Coming up at London Film Festival 2025!

02 ^nd September 2025

Britain’s biggest film celebration returns from 8-19 October for its 69th edition, bringing a phenomenal lineup of exciting and original filmmaking from across the world to South Bank for 12 star-studded days.

In addition to more than 250 different films, the extensive programme features an exciting variety of other film-related events, including interviews, interactive exhibitions and film talks and discussions that you won’t want to miss.

When do tickets go on sale?

Tickets for the general public go on sale on Tue 16 Sep at 10am, although if you are BFI Member you can snap up tickets from 10am on Tue 9 Sep.

If you aren’t yet a BFI Member, now’s the time to sign up for membership! It costs from just £44 a year to become a member and in addition to priority booking, members also get a host of other perks, including discounted tickets and access to exclusive members-only events and screenings.

This year’s programme was revealed to the public on Wednesday 3 September. Here’s our pick of some of the biggest highlights to hop into the queue for when booking opens next week:

Red Carpet Gala Highlights

Every year the red carpet is rolled out for the biggest stars to attend major Gala Premieres hosted at the Royal Festival Hall. The public also gets to join the stars of the big screen for these special debuts of major films that will be hoping to hit the big time come awards season. Don't forget - if you can't make it to the red carpet, these films was also be screening several times during the festival!

Wed 8 Oct WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY | The latest film starring Daniel Craig as private detective Benoit Blanc, gets its international premiere here in South Bank. The colourful cast of suspects in this latest film include, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington and Andrew Scott.

10 Oct JAY KELLY | The new comedy-drama from director Noah Baumbach, starring George Clooney as a famous actor who is on a whirlwind journey through Europe with his manager (Adam Sandler) and his publicist (Laura Dern).

Fri 10 Oct BUGONIA | Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons star in Yorgos Lanthimos latest surreal comedy-drama. A remake of South Korean sci-fi comedy Save the Green Planet.

Sat 11 Oct AFTER THE HUNT | Luca Guadagnino's gripping psychological drama about a sexual assault accusation is a major conversation starter, with Julia Roberts' performance in particular highlighted as a potential Oscar winner.

Sat 11 Oct HAMNET | Based on Maggie O'Farrell's acclaimed novel and starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, Chloe Zhao's film has been memorably described as "unspeakably devastating" and "so emotionally raw as to be almost excruciating". Bring tissues!

Sun 12 Oct H IS FOR HAWK | Claire Foy stars in this emotionally charged adaptation of Helen MacDonald's award-winning memoir.

Mon 13 Oct FRANKENSTEIN | Guillermo Del Toro's eagerly anticipated adaptation of the seminal Mary Shelly novel.

Wed 15 Oct SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE | Jeremy Allen White stars in this electrifying biopic as a young Bruce Springsteen.

Thu 16 Oct RENTAL FAMILY | Brendan Fraser plays an American actor living in Tokyo who struggles to find purpose until he lands an unusual gig: working for a Japanese "rental family" agency, playing stand-in roles for strangers.

Fri 17 Oct DIE MY LOVE | Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson star in Lynne Ramsay's 'surreal' and 'intense' study of postpartum depression.

Sun 19 Oct 1000 NIGHTS OF HERO | Julia Jackman directs this bold and beautiful fairytale based on Isabel Greenberg’s graphic novel, with an eclectic cast of hot young stars including Emma Corrin, Nicholas Galitzine, Charli XCX and and Felicity Jones.

Programme highlights

The beauty of exploring a huge festival like LFF is the chance to discover 'hidden gems' and sleeper hits that might not necessarily get a wider release later in the year, or to watch major pictures that received a lot of buzz earlier in the year and which still haven't hit cinemas. These are those kinds of arthouse hits that really give you some serious kudos among your fellow film fundis!

Some exciting features that have caught our eye in this year's programme include:

Cannes darling The Secret Agent
Daniel Day-Lewis returns to the screen in Anemone
Marion Cotillard's eerie performance in the death-wish fairytale The Ice Tower
the 'dazzling' African sci-fi mockumentary Memory of Princess Mumbi
Sirât , Oliver Laxe's experimental and intensely atmospheric film set among raves in the Moroccan desert
She's The He, a fresh take on the classic High School gender-swop teen comedy
A Sad and Beautiful World, a beautiful melancholy romcom from Lebanon
Singing Wings, a gorgeous, uplifting documentary about life in a remote Kurdish village
The Voice of Hind Rajab, Kaother Ben Hani's devastating film recounting the tragic story of the young Palestinian girl
Saoirse Ronan plays a primary school teacher trying her best in the biting satire Bad Apples
Steve Coogan plays the Irish football manager Mick McCarthy in Saipan, a biopic-drama about his infamous 2022 conflict with Roy Keane.

INTERVIEWS WITH HOLLYWOOD ICONS AT LFF SCREEN TALKS

Another major highlight of the annual festival programme are the Screen Talks. These exclusive events see some of the biggest names in contemporary filmmaking discussing their work in front of a live audience.

NOWISWHENWEARE IMMERSIVE PRESENTATION AT RAMBERT

LFF Expanded is a fully immersive exhibition programme that invites audiences to explore and experience powerful new ways of telling stories on screen, created by some of the world’s leading mixed-reality artists, filmmakers and games designers.

This year as part of LFF Expanded the Rambert Dance Studios (located behind the National Theatre) hosts Andrew Schneider's incredible NOWISWHENWEARE (The Stars). Utilising nearly 4,000 reactive LED lights and an incredible 496-channel soundscape, this is a powerful immersive installation that promises to be a breathtaking journey through light and sound. Showing from 3–19 October from 9:30am–9pm, the experience lasts 30 minutes and is ticketed.

SUTHERLAND AWARD FOR FIRST FEATURE

The Sutherland Award for First Feature film is a great programme strand to head towards if you are looking for something really, new, fresh and original. The programme also features lots of filmmakers from parts of the world that are so often represented in mainstream British cinemas such as Cambodia, The Philippines, Nigeria and Thailand.