London Film Festival - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The BFI London Film Festival (also known as just the London Film Festival) is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, (the LFF), currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute

British Film Institute

The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...

. The Festival showcases the best of world cinema

World cinema

World cinema is a term used primarily in English language speaking countries to refer to the films and film industries of non-English speaking countries. It is therefore often used interchangeably with the term foreign film...

to champion creativity, originality, vision and imagination, and presents the finest contemporary international cinema from both established and emerging film-makers. Set in the Autumn, the festival hosts high profile awards contenders, screens recently restored archive films, champions new discoveries and combines curatorial strength with red carpet glamour. It also provides an extensive programme of industry events, public forums, education events, lectures, masterclasses and Q&As with film-makers and film talent.

History

In 1953 a group of film critics including Dilys Powell

Dilys Powell

Elizabeth Dilys Powell was a British journalist, author and film critic.She was born into a middle class family in Bridgnorth, Shropshire. Her mother was Mary Jane Lloyd; her father, Thomas Powell, a bank manager...

of the Sunday Times, raised the notion of a film festival for London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. They reasoned that with Cannes

Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

and Venice

Venice Film Festival

The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...

having their festivals, as did Edinburgh, so surely London should too. However their aim was to pitch the new festival squarely at the public - giving audiences an opportunity to see movies which might not otherwise appear in British cinemas. Originally aiming to be a 'festival of festivals', it focused on screening a selection of strong titles from other European film festivals, including Cannes and Venice. The first London Film Festival was conceived by the then BFI British Film Institute

British Film Institute

Director James Quinn

James Quinn

James Quinn may refer to:*Bob Quinn , born James Aloysius Robert Quinn, American executive in Major League Baseball*J. D. Quinn, James "J. D." Quinn, American football offensive guard*James J. Quinn, general in Irish Army and United Nations...

, and took place at the NFT (National Film Theatre, now renamed BFI Southbank) from 16–26 October. It was launched the day after the inauguration of the new NFT on its current site under Waterloo Bridge. It screened only 15-20 films from a renowned selection of directors, including Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa

was a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter and editor. Regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, Kurosawa directed 30 filmsIn 1946, Kurosawa co-directed, with Hideo Sekigawa and Kajiro Yamamoto, the feature Those Who Make Tomorrow ;...

, Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...

, Yasujirō Ozu

Yasujiro Ozu

was a prominent Japanese film director and script writer. He is known for his distinctive technical style, developed during the silent era. Marriage and family, especially the relationships between the generations, are among the most persistent themes in his body of work...

, Luchino Visconti

Luchino Visconti

Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo was an Italian theatre, opera and cinema director, as well as a screenwriter. He is best known for his films The Leopard and Death in Venice .-Life:...

and Andrzej Wajda

Andrzej Wajda

Andrzej Wajda is a Polish film director. Recipient of an honorary Oscar, he is possibly the most prominent member of the unofficial "Polish Film School"...

. While the programme still retains the 'festival of festivals' feel, it also now shows new discoveries from 'important and exciting talents' in world cinema. Whilst it continues to be first and foremost a public festival, it is also attended by large numbers of film professionals and journalists from all over the world. Importantly, it offers opportunities for people to see films that may not otherwise get a UK screening along with films which will get a release in the near future.

The festival is 'topped and tailed' by the Opening and Closing galas which have now become major red carpet ‘events’ in the London calendar and are world premiere screenings, which take place in large venues in central London, attended by the cast and crew of the films, and introduced by the Festival director and the film’s directors or producers, and often the actors themselves.

Previously a number of festival awards were presented at the Closing gala but in 2009, with the aid of some funding from the UK Film Council, a stand alone awards ceremony was introduced.

Other than these events the screenings at the Festival are quite informal and similar to the normal cinema experience except for two things; some films are accompanied by Q&A sessions which give the audience unique access to the film-maker and/or a member of the cast and offer insight into the making of the film and occasionally an opportunity for the audience to engage directly and ask questions; and the second aspect is that people generally stay and watch the credits!

