BFI London Film Festival is now just around the corner, opening on October 4 with Emerald Fennell’s latest film, Saltburn.
The 11-day festival boasts 252 titles, 29 of which are world premieres, and will include the screening of some of this year’s biggest films such as David Fincher’s latest The Killer, and Sofia Coppola’s biopic Priscilla.
One of the many exciting parts of the festival is its Screen Talks programme, which this year is made up of six major directors: Martin Scorsese, Greta Gerwig, Lulu Wang, Andrew Haigh, Emerald Fennell and Kitty Green will all be individually sitting down to speak about their careers.
Tickets will go on general sale today at 4.30pm. Find out more about who is being interviewed at this year’s talks, and how to get tickets, below.
Who are this year’s guests?
Emerald Fennell
The 37-year-old actor, writer and director has not only had roles in Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina (2011), Tom Hooper’s The Danish Girl (2015), Gerwig’s Barbie (she was Midge) and played Camilla Parker Bowles in The Crown’s third and fourth seasons, but she was a writer on Killing Eve (2019) and has written three books. Her feature directorial debut, Promising Young Woman (2020), was nominated for five Oscars, winning Best Original Screenplay. Her latest film, Saltburn, which stars Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi is set to open the festival. Fennell will talk about her varied and acclaimed career.
Thursday October 5, 2023, 12:15
Martin Scorsese
Now 80 years old, the legendary American director is showing no signs of slowing down – his 26th film, Killers of the Flower Moon, will be released in the UK on October 18. He will be joined by Edgar Wright (the British filmmaker who made Baby Driver and Shaun of the Dead) on stage for a thrilling conversation centred around Scorsese’s extraordinary body of work.
Saturday October 7, 2023, 14:00
Kitty Green
Award-winning Australian film director Kitty Green is arguably best known for her thought-provoking documentary, Ukraine Is Not a Brothel (2013), in which she followed the feminist Ukrainian campaign group FEMEN for over a year. It picked up a Special Mention at Venice and won the Audience Award at the 2014 SXSW Film Festival. More recently Green has been making dramas: The Assistant (2019) starred Julia Garner and chillingly unpacked workplace harassment, while her upcoming film, The Royal Hotel, stars Garner as one of two backpackers who take up bar jobs in the Australian Outback. Green will be discussing her films which have put misogyny under the microscope.
Saturday October 7, 2023, 11:15
Greta Gerwig
Greta Gerwig has been catapulted into global fame over the past couple of months after her plastic fantastic Barbie film broke box office records, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year. But she had dedicated fans long before that, having directed Lady Bird and Little Women and starred in Frances Ha.
Sunday October 8, 2023, 18:00
Andrew Haigh
Over the past 12 years, British filmmaker Andrew Haigh has created incredible series and acclaimed films, each as moving as the next. The first film, Weekend (2011), was a story about a brief but intense love story; the second, 45 Years (2015), was the opposite, telling the love story of two people in a four decade marriage. Lean on Pete (2017) was about a teen boy who makes friends with a horse. His next film, All of Us Strangers, which stars Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal, will be a take on a ghost story as a man revisits his childhood home and meets his dead parents. It’s set to be a real heart-wrencher, and will be released in January.
Monday October 9, 2023 ,16:00
Lulu Wang
Director Lulu Wang’s 2019 film The Farewell introduced a new audience to her thought-provoking body of work. The story drew on some of her own experiences of of being a Chinese-born American, and picked up numerous awards. At this year’s Screen Talks the director will speak about her career milestones, and her new Prime Video series Expats, which stars Nicole Kidman.
Tuesday October 10, 2023, 11:00
How do I buy tickets?
Tickets go on general sale today at 4.30pm and the individual event listings can be found here.
BFI Patrons, BFI Champions and BFI Members can buy tickets now.
