52nd London Film Festival is set to be bigger than ever, with a huge selection of screenings, talks and special events lined up.
London film fest artistic director Sandra Hebron unveiled a program that includes 15 world, 20 European and 119 U.K. preems.
“We are excited that London in October will play host to world renowned directors, writers and actors, as well as to some of the most important new voices in international cinema,”
she said and added:
“I spent the weekend reading about the Venice Film Festival and some of the things that I read suggested that it wasn't a vintage year for cinema. Well, luckily for us, while we do give awards for short films, the fact that we are not a prize-giving festival gives us much freer reign to screen a series of great films.”
The festival's opening and closing gala screenings had already been announced: Ron Howard's “Frost/Nixon” reimagines a series of interviews between the British TV personality and the disgraced American president and Danny Boyle's “Slumdog Millionaire.”
With films from all over the world, each year there are close to 180 feature films screened as well as documentaries, restored classics, shorts, animation and artists' film and video installations, featuring approximately 20 screenings and special events every day.
This year's London Film Festival includes a record number of world and European premieres with a total of 189 features and 108 shorts screening.
The big hitters include Oliver Stone‘s “W.”, Michael Winterbottom‘s “Genova“;
The acclaimed Ari Folman's animated documentary “Waltz With Bashir,” parts one and two of Steven Soderbergh‘s revolutionary biopic “Che” and Woody Allen‘s “Vicky Christina Barcelona,” already seen at Cannes Film Festival this year;
Rian Johnston‘s “Brick” follow-up “The Brothers Bloom,” the family gala premiere” The Secret Of Moonacre” and Jonathan Demme‘s “Rachel Getting Married” (first screening at Venice Film Festival this year) will also play at the event.
Fest will also host the first public screening of the new James Bond film “Quantum of Solace” on Oct. 29, shortly after its world premiere in London that same evening.
London Film Festival will showcase several upcoming British films including Richard Attenborough's “Closing The Ring,”Nick Broomfield's “Battle for Haditha” and Asif Kapadia's “Far North.”
Guests confirmed to appear over the two-week festival run include the likes of Rachel Weisz, Steven Soderbergh, Charlie Kaufman, Danny Boyle, Michael Sheen, Jessica Alba, Eva Green, Peter O'Toole and Benicio Del Toro.
The 2008 London Film Festival will take place from Wednesday 15th October to Saturday 30th October.
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