The festival is divided into themes which cover different areas of interest - in 2009 these were; Galas and Special Screenings, Film on the Square, New British Cinema, French Revolutions, Cinema Europa, World Cinema, Experimenta, Treasures from the Archives, Short Cuts and Animation. In 2009 the Festival, whilst focused around Leicester Square (Vue

Vue (cinema)

Vue Entertainment , formerly known as SBC International Cinemas, is a cinema company in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The company was formed in May 2003 when SBC acquired 36 Warner Village cinemas. There are now 69 Vue cinemas, with 654 screens totaling 140,500 seats, including the rebranded...

, Odeon

Odeon Cinemas

Odeon Cinemas is a British chain of cinemas, one of the largest in Europe. It is owned by Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group whose ultimate parent is Terra Firma Capital Partners.-History:Odeon Cinemas was created in 1928 by Oscar Deutsch...

West End and Empire) and the BFI Southbank

BFI Southbank

BFI Southbank is the leading repertory cinema in the UK specialising in seasons of classic, independent and non-English language films and is operated by the British Film Institute.-History:...

in central London, also screened films across 18 other venues – Curzon Mayfair

Curzon Cinema

The Curzon Community Cinema, in Clevedon, England, is claimed to be the oldest continually-running purpose-built cinema in the world.Opened on 20 April 1912 by Victor Cox, the original building had 200 seats and the first show raised funds for the survivors and relatives of those killed earlier in...

, ICA

Institute of Contemporary Arts

The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...

Cinema on The Mall, The Ritzy

Ritzy Cinema

The Ritzy is a cinema in Brixton, South London, United Kingdom.The cinema opened on 11 March 1911 as 'the Electric Pavilion'. It was built by E. C. Homer and Lucas for Israel Davis, one of a noted family of cinema developers, and was one of England's earliest purpose built cinemas seating over 750...

in Brixton, Cine Lumière in South Kensington, Queen Elizabeth Hall

Queen Elizabeth Hall

The Queen Elizabeth Hall is a music venue on the South Bank in London, United Kingdom that hosts daily classical, jazz, and avant-garde music and dance performances. The QEH forms part of Southbank Centre arts complex and stands alongside the Royal Festival Hall, which was built for the Festival...

on the South Bank, David Lean Cinema

David Lean Cinema

The David Lean Cinema is a small cinema built in the 1990s to honour the director David Lean who was born in the town. It is located in Croydon, London on Katharine Street...

in Croydon, the Genesis Cinema in Whitechapel, The Greenwich Picturehouse, the Phoenix Cinema

Phoenix Cinema

The Phoenix Cinema is an independent cinema in East Finchley, London, which was built in 1910 and opened in 1912 as the 'East Finchley Picturedrome'...

in East Finchley, Rich Mix in Old Street, the Rio Cinema

Rio Cinema

The Rio Cinema is a purpose-built, single-screen, 402 seat cinema in Dalston, London Borough of Hackney. The building dates from 1915, has a 1930s art deco facade and is English Heritage Grade II listed. It offers a mix of popular mainstream films and art house releases, selling about 70,000 -...

in Dalston, the Tricycle Cinema in Kilburn, the Waterman Art Centre in Brentford and Trafalgar Square for the open air screening of short films from the BFI National Archive

BFI National Archive

The BFI National Archive is a department of the British Film Institute, and one of the largest film archives in the world. It was originally set up as the National Film Library in 1935; its first curator was Ernest Lindgren. In 1955 its name became the National Film Archive, and in 1992, the...

. The 2009 Festival featured 15 world premieres including Wes Anderson

Wes Anderson

Wesley Wales Anderson is an American film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer of features, short films and commercials....

’s first animated feature, Fantastic Mr. Fox

Fantastic Mr. Fox (film)

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a 2009 American stop-motion animated film based on the Roald Dahl children's novel of the same name. This story is about a fox who steals food each night from three mean and wealthy farmers. The farmers are fed up with Mr Fox's theft and try to kill him, so they dig their way...

, Sam Taylor-Wood

Sam Taylor-Wood

Samantha "Sam" Taylor-Wood OBE , born Samantha Taylor, is an English filmmaker, photographer, and visual artist. Her directorial feature film debut came in 2009 with Nowhere Boy, a film based on the childhood experiences of The Beatles songwriter and singer John Lennon...

’s feature début Nowhere Boy

Nowhere Boy

Nowhere Boy is a 2009 British biopic about John Lennon's adolescence, his relationships with his guardian aunt and his birth mother, the creation of his first band, the Quarrymen, and its evolution into the Beatles. The film is based on a biography written by Lennon's half-sister Julia Baird...

