From 8 to 19 October 2025, the BFI London Film Festival returns for its 69th edition. Over twelve days, more than 250 films and events will be presented across London, from red-carpet premieres to intimate shorts and experimental installations. The programme balances glamour with bold new voices, reaffirming the festival’s role as one of the most important film events in the UK. The 69th edition also sits within a wider season of international films, following Venice’s bold programme earlier this year.

Programme Strands

The festival is divided into nine strands, each offering a distinct focus:

• Love – stories of intimacy and connection
• Debate – socially and politically engaged films
• Laugh – comedies in all forms
• Dare – risk-taking, adventurous storytelling
• Thrill – suspense, crime, and psychological tension
• Cult – strange, subversive, and playful cinema
• Journey – travel, migration, and discovery
• Create – creativity, music, and performance on screen
• Experimenta – experimental and avant-garde visions

Alongside these sit the Family strand, a wide Shorts programme, and Expanded, devoted to immersive works and games.

Galas and Major Premieres

The Opening Gala is Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, with Daniel Craig returning as detective Benoit Blanc. The Closing Gala is Julia Jackman’s 100 Nights of Hero, adapted from Isabel Greenberg’s graphic novel and starring Emma Corrin, with Charli XCX making her screen debut.

Other Galas include Edward Berger’s Ballad of a Small Player with Colin Farrell, Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt starring Julia Roberts, Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love with Adèle Exarchopoulos, and Oliver Hermanus’s The History of Sound with Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor.

Special Presentations

The BFI Flare Special is Maspalomas, directed by Aitor Arregi and Jose Mari Goenaga, exploring queer community in Gran Canaria. Sholay – Director’s Cut brings back an Indian classic, while N O W I S W H E N W E A R E (THE STARS) expands the programme into immersive form.

Queer Cinema at the Festival

Queer cinema has one of its strongest showings in years at LFF 2025, visible across Galas, Special Presentations, features, and shorts.

• 100 Nights of Hero – dir. Julia Jackman. A feminist and queer fairytale adapted from Isabel Greenberg’s novel, starring Emma Corrin and Charli XCX. As the Closing Gala, it places queer storytelling at the very centre of the festival.
• The History of Sound – dir. Oliver Hermanus. Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor star in a decades-spanning romance that mixes intimacy with sweeping history.
• Maspalomas – dir. Aitor Arregi, Jose Mari Goenaga. A Flare Special capturing queer nightlife and chosen community in Gran Canaria.
• She’s the He – dir. Siobhan McCarthy. A camp gender-swap comedy with drag and music, performed by a trans and non-binary cast including Misha Osherovich and Nico Carney.
• Fucktoys – dir. Annapurna Sriram. A raw debut shot on 16mm, described as “queer bubblegum grindhouse,” where sexuality and fantasy collide.
• Love Me Tender – dir. Anna Cazenave Cambet. Vicky Krieps plays Clémence, a woman who leaves her marriage to write and date women, adapted from Constance Débré’s autobiographical novel.
• Dreamers – dir-screenwriter Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor. A tender story of two Nigerian migrants whose bond becomes love inside a UK detention centre.
• Rental Family – dir. HIKARI. A Japanese ensemble film with Sōsuke Ikematsu, exploring loneliness, hired kinship, and queer undertones.
• World of Love – dir. Shin Su-won. A South Korean drama that weaves trauma, resilience, and queer female intimacy.
• Enzo – dir. Robin Campillo. A working-class coming-of-age tale where a French teenager forms an intense bond with a Ukrainian labourer, awakening queer desire and identity.
• Lurker – dir. Alex Russell. A psychological thriller about the obsessive relationship between a retail clerk (Théodore Pellerin) and a British pop star (Archie Madekwe), blending queer desire with power and manipulation.
• Pillion – dir. Harry Lighton. A first feature in which a shy traffic warden (Harry Melling) becomes the submissive to a charismatic biker (Alexander Skarsgård). With tenderness and humour, it reframes kink as consent, care, and queer romance. Premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, winning Best Screenplay and earning a Queer Palm nomination.

Shorts

• Coyotes – dir. Said Zagha. A restless portrait of youth and desire.
• Womb – dir. Ira Hetaraka. A lyrical short from New Zealand on body and identity.
• Magid/Zafar – dir. Luís Hindman. A quiet British story of secrecy, intimacy, and longing.

This line-up echoes themes from the Queer Migrations Festival, with stories like World of Love and Rental Family exploring identity across borders. As seen recently at Raindance, shorts remain a vital space for queer experimentation, with titles such as Coyotes and Womb leading the way.

Talks and Events

This year’s Screen Talks feature Daniel Day-Lewis, Tessa Thompson, Lynne Ramsay, Richard Linklater, Chloé Zhao, Jafar Panahi, and Yorgos Lanthimos. Rian Johnson will explore “The Art of the Whodunit,” while Jon M. Chu reflects on The Wizard of Wicked.

