October, the festival’s 70th year will begin not with an abstract celebration of cinema history, but with a story about what performance can mean when time is running out.