, about the formative years of John Lennon

John Lennon

John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...

, as well as and the Festival’s first ever Archive Gala, the BFI’s new restoration of Anthony Asquith

Anthony Asquith

Anthony Asquith was a leading English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on The Winslow Boy and The Browning Version , among other adaptations...

’s Underground, with live music accompaniment by the Prima Vista Social Club. European premieres in 2009 included Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Jean-Pierre Jeunet

-Life and career:Jean-Pierre Jeunet was born in Roanne, Loire, France. He bought his first camera at the age of 17 and made short films while studying animation at Cinémation Studios. He befriended Marc Caro, a designer and comic book artist who became his longtime collaborator and...

’s Micmacs, Scott Hicks’ The Boys Are Back

The Boys Are Back (film)

The Boys Are Back is a 2009 Australian/British drama film directed by Scott Hicks, produced by Greg Brenman and starring Clive Owen. Based on the book The Boys Are Back In Town by Simon Carr, the film features a score composed by Hal Lindes and a soundtrack by Sigur Rós.-Plot:Joe Warr is a British...

and Robert Connolly’s Balibo

Balibo (2009 film)

Balibo is a 2009 Australian feature film that follows the story of the Balibo Five, a group of journalists who were captured and killed whilst reporting on activities just prior to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975. The film is loosely based on the book Cover-Up, by Jill Jolliffe, an...

, as well as Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni’s The Well and Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson’s Mugabe And The White African.

In 2009, directors travelling to London to introduce their latest work included Michael Haneke

Michael Haneke

Michael Haneke is a German born Austrian filmmaker and writer best known for his bleak and disturbing style. His films often document problems and failures in modern society. Haneke has worked in television‚ theatre and cinema. He is also known for raising social issues in his work...

(Cannes Palme d'Or winner, The White Ribbon), Atom Egoyan

Atom Egoyan

Atom Egoyan, OC is a critically acclaimed Armenian-Canadian stage director and film director. Egoyan made his career breakthrough with Exotica...

(Chloe), Steven Soderbergh

Steven Soderbergh

Steven Andrew Soderbergh is an American film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, and an Academy Award-winning film director. He is best known for directing commercial Hollywood films like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the remake of Ocean's Eleven, but he has also directed smaller less...

(The Informant!), Lone Scherfig

Lone Scherfig

Lone Scherfig is a Danish film director. She graduated in 1984, and began her career as a director with "A Birthday Trip". She is part of the Dogme 95 film movement, which espouses a form of cinéma vérité She made her mark with the Dogme95-film, Italian for Beginners , a romantic comedy which...

(An Education), Ang Lee

Ang Lee

Ang Lee is a Taiwanese film director. Lee has directed a diverse set of films such as Eat Drink Man Woman , Sense and Sensibility , Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon , Hulk , and Brokeback Mountain , for which he won an Academy...

(Taking Woodstock), Jane Campion

Jane Campion

Jane Campion is a filmmaker and screenwriter. She is one of the most internationally successful New Zealand directors, although most of her work has been made in or financed by other countries, principally Australia – where she now lives – and the United States...

(Bright Star), Gaspar Noé

Gaspar Noé

Gaspar Noé is an Argentine filmmaker and the son of Argentine painter and intellectual Luis Felipe Noé. He graduated from Louis Lumière College and is the visiting professor of film at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland...

(Enter The Void), Lee Daniels

Lee Daniels

Lee Louis Daniels is an American actor, film producer, and director. He produced Monster's Ball and directed the film Precious, which received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Director; the film won two of the awards.-Early years:Daniels was born on Christmas Eve, 1959, in...

(Precious), Grant Heslov

Grant Heslov

Grant Heslov is an American actor, film producer, screenwriter and director.-Early life:Heslov was born in Los Angeles, into a Jewish family and was raised in the Palos Verdes area of Los Angeles. He attended Palos Verdes High School, the University of Southern California along with friend Tate...

(The Men Who Stare At Goats), and Jason Reitman

Jason Reitman

Jason Reitman is a Canadian/American film director, screenwriter, and producer, best known for directing the films Thank You for Smoking , Juno , and Up in the Air . As of February 2, 2010, he has received three Academy Award nominations, two of which are for Best Director...

