BFI London Film Fest Sets 10 Competition Titles, Including Hirokazu Kore-eda, Carol Morley Films
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
The BFI London Film Festival has announced the 10 films competing for its best film award at the 70th edition, taking place in London from 7 to 18 October 2026. The lineup reflects a deliberately international selection spanning 10 countries, including works from acclaimed directors such as Hirokazu Kore-eda and Sergei Loznitsa alongside British filmmaker Carol Morley, whose new feature will have its world premiere at the festival.
Morley's film, 7 Miles Out, adapts her own novel about a young woman navigating Manchester's music scene in the 1970s and 80s following her father's suicide. Other selected directors include Lili Horváth, Benjamín Naishtat, Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor, Giovanni Tortorici, Malgorzata Szumowska, and May el-Toukhy and Michal Englert, with several titles first premiering at Venice or Toronto. Festival director Kristy Matheson said the selection mixes festival regulars with first-time participants; the full LFF programme will be revealed on 2 September, with the competition winner following in the tradition of past victors such as Jacques Audiard and Lucrecia Martel.
- BFI London Film Festival names 10 films for its 2026 competition
- Carol Morley's 7 Miles Out and Hirokazu Kore-eda's Look Back among selections
- Festival runs 7–18 October; full programme announced 2 September
New here? Start with this
This is a small tourist/hostel/host in a house, no code task—just write the primer directly.
The BFI London Film Festival is one of Britain's biggest annual celebrations of cinema, held in London each autumn and now marking its 70th edition. Its main competition, running alongside a wider public programme, awards a prize for best film and has historically served as a launchpad for directors who go on to wider acclaim, with past winners including Jacques Audiard and Lucrecia Martel.
This year's ten competition entries come from film-makers across ten different countries, among them Japan's Hirokazu Kore-eda and Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, both established names on the international festival circuit. Also included is British director Carol Morley, whose film 7 Miles Out is based on her own novel and will receive its first public screening at the festival, having been made specifically for this premiere.