The 2018 BFI London Film Festival will take place from October 10 through 21 in the presence of a prestigious French delegation (including Olivier Assayas, Mia Hansen-Løve, and Philippe Faucon), with no less than 16 feature films produced, or majority co-produced, by France showcased in the various festival sections, as well as 12 French short films.
An event that was initiated in the 1950s by British film critics and originally conceived as a condensed version of the major international film festivals (screening a selection of titles shown at festivals such as Cannes and Venice) the BFI London Film Festival has established itself as one of the key movie industry events in the United Kingdom, with now around 250 films from 75 countries presented each year.
This year, while there are no majority-French productions in the Official Competition, more than fifteen French-produced films feature in the various sections. They include Non-Fiction screened in the presence of Olivier Assayas, Dilili in Paris in the presence of Michel Ocelot, Girls Of The Sun in the presence of Eva Husson, Sauvage in the presence of Camille Vidal-Naquet and Félix Maritaud, Maya in the presence of Mia Hansen-Løve and Roman Kolinka, Knife + Heart in the presence of Yann Gonzalez, Amin in the presence of Philippe Faucon, An Impossible Love in the presence of Catherine Corsini, School's Out in the presence of Sébastien Marnier, A Paris Education in the presence of Jean Paul Civeyrac, and All The Gods in The Sky in the presence of Quarxx. The animated film director Juan Antin will also be in attendance, along with the documentary filmmakers Matthieu Bareyre and Julien Faraut, as well as Euzhan Palcy for a special screening of Black Shack Alley/Sugar Cane Alley.
French productions and co-productions presented at the 2018 BFI London Film Festival
Official Competition
- Sunset by László Nemes (minority co-production)
- Happy as Lazzaro by Alice Rohrwacher (minority co-production)
- Birds of Passage by Ciro Guerra & Cristina Gallego (minority co-production)
Special Presentations
- Rafiki, de Wanuri Kahiu (minority co-production)
Documentary Competition
- In The Realm of Perfection by Julien Faraut
- Young and Alive by Matthieu Bareyre
- What You Gonna Do When the World's on Fire? by Roberto Minervini (minority co-production)
Cult
Dare
- Sauvage by Camille Vidal-Naquet
- Dogman by Matteo Garrone (minority co-production)
- The Image Book by Jean-Luc Godard (minority co-production)
- Petra by Jaime Rosales (minority co-production)
Debate
- Girls Of The Sun by Eva Husson
- Non-Fiction by Olivier Assayas
- An Impossible Love by Catherine Corsini
- Dear Son by Mohamed Ben Attia
- Donbass by Sergei Loznitsa (minority co-production)
- Touch Me Not by Adina Pintilie (minority co-production)
- I Do Not Care if We Go Down in History as Barbarians by Radu Jude (minority co-production)
Family
Experimenta
- Diamantino by Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Schmidt (minority co-production)
Journey
- Maya by Mia Hansen-Løve
- Keep Going by Joachim Lafosse (minority co-production)
- The Wild Pear Tree by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (minority co-production)
- Ash Is Purest White by Jia Zhang-Ke (minority co-production)
- Holy Tour, de Méryl Fortunat-Rossi & Valéry Rosier (minority co-production)
Laugh
- I Feel Good by Benoît Delépine, Gustave Kervern
- A Woman at War by Benedikt Erlingsson (minority co-production)
Love
- Amin by Philippe Faucon
- A Paris Education by Jean Paul Civeyrac
- Asako I & II by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (minority co-production)
Thrill
- The Realm by Rodrigo Sorogoyen (minority co-production)
Short Films - Official Selection
Short Films - Special Programs
- Look Closely at the Mountains... by Ana Vaz
- Jour de fête by John Smith
- Brexicuted by Chris Shepherd
- Entr'acte by René Clair
- The Glorious Acceptance of Nicolas Chauvin by Benjamin Crotty
- The Camel Boy by Chabname Zariâb
Short Films - Young Audiences Program
- Funny Fish by Krishna Chandran A. Nair
- Ernest and Célestine - The Blizzard by Julien Chheng, Jean-Christophe Roger
- A Bit Lost by Hélène Ducrocq
- A Walk in the Woods by Hugo Frassetto
The complete program can be viewed on the festival website.