(Up In The Air). In addition to Fantastic Mr. Fox and Up In The Air, George Clooney

George Clooney

George Timothy Clooney is an American actor, film director, producer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award...

supported his role in The Men Who Stare At Goats

The Men Who Stare at Goats

The Men Who Stare at Goats is a book by Jon Ronson about the U.S. Army's exploration of New Age concepts and the potential military applications of the paranormal. The title refers to attempts to kill goats by staring at them...

. The Festival also welcomed back previous alumni such as John Hillcoat

John Hillcoat

John Hillcoat is an Australian screenwriter and film director.Hillcoat was born in Queensland, Australia, and was raised in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. As a child, his paintings were featured in the Art Gallery of Hamilton. He has repeatedly worked with Nick Cave and also the band Depeche Mode...

(The Road), Joe Swanberg

Joe Swanberg

Joe Swanberg is an American independent filmmaker. He is a member of the "Mumblecore" movement. His films include Kissing on the Mouth , LOL , Hannah Takes the Stairs , Nights and Weekends and Alexander the Last...

(Alexander The Last) and Harmony Korine

Harmony Korine

The story is told from the perspective of a young man suffering from untreated schizophrenia, played by Ewen Bremner, as he tries to understand his deteriorating world. Julien's abusive father is played by Werner Herzog...

(Trash Humpers), whilst also screening films from Manoel de Oliveira

Manoel de Oliveira

Manoel Cândido Pinto de Oliveira, GCSE is a Portuguese film director born in Cedofeita, Porto. He began working on films in the late 1920s, but did not receive international recognition until the early 1970s. Since the late 1980s he has been one of the most prolific working film directors and...

(Eccentricities Of A Blonde-Haired Girl), Jim Jarmusch

Jim Jarmusch

James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...

(The Limits Of Control), Claire Denis (White Material), Ho-Yuhang (At The End Of Daybreak), Todd Solondz

Todd Solondz

Todd Solondz is an American independent film screenwriter and director known for his style of dark, thought-provoking, socially conscious satire. Solondz has been critically acclaimed for his examination of the "dark underbelly of middle class American suburbia", a reflection of his own background...

(Life During Wartime) and Joel and Ethan Coen (A Serious Man).

London Film Festival team

• Artistic Director: Sandra Hebron

• Programmer: Michael Hayden

• Producer: Helen de Witt

• Head of Projects and Development: Anne-Marie Flynn

• Programme Manager: Sarah Lutton

• BFI Director: Amanda Nevill

2004

The Sutherland Trophy

Sutherland Trophy

Created in 1958, the Sutherland Trophy was awarded annually by the British Film Institute to "the maker of the most original and imaginative [first or second feature] film introduced at the National Film Theatre during the year"...

Tarnation
Tarnation
Tarnation is a 2003 documentary film by Jonathan Caouette.The film was created by Caouette from over 20 years of hundreds of hours of old Super 8 footage, VHS videotape, photographs, and answering machine messages to tell the story of his life and his relationship with his mentally ill mother Renee...

, dir. Jonathan Caouette

Jonathan Caouette

Jonathan Caouette is an American film director, writer, editor and actor. Caouette is the director and editor of Tarnation , an autobiographical documentary, and director of All Tomorrow's Parties about a cult music festival.-Films:...

7th FIPRESCI International Critics Award

FIPRESCI

The International Federation of Film Critics is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world for "the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests." It was founded in June 1930 in...

Aaltra
Aaltra
Aaltra is a 2004 French drama film, directed and written by Gustave de Kervern and Benoît Delépine. The film was nominated for 3 awards and won 4 awards, mostly going to Benoît Delépine.-Cast:*Benoît Delépine ... The Employee...

, dir. Gustave Kervern & Benoit Delepine

Benoît Delépine

Benoît Delépine is a French comedian and film director. He is known for his satirical activities on TV channel Canal+....

The Alfred Dunhill UK Film Talent Award

A Way Of Life
A Way of Life
A Way of Life is a British film released in 2004 starring Stephanie James and Brenda Blethyn. It is directed by former child actor Amma Asante, and was filmed in South Wales...

