The 67th BFI London Film Festival was a film festival that took place from 4–15 October 2023. The competition films were announced on 29 August 2023 while the films for the galas and the strands were revealed on 31 August 2023. The juries for the various sections of the festival were announced on 19 September 2023.

The festival opened with Saltburn, directed by Emerald Fennell, and closed with The Kitchen, directed by Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya.

Juries

Main Competition

• Amat Escalante, Mexican film director, producer and screenwriter
• Kate Taylor, programme director of the 2023 Edinburgh International Film Festival
• Niven Govinden, British novelist

First Feature Competition (Sutherland Award)

• Raine Allen-Miller, British film director
• Vanja Kaludjercic, festival director of International Film Festival Rotterdam
• Barry Adamson, British musician, composer, filmmaker and photographer

Documentary Competition

• Rubika Shah, British writer and director
• Jeanie Finlay, British documentary filmmaker
• Paul Tonta, general manager theatrical acquisitions and film festivals at Madman Entertainment

Short Film Competition

• Charlotte Regan, British writer and director
• Francesca Tomlinson, BFI Film Academy Young Programmer
• Rina Yang, cinematographer

Venues

The partner venues for the festival included:

London cinemas

• BFI Southbank
• Curzon Soho
• Curzon Mayfair
• Institute of Contemporary Arts
• Vue West End
• Prince Charles Cinema
• Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall
• Odeon Luxe Leicester Square - Press and industry screenings
• Picturehouse Central - Press and industry screenings

Expanded venues

• Bargehouse at Oxo Tower Wharf

UK-wide cinemas

• HOME, Manchester
• Watershed, Bristol
• Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow
• Broadway Cinema, Nottingham
• Showroom Cinema, Sheffield
• Queen's Film Theatre, Belfast
• Chapter, Cardiff
• Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne
• Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), Birmingham

Official Selection

Galas

The following films were selected for the Galas section, which screens world, European, and British premieres of the most anticipated films.

Special Presentations

The following films were selected for the Special Presentations section.

In Competition

There were five competition sections, each with a different selection of films and different juries.

Official Competition

The following films competed for the Best Film Award.

First Feature Competition

The following films competed for the Sutherland Award, which is awarded to a directorial debut.

Documentary Competition

The following films competed for the Grierson Award, which is awarded to a feature-length documentary.

Short Film Competition

The following films competed for the Short Film Award.

Strands

Most of the out-of-competition films have been organised into strands, each based on a different mood or emotion.

Love

Debate

Laugh

Dare

Thrill

Cult

Journey

Create

Experimenta

Family

Treasures

Shorts

The short film programme was divided into the following nine sections.

Dialogues Between Past, Present and Future

Stories We Tell

What Makes Us

Right Here, Right Now

For the Haunted and Possessed

The Creeps

No Place Called Home

The Land is the Living Witness

Animated Shorts for Young Audiences

LFF for Free: Shorts

The following films were screened during the LFF for Free programme.

Big Little Lives

Star Imagine UK

London Calling: Brave Faces

London Calling: Being Seen

Network@LFF Shorts

For 2023 the Network@LFF short films were split into three programmes.

4Love

Surprise Film

Ferrari, dir. Michael Mann

Awards

Competition

Source:

• Best Film Award: Evil Does Not Exist, dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
• Sutherland Award (First Feature): Paradise Is Burning, dir. Mika Gustafson
• Grierson Award (Documentary): Bye Bye Tiberias, dir. Lina Soualem
• Short Film Award: The Archive: Queer Nigerians, dir. Simisolaoluwa Akande

Audience Awards

Source:

• Best Feature: Gassed Up, dir. George Amponsah
• Best Documentary: The Taste of Mango, dir. Chloe Abrahams
• Best British Film or Work: Festival of Slaps, dir. Abdou Cisse
• Best Immersive/XR: Murals, Lead artists. Alex Topaller, Daniel Shapiro and Artem Ivanenko

References