It’s been announced that Polish filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski has been named as the head of the Official Competition jury for the upcoming 59th BFI London Film Festival, having previously won the Best Film award at the 2013 festival for his most recent film, Ida (2013).
In a statement, Pawlikowski said: “It is an honour to be Jury President for the BFI London Film Festival this year especially as my last film IDA won the Best Film Award in 201 at the very beginning of its journey.”
Pawlikowski will be joined by the following jurors: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kristin Scott Thomas, Mabel Cheung (whose film A Tale of Three Cities (2015) has its European premiere at LFF), and producer Christine Vachon, who’s latest film Carol (2015) is this year’s American Express Gala screening.
The films competing in the Official Competition, as selected by Festival Director Clare Stewart and the programming team, are:
- 11 Minutes (dir. Jerzy Skolimowski)
- Beasts of No Nation (dir. Cary Fukunaga)
- Cemetery of Splendour (dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
- Chevalier (dir. Athina Rachel Tsangari)
- The Daughter (dir. Simon Stone)
- Desierto (Jonás Cuarón) (European premiere)
- Evolution (dir. Lucile Hadžihalilovć)
- Office (dir. Jonnie To) (European premiere)
- Room (dir. Lenny Abrahamson)
- Son of Saul (dir. László Nemes)
- Sunset Song (dir. Terence Davies)
- Tangerine (dir. Sean Baker)
- Very Big Shot (dir. Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya) (European premiere)
The awards will be presented to the winning films and filmmakers in the competitive sections on Saturday 17 October at the Awards Ceremony. Cate Blanchett will be this year’s recipient of the coveted BFI Fellowship.
The 59th BFI London Film Festival runs from Wednesday 7 October – Sunday 18 October 2015. Full programme information at www.bfi.org.uk/lff