, dir. Amma Asante

Amma Asante

-Biography:As a child, Asante attended the Barbara Speake stage school in Acton, London, where she trained as a student in dance and drama. She began her film and television career as a child actress, appearing as a regular in the British school drama Grange Hill...

9th Annual Satyajit Ray Award

Satyajit Ray

The Woodsman
The Woodsman
The Woodsman is a 2004 drama film directed and co-written by Nicole Kassell, based on Fechter's play of the same name. The movie stars Kevin Bacon as a convicted child molester who must adjust to life after prison.-Plot:...

, dir. Nicole Kassell

Nicole Kassell

Nicole Kassell is an American film director.Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she received her degree from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU...

TCM Classic Shorts Award

Nits, dir. Harry Wootliff

2005

The Sutherland Trophy

Sutherland Trophy

The Living and the Dead
The Living and the Dead
The Living and the Dead is a novel by Australian Nobel Prize laureate Patrick White, his second published book . It was written in the early stages of World War II whilst the author alternated between the United Kingdom and the United States....

, dir. Kari Paljakka

8th FIPRESCI International Critics Award

FIPRESCI

Man Push Cart
Man Push Cart
Man Push Cart is a 2005 American independent film by Ramin Bahrani that tells the story of a former Pakistani rock star who sells coffee and bagels from his pushcart on the streets of Manhattan.-Synopsis:...

, dir. Ramin Bahrani

Ramin Bahrani

Ramin Bahrani is an American director and screenwriter. Film critic Roger Ebert listed Bahrani's film Chop Shop as the 6th best film of the decade and hailed Bahrani as "the director of the decade." Bahrani was the recipient of the prestigious 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship, and was the subject of...

The Alfred Dunhill UK Film Talent Award

Producer Gayle Griffiths

The 10th Annual Satyajit Ray Award

Satyajit Ray

Pavee Lackeen, dir. Perry Ogden

The Times

The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

bfi London Film Festival Grierson Award (Best Documentary)

Workingman's Death
Workingman's Death
Workingman's Death is a 2005 Austrian-German documentary film written and directed by Michael Glawogger. It premiered at the 2005 Venice Film Festival. The film deals with the extremes to which workers go to earn a living in several countries around the world.The film is composed of six differently...

, dir. Michael Glawogger

Michael Glawogger

Michael Glawogger is an Austrian film director, screenwriter and cinematographer.From 1981 to 1982 Glawogger studied at the San Francisco Art Institute and then from 1983 to 1989 at the Vienna Film Academy...

TCM Classic Shorts Award

Happy, dir. Jane Lloyd

2006

The Sutherland Trophy

Sutherland Trophy

Red Road
Red Road (film)
Red Road is a 2006 British film directed by Andrea Arnold. It tells the story of a CCTV security operator who observes through her monitors a man from her past. It is named after, and partly set at, the Red Road flats in Barmulloch, Glasgow, Scotland which were the tallest residential buildings in...

, dir. Andrea Arnold

Andrea Arnold

Andrea Arnold OBE is a filmmaker and former actress from England, who made her feature film directorial debut in 2006 with Red Road.-Early TV work:...

9th FIPRESCI International Critics Award

FIPRESCI

Lola, dir. Javier Rebollo

The Alfred Dunhill UK Film Talent Award

Producer Mark Herbert

Mark Herbert

Mark Herbert is a UK film producer and the head of the Sheffield-based production company Warp Films.He produced: Four Lions, Dead Man's Shoes, and Phoenix Nights ....

The 11th Annual Satyajit Ray Award

Satyajit Ray

The Lives of Others
The Lives of Others
The Lives of Others is a 2006 German drama film, marking the feature film debut of filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. The film involves the monitoring of the cultural scene of East Berlin by agents of the Stasi, the GDR's secret police...

dir. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Florian Maria Georg Christian, Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck is a German film director, best known for writing and directing the 2007 Oscar-winning film The Lives of Others and the 2010 film The Tourist.-Personal life and family:...

The Times

bfi London Film Festival Grierson Award (Best Documentary)

Thin
Thin (film)
The 2006 cinéma vérité documentary film, THIN, directed by Lauren Greenfield and distributed by HBO, is an exploration of The Renfrew Center in Coconut Creek, Florida; a 40-bed residential facility for the treatment of women with eating disorders. The film mostly revolves around four women with...

