‘Elsinore’ and ‘The Debut’ Lead Huge BFI London Film Festival 2026 Line-Up

Seventy years after first opening its doors to London audiences, the BFI London Film Festival is preparing one of its most expansive editions yet, bringing 251 films, shorts, series and immersive works from 88 countries to screens across the capital and the wider UK this October. The newly unveiled 2026 programme mixes major international filmmakers, high-profile premieres and emerging talent across 12 days of cinema, with Danny Boyle, Taika Waititi, Jesse Eisenberg, Sofia Coppola and Ava DuVernay among the names set to feature.

Running from 7 to 18 October, the 70th edition will open with the European premiere of Simon Stone’s Elsinore, while Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut has been selected as the Closing Night Gala. Danny Boyle’s Ink will receive its UK premiere as the Mayor of London’s Gala, with Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth! taking the Patrons’ Gala slot with its international premiere.

The scale of this year’s programme reflects the anniversary celebrations. All feature films and series will be screening to UK audiences for the first time, with the festival presenting 33 world premieres, 16 international premieres and 20 European premieres. Of the works selected, 109 are made by female filmmakers, accounting for 43 per cent of the programme.

A substantial Gala line-up will take over the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, including Taika Waititi’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun, Florian Zeller’s psychological thriller Bunker, Pawe? Pawlikowski’s Fatherland, Andrew Haigh’s A Long Winter, James Gray’s Paper Tiger, Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love and Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine. Mike Leigh also returns with Tender Loving Care, while Susanna White brings the screen adaptation of Suzie Miller’s acclaimed play Prima Facie.

World premieres elsewhere in the programme include Anthony Wonke’s boxing biopic In the Shadows, Travis Knight’s latest Laika animation Wildwood, Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn, Carol Morley’s 7 Miles Out and Michael Winterbottom’s The Trip to the Northern Lights, which reunites Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan for another journey combining travel, food and their familiar verbal sparring.

The festival’s television offering also includes Marvel Studios’ VisionQuest, with Paul Bettany returning as Vision and James Spader reprising his role as Ultron, alongside Leo Reich’s new comedy series It Gets Worse.

Away from the headline premieres, the 2026 edition will continue the festival’s push into immersive storytelling through LFF Expanded. Nine projects spanning virtual reality, immersive art, AI and gaming will be presented, with St Martin-in-the-Fields joining the festival as a new venue. The strand includes Water Body from Marshmallow Laser Feast and the AI-guided installation Red the Ocean Around U at BFI IMAX.

Audiences will also be able to hear directly from filmmakers and performers through a programme of Screen Talks featuring Andrew Scott, Cynthia Erivo, John Malkovich, Mahershala Ali, Naomi Ackie, Jesse Eisenberg, Brad Bird, James Gray, Danny Boyle and Ava DuVernay. Sofia Coppola will appear at the Royal Festival Hall.

The festival will extend beyond London through LFF On Tour, with 10 partner venues around the UK selecting titles from the programme. Participating cinemas include Glasgow Film Theatre, HOME Manchester, Watershed Bristol, Chapter Cardiff, Queen’s Film Theatre Belfast and Filmhouse Edinburgh.

Affordable access also remains part of the programme, with a limited number of £10 tickets available for London screenings, £6 tickets for audiences aged 25 and under and selected £6 on-the-day tickets for people receiving Universal Credit, Pension Credit or Jobseeker’s Allowance. A separate LFF for Free programme will offer talks, discussions, workshops, DJ nights and family events without charge.

With seven decades behind it and another programme stretching from major studio titles to experimental filmmaking, shorts, series and interactive work, the BFI London Film Festival’s anniversary edition looks set to use its milestone year as an opportunity to look forward rather than simply celebrate its past.

The 70th BFI London Film Festival runs from 7 to 18 October 2026, with the full programme available now through the BFI. For more information, visit: whatson.bfi.org.uk/lff/