Opens today (October 7-18) with star studded film about a leading actor starring in ‘Hamlet’…
🎥 Our Share of Sand (UK production, set in India)
🎥 Lali (Pakistan)
🎥 Rebellion (documentary about the Bradford 12)
🎥 Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother (Pakistani American director Bassam Tariq)
🎥 A Kind of Purity (Short – Nabhaan Rizwan & Aiysha Hart)
🎥 No Good Men (Afghanistan)
🎥 The Difficult Bride (Bangladesh)
🎥 The Calf Doll (India docudrama)
🎥 Pakeezah (Bollywood classic – 1972)
LONDON FILM FESTIVAL (LFF) starts this evening officially with the Opening Night Gala Film – ‘Elsinore’ starring pin-up Andrew Scott.
Adeel Akhtar is among the star-studded cast in this Simon Stone film which shows actor Ian Charleson step into the lead role of ‘Hamlet’ when Daniel Day-Lewis departed from the theatre play in the late 1980s.
Charleson is dying of AIDS but turns in performances at the National Theatre which has the critics raving. No one knows that Charleson is seriously ill. The film screened once at the Telluride Film Festival in the US in September and was well reviewed – especially for its central performance from Scott.
It screens at the Southbank Centre (7.15pm) – where all the gala films will be shown and tickets for these films, especially those before 5pm tend to be easier to purchase – do check the LFF website or the LFF box office (see links below).
We have already covered some of these films now featuring at LFF this year.
Our Share of Sand – British Asian girl dilemma
WATCH our interview with British based director Shalini Adnani and producer Sara Bonakdar about ‘Our Share of Sand’ which enjoys its UK premiere tomorrow (October 8) – it screens in one cinema on two screens at similar times also – so check listings. It’s about a British Asian girl, Maya (Maya Mehta) travelling back to India to be reunited with her cement business owner father (played by well-known Indian actor Zeeshan Ayyub). A terrible industrial accident occurs and her father comes under suspicion for his working practices. Read our review penned just after its world premiere in Venice last month. It also featured at the recent Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF September 10-20). It screens FOUR times across LFF – tomorrow (October 8) at 6.30pm Vue West End; then Sunday on two screens at Curzon Soho (8.15pm & 8.30pm) and finally, Saturday (October 17) at 5.30pm NFT4.
Lali – Punjabi fun wedding meets dark ghostly undercurrents
WRITER-DIRECTOR Sarmad Sultan Khoosat told us what compelled him to make this film which is ostensibly about a wedding party and a bit more. We covered its world premiere in at the Berlinale…
It screens twice in the festival, TODAY (October 7) at 8.35pm at the ICA and then again the next day at NFT2 (6.10pm). See listings for tickets.
Rebellion – Revisiting the past for the future
ABOUT the Bradford 12, this documentary revisits 1981, when fascists wanted to openly march in predominantly Asian and mixed areas; the threat to communities was palpable and real – some young Asians were not going to have any of it – and organised to defend these communities – only to find themselves on the other side of the law. Directors Ken Faro and Tariq Mehmood were unequivocal about why this film matters NOW. It screens on Wednesday, October 14 at the ICA (8.50pm) and then again the next day at NFT2, 1.50pm.
A Kind of Purity – Short film satires art and diversity
NABHAAN RIZWAN & AIYSHA HART star in this film which is about how the art world can view artists with global south heritage and the differences between those that know how to play a game and those that don’t or won’t – when institutions come a calling. Our video interview with director Theo Shivdasani and writer Peter Fellows at the launch will be out shortly (follow Instagram to see when). It screens first as part of the Call Your Bluff shorts strand tomorrow (October 8) at 8.30pm at Prince Charles and then again on Sunday (October 11) at 12.40pm.
You can also view this for free on BFI’s i-player until October 25
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother – Stirring Muslim Dad
WRITER-DIRECTOR US-based Bassam Tariq’s second feature following ‘Mogul Mowgli’ is an action thriller based around an unusual assassin. Step forward Latif (Oscar winning Mahershala Ali) who is trying to manage his three children, including a baby who needs milk formula, following the death of his wife and the children’s mother. A devout Muslim who only gets rid of bad people – when gangster (John Cho) enlists him for a job in the South of the US, the challenge is really on. It screens on Saturday (October 17) 5.45pm at the Southbank Centre – and being a large venue, the chances of getting a ticket are decent or just chance it till the day itself – (returns & cancellations); and again at the much smaller Prince Charles at 3pm, the next day (October 18).
Ali opens himself to questions about this film and his career and faith, as part of LFF’s Screen Talks – he appears next Saturday (October 17) at the Curzon Soho 12.30pm (good luck!)
No Good Men – Afghan social comedy, pre-Taliban return
SHAHRBANOO SADAT is one of South Asia’s leading filmmakers and her latest film – something of a satire about male-female relations in Afghanistan before the Taliban regained control – it opened Berlinale earlier this year. It screens tomorrow (October 8) at 6pm Vue West End and then again on Saturday (October 10) at Curzon Soho 3pm. We first met Sadat at Cannes with ‘Wolf and Sheep’ (2016).
The Difficult Bride – Nuptials get feminist makeover?
WE HAVE written about this film and its world premiere in Venice, where its director Rubaiyat Hossain (pictured right) won an award, and then its screening at TIFF as well. It shows here in London first on Sunday (October 11) at 9pm at NFT1 and then again on the Monday at the smaller NFT3, at 1.20pm.
The Calf Doll – India’s slow cinema arrives
A DOCUDRAMA – Ankur Hooda’s tale involves his grandparents, a sick cow and the comings and goings in a rural Haryana village. Here realism and a snapshot of community are more important than plot or design. It’s at the ICA on Thursday evening 8.40pm (October 8) and again on Friday at Curzon Soho in two screens (6pm & 6.15pm).
Pakeezah – Restored in glorious 4K
A BOLLYWOOD CLASSIC Kamal Amrohi’s 1972 romance tragedy comes to the BFI Imax Southbank for one screening only on October 18 – a sumptuous musical, Meena Kumari’s performance at the core of the film has more than stood the test of time.
Check tickets especially nearer the time 10.45am (good luck!)
Listings
London Film Festival (October 7-18) – full listings and venue details – here
A note about tickets – many of these films will be ‘sold out’ but do check the latest ticket information online and visit the LFF Box Office in person too! Good Luck!
Check here as well for the very latest ticket infomation – https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=ticket-availability
All times and venue information are from the LFF public programme booklet – please check with the latest information online