, dir. Lauren Greenfield

Lauren Greenfield

Lauren Greenfield is an American artist, documentary photographer, and documentary filmmaker. She has published three monographs of her photographic work, directed four documentary films, exhibited her photographic prints in museums throughout the world, and had her work published in a variety of...

TCM Classic Shorts Award

Silence Is Golden
Silence Is Golden (film)
Silence Is Golden is a 15 minute award winning film written and directed by Chris Shepherd and produced by Maria Manton. Set in 1970s Britain, it tells the story of a 10 year old boy's obsession with his seemingly simple minded neighbour Dennis. The film mixes live action with various form of...

directed by Chris Shepherd

Chris Shepherd

Chris Shepherd is a BAFTA nominated television/film writer and director. Born in Anfield, Liverpool in 1967. He is mainly known for combining live action with animation. His work fuses comedy with commentary on the darker side of human nature....

2007

The Sutherland Trophy

Sutherland Trophy

Persepolis
Persepolis (film)
Persepolis is a 2007 French animated film based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name. The film was written and directed by Satrapi with Vincent Paronnaud. The story follows a young girl as she comes of age against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution. The story...

, dir. Marjane Satrapi

Marjane Satrapi

Marjane Satrapi is an Iranian-born French contemporary graphic novelist, illustrator, animated film director, and children's book author...

and Vincent Paronnaud

Vincent Paronnaud

Pascal Stadler , a.k.a. Winshluss, is a French comics artist and filmmaker. He is best known for cowriting and codirecting with Marjane Satrapi the highly acclaimed animated film Persepolis , for which they received numerous awards including the Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival as well...

10th FIPRESCI International Critics Award

FIPRESCI

Unrelated
Unrelated
Unrelated is a 2008 British film written and directed by Joanna Hogg about a fortysomething woman who goes on holiday with a friend and her teenage family to Italy. It was shot on location in Tuscany, Italy near the city of Siena.-Synopsis:...

, dir. Joanna Hogg

Joanna Hogg

Joanna Hogg is a British film maker and screenwriter. She made her directorial and screenwriting feature film debut in 2007 with Unrelated.-Early TV Work:...

The Alfred Dunhill UK Film Talent Award

Sarah Gavron

Sarah Gavron is a British film director. She graduated from the University of York with a BA in English in 1992 and an MA in film studies from Edinburgh University and then worked for the BBC for three years...

, director of Brick Lane
Brick Lane (film)
Brick Lane is an award-winning 2007 British drama film directed by Sarah Gavron and adapted from the novel of the same name by Monica Ali. The screenplay was adapted from the novel by Laura Jones and Abi Morgan, and Tannishtha Chatterjee played the lead role...

The 12th Annual Satyajit Ray Award

Satyajit Ray

California Dreamin' awarded posthumously to director Cristian Nemescu

Cristian Nemescu

Cristian Nemescu was a Romanian film director.Nemescu was born in Bucharest. He graduated from the Academy for Theater and Film in 2003. During his final year in the academy he made a short film, Story From The Third Block Entrance, that received awards at the NYU International Student Film...

The Times

bfi London Film Festival Grierson Award (Best Documentary)

The Mosquito Problem and other stories
The Mosquito Problem and other stories
The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories is a Bulgarian documentary feature film directed by Andrey Paounov. It was included in the 46th International Critic's Week of the Cannes Film Festival 2007-Plot:...

, dir. Andrey Paounov

Andrey Paounov

Andrey Paounov is a writer - director best known for his documentary feature films.His debut Georgi and the butterflies won the "Silver Wolf" at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.His second feature The Mosquito Problem and other stories was included in the 46th International...

TCM Classic Shorts Award

A bout de truffe /The Truffle Hunter, dir. Tom Tagholm

2008

The Sutherland Trophy

Sutherland Trophy

Tulpan, dir. Sergey Dvortsevoy

Sergey Dvortsevoy

Sergey Dvortsevoy is a filmmaker from Kazakhstan. His 2008 feature film Tulpan was Kazakhstan's 2009 Academy Awards official submission to Foreign Language Film category....

