13 Films You Definitely Need To See at the London Film Festival

The London Film Festival returns to the capital on October 5, with over 380 films from 74 countries showing across two weeks. That’s a lot of films. Almost too many. And some of them will be boring subtitled films about people coming to terms with things. No one actually enjoys those. But some of them with be amazing. The LFF is now firmly established as a pit stop on the road to the Oscars and the awards season. It gives Londoners a chance to see some the films picking up major buzz already, and there’s also a few other big movies see the light of day for the first time. Even if you’re not going anywhere near the festival, these are movies that you’ll be expected to have an opinion on early next year. So we’ve picked out 13 you absolutely have to see.

The London Film Festival runs October 5 to 16, and tickets go on sale to the public on September 15. All the info is here.

Director: Amma Asante

Starring: Rosamund Pike, David Oyelowo

The opening night gala is the powerful true story of the 1948 marriage between the King of Bechuanaland (modern day Botswana) and a London office worker. Despite being set 70 years ago, the tale of the fierce opposition they faced from both their families and the government still resonates today.

Director: Ben Wheatley

Starring: Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer

Kill List and High Rise director Ben Wheatley returns with his first American movie. This 70s set action thriller sees a gun deal between Irish and US gangsters go horribly, horribly wrong. And as well as the big name cast, it is also executive produced by none other than Martin Scorsese.

Director: Nate Parker

Starring: Nate Parker, Armie Hammer, Gabrielle Union

If we can put Nate Parker’s current controversies to one side, The Birth of A Nation remains one of our most anticipated movies of 2016. A biography of Nat Turner, who led a slave rebellion in Virginia in 1831, it’s been picking rave festival reviews since the beginning of the year.

Director: Ben Younger

Starring: Miles Teller, Aaron Eckhart

Coming off his breakthrough performance in Whiplash, Miles Teller returns and bulks up massively to play real-life boxer Vinny ‘Paz’ Pazienza, who overcame a car crash and broken neck to get back in the ring.

Director: Park Chan-Wook

Starring: Kim Min-Hee, Kim Tae-Ri

Park Chan-Wook is the Korean genius behind Oldboy, Sympathy For Mr Vengeance and Stoker. And he’s back with this twisty, erotic lesbian thriller set in 1930s Japanese-occupied Korea. We’re pretty sure it’s going to be insane.

Director: Spike Lee

Starring: Angela Bassett, Samuel L Jackson, John Cusack

Despite nearly hitting 60, Spike Lee remains as provocative and on the pulse as ever. Never one to make something obvious, his latest film is a hip-hop musical adaptation of ancient Greek comedy about a heroine who leads a sex-strike to prevent a war. The action is updated from Athens to modern day, gun crime-ravaged Chicago, and is potent as Do The Right Thing was 25 years ago.

Director: Andrea Arnold

Starring: Shia LeBeouf, Riley Keough

Already controversial, British director Andrea Arnold’s first US movie is a dreamlike road trip through the youth of America. It also a banging trap and R’n’B soundtrack.

Director: Ava DuVernay

Selma director Ava DuVernay turns her hand to documentary with this film that “draws a connection between the US Constitution’s 13th Amendment (that abolished slavery) and the rising incarceration rates — which are astronomically disproportionate for black men — in the United States”.

Director: Barry Jenkins

Starring: Naomie Harris, Janelle Monae

This drama 1980s Miami set drama follows a young man growing up, struggling with crime and his own sexuality, and also features the acting debut of Janelle Monae.

Director: Makoto Shinaki

It’s great to see anime getting its due and being included in the Official Competition section of the festival. Director Makoto Shinaki twists sci-fi with real emotion in this tale of teenagers switching bodies and experiencing parallel lives.

Director: Shola Amoo

This experimental film mixes up documentary and fiction to tackle one of the most controversial issues facing London: gentrification. In particular, it focuses on Brixton, and a former resident return home only to question if she is part of the problem.

It’s not just films showing at the festival — there is also a special preview of the third series of the excellent sci-fi anthology before it heads to Netflix, followed by a talk with creator Charlie Brooker.

This also isn’t a film, but it sounds pretty sick. DJ Yoda has made his name cutting up pop culture samples, adverts, music videos and loads of other things, producing 80s and Country and Western editions of his How To Cut & Paste series, and also just being and audio-visual wizard. His latest project is DJ Yoda Goes To The Arcade, and he’s doing a live performance of this videogame- influenced show.