We’ve been digging through the programme for this year’s London Film Festival, and it might just be worth adding these to your wishlist.
Spencer, starring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana, is set to screen at the London Film Festival. But what are the lesser-known gems to look out for?
Yesterday, the programme for the 2021 London Film Festival was announced, and it didn’t disappoint. It promises another array of awards contenders, experimental works and future cult hits.
This year the festival is extending its hybrid platform introduced last year in the wake of the pandemic. The bulk of in-person screenings are taking place in the capital while being broadcast simultaneously to a selection of screens around the country. And of course the programme will be available digitally on the BFI Player for the benefit of those unable to travel or attend public events.
As usual, the line-up features high profile releases coming to screens, from Pablo Larrain’s Diana biopic Spencer, starring Kristen Stewart, to the Coen Brothers’ latest cinematic enigma The Tragedy Of Macbeth. However, less widely focused on are always the more fringe work; the films without necessarily high-profile talent attached, perhaps lacking the marketing budget or hype built up from Sundance or Berlinale.
Here then are a few to keep an eye out for when tickets go on sale from 20th September…
The Feast
Three words: Welsh, Fantasy, Horror. This selection from the First Feature Competition is the debut film of Lee Haven Jones. Having worked as a director on Doctor Who, Jones will know all too well the Welsh landscape’s potential for creating a mysterious and haunting environment. Which is precisely what The Feast promises, set at a dinner party in a remote part of the country where the arrival of a strange young woman sets off a series of grisly murders. The Feast has already received positive buzz from screenings at South by Southwest and Fantastia Fest. Let’s see if it is as well received in the UK.
A Cop Movie
The Mexican drug war is one of the great tragedies of the 21st century. A nation ravaged by organised crime, with murder, corruption and human trafficking becoming all too common. A Cop Movie focuses on two professional actors native to Mexico: Raul Briones and Monica Del Carmen, undergoing an intense training process to accurately impersonate real police officers. The film deals first hand with the war on Mexico’s streets and what it takes to play a law officer in a lawless world.
Neptune Frost ‘is prime position for the fringiest of fringe film’.
Bull
As the star of Utopia and several Ben Wheatley films, Neil Maskell may seem like an odd choice for a list of hidden gems. However, his presence almost always elevates a film with his intensity and authenticity. Here’s hoping that’s exactly what he brings to Bull, the latest film by Paul Andrew Walker. It’s about a former gang enforcer who returns to his home turf after ten years away. With the exception of sentimental Song For Marion, Walker is generally known for the kind of raw, social realist crime films that made Shane Meadows a household name. Bull may well be the film that propels him to similar heights.
Neptune Frost
A special presentation from LFF’s ‘Experimentia’ strand is prime position for the fringiest of fringe film. Perfect for this Rwandan techno-musical about the virtual lovechild of an intersex runaway and a coltan miner. The film is the brainchild of power couple Anisia Uzeyman and Saul Williams and comes at a time when the Afro-Futurist aesthetic seems closer than ever to penetrating the mainstream. The film has previously been screened at Toronto International Film Festival and Cannes, where it won the Queer Palm Award.
Language Lessons
After charming critics in Plan B, it was clear that Natalie Morales was a talent to watch on and off the screen. Pulling double duty this time, she directs and plays Spanish teacher Carina, who develops an unexpected friendship with her student (Mark Duplass) over a series of video call lessons. Another film playing off a timely trend perhaps, but one that earnestly portrays how vital online relationships become in the face of isolation.
The Worst Person In The World
This one’s admittedly already generated a bit of buzz, appearing in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and being the latest from Joachim Trier (Thelma). However, it has taken critics by complete surprise for being one of the most realistic and hilarious depictions of the modern twenty-something existence. It covers four years in the life of Julie (Renate Reinsve) as she picks up and dumps men in short order, hops from one career path to the next and generally has no idea what her life is supposed to be. Sounds perfect.
Little Palestine (Diary Of A Siege)
Rarely touched on in the plight of the Palestinian people is the indignities their diasporic communities must endure. The story of Yarmouk Camp is only one example of this. A 520-acre district of Damascus the camp was once home to the largest population of Palestinian Refugees in Syria. In 2013 the Assad Regime lay siege to the civilian community, blocking food, transport and contact with the outside world. As one of the refugees, filmmaker Abdallah Al-Khatib captured the full scope of the siege and the gradual degradation it caused on Yarmouk. His diary captures both the horror of his people’s persecution and the resolution with which they endure it.
Dashcam
4 Feet High
Good disabled narratives are rare. Rarer still are good disabled narratives about sex. Spanish series 4 Feet High promises to be exactly that; an inclusive, sex-positive story that puts disabled lead Juana (Marisol Agostina Irigoyen) front and centre. The story is not just one of Juana’s personal gratification however, following her as she becomes the face of her school’s campaign for comprehensive sex education. 4 Feet High looks set to tackle awkward conversations about sex, disability and representation with frank, wholesome humour.
Dashcam
Rob Savage’s Zoom-based horror Host really was the horror film of the COVID era. His second feature, Dashcam, looks like being no less timely, filmed as the dashcam footage of a COVID-denying online provocateur as she breaks quarantine. She travels to London to, er, ‘own the libs’ before finding herself on the run from malevolent forces. Having already screened at Toronto International Film Festival, Savage’s sophomore film will likely prove every bit as relevant and terrifying as Host.Â
London Film Festival will run from October 6th-17th both in cinemas and online.