11th FIPRESCI International Critics Award

FIPRESCI

Three Blind Mice, dir. Matthew Newton

Matthew Newton

Matthew Newton is an Australian stage and screen actor. Born in Melbourne, he is the son of television personalities, Bert and Patti Newton, brother of Lauren Newton, brother-in-law of Matt Welsh and uncle to Sam Albert and Eva Eunice Newton Welsh.-Acting:Newton has performed in Australia and...

The 13th Annual Satyajit Ray Award

Satyajit Ray

Mid-August Lunch (Pranzo di ferragosto) to director Gianni Gregorio

The Times

bfi London Film Festival Grierson Award (Best Documentary)

Victoire Terminus, dir. Florent de la Tullaye and Renaud Barret

TCM Classic Shorts Award

Leaving
Leaving (film)
- Plot summary :Suzanne is a well to do married woman and mother in the south of France. Her idle bourgeois lifestyle gets her down and she decides to go back to work as a physiotherapist. Her husband agrees to fix up a consulting room for her in their backyard. When Suzanne and the man hired to...

, dir. Richard Penfold and Sam Hearn

2009

Best Film

A Prophet, dir. Jacques Audiard

Jacques Audiard

Jacques Audiard is a French film director, the son of Michel Audiard, also a notable screenwriter and film director.He won twice both the César Award for Best Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language, in 2005 for The Beat That My Heart Skipped and in 2010 for A Prophet...

The Sutherland Trophy

Ajami

Best British Newcomer Award

Jack Thorne

Jack Thorne (writer)

Jack Thorne is an English screenwriter and playwright. Born in Bristol, England, he has written for radio, theatre and film, most notably on the TV shows Skins, Cast-offs, This Is England '86, The Fades and the feature film The Scouting Book For Boys...

the writer of The Scouting Book For Boys.

The Times BFI London Film Festival Grierson Award (Best Documentary)

Defamation, dir. Yoav Shamir

Yoav Shamir

' is an Israeli documentary filmmaker most noted for the films Checkpoint and Defamation. Shamir's films have received awards from independent film festivals including Best Feature Documentary at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, Best International Documentary at the Hot Docs...

2 x BFI Fellowships

Filmmaker - Souleymane Cissé

Souleymane Cissé

-Biography:Raised in a Muslim family, Souleymane Cissé was a passionate cinephile from childhood. He attended secondary school in Dakar, and returned to Mali in 1960 after national independence....

Actor - John Hurt

John Hurt

John Vincent Hurt, CBE is an English actor, known for his leading roles as John Merrick in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York...

Awards Ceremony

For many years the Festival has given a number of awards in recognition of the creative talent which finds a home in the Festival. The programme showcases and supports the work of imaginative and original film-makers and in 2009, a new annual standalone awards ceremony was launched to reflect this and to reward distinctive and intriguing work.

The categories highlight both emerging and established talent.

The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival Awards winners (2009)

The Sutherland Trophy: for the most Original and Innovative First Feature in the LFF:
Named after the BFI’s patron, this award boasts recipients as noteworthy as Bertolucci, Fassbinder, Godard and Antonioni. Some of the films recognised in recent years include Asif Kapadia’s The Warrior, Kenneth Lonergan’s You Can Count On Me, Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher, Andrea Arnold’s Red Road and Tulpan from Sergey Dvortsevoy.
2009’s Sutherland Award winner was Ajami.
Judges in 2009 included: Kerry Fox, Paul Greengrass, David Parfitt, Gillian Wearing
Awards presenter: Alfonso Cuaron

Best British Newcomer Award:
The best British Newcomer Award celebrates new and emerging British film talent and recognises the achievements of a new writer, producer or director who demonstrates real creative flair and imagination with their first feature.
The 2009 winner was Jack Thorne, the writer of The Scouting Book For Boys.
Judges in 2009 included: Christine Langan, Lenny Crooks, Tanya Seghatchian & Tessa Ross
Awards presenters: Dominic Cooper, Jodie Whittaker