Expanded and Beyond

The Expanded strand includes installations and games such as Blue Prince, Death of the Reprobate, Despelote, and Some Goodbyes We Made. Alongside screenings, the festival also offers free events, DJ nights, and workshops across the city. Even within genre cinema, films like Lurker show how queer horror continues to reshape the screen.

Full Programme Line-Up

Galas

• 100 Nights of Hero – dir. Julia Jackman
• After the Hunt – dir. Luca Guadagnino
• Ballad of a Small Player – dir. Edward Berger
• Die My Love – dir. Lynne Ramsay
• Nouvelle Vague – dir. Bertrand Bonello
• Pillion – dir. Eva Riley
• The History of Sound – dir. Oliver Hermanus
• Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery – dir. Rian Johnson

Special Presentations

• Maspalomas – dir. Aitor Arregi, Jose Mari Goenaga
• N O W I S W H E N W E A R E (THE STARS)
• Sholay – Director’s Cut – dir. Ramesh Sippy

Official Competition

• Bad Apples – dir. Teemu Nikki
• Brats – dir. Andrew McCarthy
• Cloud Cuckoo Land – dir. Georgia Oakley
• Coup! – dir. Austin Stark, Joseph Schuman
• Crabbed – dir. Na Jiazuo
• Dear Jassi – dir. Tarsem Singh
• Floating in the Vacuum – dir. Carolina Cavalli
• Grand Tour – dir. Miguel Gomes
• Housekeeping for Beginners – dir. Goran Stolevski
• Rental Family – dir. HIKARI
• Toll – dir. Carolina Markowicz

First Feature Competition

• All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt – dir. Raven Jackson
• Armadillo – dir. Stephanie Laing
• Dreamers – dir-screenwriter Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor
• Fucktoys – dir. Annapurna Sriram
• How to Have Sex – dir. Molly Manning Walker
• It’s Only Life After All – dir. Alexandria Bombach
• Love Lies Bleeding – dir. Rose Glass
• Olmo – dir. Silvana Aguirre
• The Sweet East – dir. Sean Price Williams
• Wolf and Dog – dir. Cláudia Varejão

Documentary Competition

• Another Body – dir. Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn
• Copa 71 – dir. Rachel Ramsay, James Erskine
• Invisible Beauty – dir. Bethann Hardison, Frédéric Tcheng
• Orwell: 2+2=5 – dir. David Hendy
• Smoke Sauna Sisterhood – dir. Anna Hints
• Songs of Earth – dir. Margreth Olin
• Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis) – dir. Anton Corbijn
• The Deepest Breath – dir. Laura McGann
• The Eternal Memory – dir. Maite Alberdi
• With Hasan in Gaza – dir. Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal

Shorts Competition

• 22+1
• Ackee and Saltfish
• Coyotes
• Crusts
• Housetrap
• Magid/Zafar
• We Had Fun
• Womb

Love

• Love Me Tender
• Songbird’s Secret
• Whispers in the Woods
• World of Love

Debate

• Orwell: 2+2=5
• Palestine 36
• Two Prosecutors

Laugh

• Alpha
• She’s the He

Dare

• Dreamers
• Fucktoys
• Olmo

Thrill

• Secret Agent
• Ultras
• Wasteman

Cult

• Decorado
• Exit 8
• The Devil Smokes…

Journey

• Enzo
• The Blue Trail

Create

• Duse
• Future Botanica

Experimenta

• fugue notes
• Radius Catastrophe
• With Hasan in Gaza

Additional Shorts

• 22+1
• Ackee and Saltfish
• Coyotes
• Crusts
• Housetrap
• Magid/Zafar
• We Had Fun
• Womb

Family

• Songbird’s Secret
• Whispers in the Woods

Expanded

• 8pm and the Cat
• Dollhouse
• Mirror
• Songs of Travel

Games

• Blue Prince
• Death of the Reprobate
• Despelote
• Some Goodbyes We Made

Written by Lex Melony

Suggested Reads

• Venice 2025 lineup is here with Netflix, del Toro, Lanthimos and great new voices
  A look at the full programme of Venice’s 82nd edition, balancing big studio titles with daring discoveries.
• Queer Migrations Festival 2025 explores how queer lives are shaped by movement and memory
  Stories of migration, memory, and belonging at one of London’s most intimate queer festivals.
• Queer Films to Watch at Raindance Film Festival 2025 in London
  Our guide to the queer voices and films standing out at this year’s Raindance.
• FrightFest 2025 brings queer horror and global chills to London’s Leicester Square
  From cult frights to queer horror, how FrightFest reshaped Leicester Square for five days of cinema.