The BFI’s London Film Festival has set a buzzy lineup of names, including veteran actor Daniel Day-Lewis, for this year’s screen talk Q&A sessions.
Day-Lewis, who returns to acting this year with Anemone, will take part in Q&A sessions alongside Richard Linklater, Yorgos Lanthimos, Lynne Ramsay, Tessa Thompson, Jafar Panahi, and Chloé Zhao.
This year’s London Film Festival takes place from 8 October to 19 October. The full festival programme will be revealed on 3 September.
The opening film is Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. The screening will mark a return to the festival for Johnson’s murder mystery franchise after the original 2019 movie played in a gala screening at the 63rd edition in 2019, and the second instalment, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, closed the 66th edition in 2022.
The film’s ensemble cast includes Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, and Thomas Haden Church.
The festival will close with Julia Jackman’s 100 Nights Of Hero. The film stars a buzzy ensemble, including Emma Corrin, Nicholas Galitzine, Maika Monroe, Amir El-Masry, Charli XCX, Richard E. Grant, and Felicity Jones.
Described as a “bold and beautiful fairytale based on Isabel Greenberg’s graphic novel,” the film follows Cherry, whose neglectful husband departs after placing a secret wager to test her fidelity, and her sharp-witted maid Hero as they fend off a dangerously seductive visitor.
The Brendan Fraser comedy, Rental Family, has already been announced as the festival’s American Express Gala screening. The film will screen at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on Thursday 16 October, with director Hikari and star Brendan Fraser expected to attend.