The Times BFI London Film Festival Grierson Award:
For the best feature-length documentary in the festival. This award is given jointly by the LFF & the Grierson Trust which commemorates the pioneering Scottish documentary-maker John Grierson (1898–1972), famous for Drifters and Night Mail. The Grierson Trust has a long-standing tradition of recognising outstanding films that demonstrate integrity, originality and technical excellence and social or cultural significance.
The winner in 2009 was Yoav Shamir’s Defamation.
Judges in 2009 included: Nick Broomfield, Molly Dineen, Ellen Fleming, Christopher Hird
Awards presenter: Nick Broomfield
Best Film:
The Best Film Award celebrates creative, original, imaginative, intelligent and distinctive film-making and was won in 2009 by Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet.
Judges in 2009 included: Anjelica Huston, Charlotte Rampling, Mathieu Kassovitz, John Akomfrah, Jarvis Cocker, Iain Softley
Awards presenter: Anjelica Huston
2 x BFI Fellowships:
The Festival showcases both the work of new film-makers and established ones, and presenting two Fellowships provides a fitting contrast to those Awards recognising new talent. In 2009, one Fellowship award was presented to a major Actor (John Hurt) while the other celebrated the achievements of a celebrated world Filmmaker (Souleymane Cisse).
Awards presenters: Charlotte Rampling, Jeremy Thomas, Michael Caton-Jones
The Awards took place at the Inner Temple on October 28, 2009 and were hosted by Paul Gambacini.

Awards Trophies:

Winners of the Sutherland Trophy, Best British Newcomer and Best Film received the inaugural Star of London award designed by sculptor Almuth Tebbenhoff.

Judging
In 2009, Sandra Hebron and her LFF programme advisors agreed the shortlists and then bespoke juries of experts were assembled to judge the individual categories. Aside from the Best Film jury who watched films in a screening room over a 3 day period, the other judges were sent DVDs to view the films being considered and then got together to decide the winner.

JUDGES in 2009

BEST FILM
Anjelica Huston
John Akomfrah
Jarvis Cocker
Mathieu Kassovitz
Charlotte Rampling
Iain Softley

THE SUTHERLAND TROPHY
Paul Greengrass
David Parfitt
Matt Bochenski
Gillian Wearing
Molly Dineen
Mark Cosgrove
Kerry Fox
Sara Frain
Michael Hayden
Sandra Hebron

LFF GRIERSON AWARD
Nick Broomfield
Ellen Fleming
Christopher Hird
Michael Hayden
Sandra Hebron

BEST BRITISH NEWCOMER AWARD
Lenny Crooks
Christine Langan
Tessa Ross
Tanya Seghatchian
Michael Hayden
Sandra Hebron

2011

Best Film

We Need to Talk About Kevin
We Need to Talk About Kevin (film)
We Need to Talk about Kevin is a 2011 British-American drama thriller film adapted and directed by Lynne Ramsay from American author Lionel Shriver's 2003 novel of the same name. A long process of development and financing began in 2005 and filming eventually commenced in April 2010, with Tilda...

, dir. Lynne Ramsay

The Sutherland Trophy

Sutherland Trophy

Las Acacias, dir. Pablo Giorgelli

Best British Newcomer Award:

Candese Reid, actress in Junkhearts

The Times BFI London Film Festival Grierson Award (Best Documentary)

Into the Abyss: A Tale of Death, A Tale of Life
Into the Abyss (film)
Into the Abyss, subtitled A Tale of Death, A Tale of Life, is a documentary film written and directed by Werner Herzog about two men convicted of a triple homicide which occurred in Conroe, Texas. Michael Perry received a death sentence for the crime, and Jason Burkett received a life sentence...

, dir. Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...

2 x BFI Fellowships

Filmmaker - David Cronenberg

David Cronenberg

David Paul Cronenberg, OC, FRSC is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror or venereal horror genre. This style of filmmaking explores people's fears of bodily transformation and infection. In his films, the...

Actor - Ralph Fiennes

Ralph Fiennes

Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is an English actor and film director. He has appeared in such films as The English Patient, In Bruges, The Constant Gardener, Strange Days, The Duchess and Schindler's List....

External links

bfi Homepage
The LOVEFiLM London Film Festival blog 2009
The Times BFI London Film Festival 2007 page
The Times BFI London Film Festival - 2007 line-up
bfi Festival Page
London Film Festival Homepage
BFI London Film Festival
UKHotMovies.com - History and Highlights of London Film Festival
Eye For Film - Reviews and Features from 2006-2011 London Film Festival
London Film Festival 2008
BBC Film Network: London Film Festival 2010 roundup

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