London film festival gets competitive as 2012 lineup announced

The Guardian

Clare Stewart, the London film festival's new director, says she is not trying to
compete with other events. Photograph: Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images

The BFI London film festival has revealed a new look that will give it more of the feel of Cannes and Venice, with 12 films going head to head in a formal competition for the first time.

Salman Rushdie's movie adaptation of his novel Midnight's Children will compete with Martin McDonagh's Seven Psychopaths and films by directors such as Sally Potter, Michael Winterbottom, François Ozon and Jacques Audiard.

It is quite a change for the festival, which has previously resisted going down the competition route. "It helps to position the festival more internationally," said the festival's new director, Clare Stewart. "It puts you in the playing field with festivals like Cannes, Venice and Berlin."

Having said that, organisers are adamant they are not competing with other events and they want London to be a festival for the public, unlike Cannes which is a festival for the film industry. "I'm much more about the idea of films competing rather than festivals competing," said Stewart, pointing out that 130,000 people would come to see the 225 fiction and documentary features this year.

As well as the main competition there will be separate categories for documentaries and first features, each with 12 contenders. A best British newcomer prize will be contested by eight actors and directors.

Stewart has also brought in more structure to the festival programme, with strands titled Love, Debate, Dare, Laugh, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Sonic and Family. There will be 14 world premieres, perhaps the most eye-catching being a new Rolling Stones documentary, Crossfire Hurricane, by Brett Morgen; a Bollywood action epic, Chakravyuh; and a documentary about the A5 road by Marc Isaac.

Other highlights include Dustin Hoffman's directorial debut, Quartet, with a cast that includes Maggie Smith, Billy Connolly and Michael Gambon; and Paul Andrew Williams's Song For Marion, with Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp. The festival will open with the European premiere of Tim Burton's 3D animation Frankenweenie and close with Mike Newell's adaptation of Great Expectations.

• The 56th BFI London film festival runs 10-21 October.


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