BFI London Film Festival Unveils ‘My Name is Leon,’ ‘Hong Kong Mixtape’ and More for LFF Works-in-Progress Showcase

Two people who attended the BFI London Film Festival over the weekend have tested positive for Covid-19, prompting organizers to send a letter to guests they believe were in contact to recommend they be tested.

Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya and Jason Momoa are ready for their big movie debut!

The IWC Schaffhausen Filmmaker Bursary Award in association with the BFI returned for its sixth year, with lead judges Phoebe Waller-Bridge and BFI Chief Exec Ben Roberts awarding Harry Wootliff the £50,000 bursary. The bursary is the most significant of its kind in the UK film industry and is establishing itself as an indicator of future filmmaking talent with previous winners including Rose Glass and Daniel Kokotajlo.

Naman Ramachandran Panah Panahi’s “Hit the Road,” Laura Wandel’s “Playground” and Liz Garbus’ “Becoming Cousteau” have won the feature competition awards at the 65th BFI London Film Festival.Phoebe Waller-Bridge and BFI chief executive Ben Roberts led a judging panel to award “True Things” filmmaker Harry Wootliff the £50,000 ($68,470) IWC Schaffhausen bursary, which recognizes emerging talent.

K.J. Yossman When a friend told director, writer and actor Missy Malek about a real-life group of disabled drug dealers operating in London, Malek instantly knew she had the makings of a film.“The second I heard it, I was like, ‘Yes, yes, amazing.

Naman Ramachandran British filmmaker Asif Kapadia, Oscar winner for “Amy,” was due to adapt Nick Abadzis’ 2007 graphic novel “Laika” as an animated film before it finally saw fruition as a VR experience.Kapadia came across the novel, based on the true story of a Moscow stray mongrel who was sent into orbit by Russia on Sputnik 2 in 1957, more than five years ago. He read it to his children as a bedtime story and decided to adapt it as an animated film that they could watch.

Naman Ramachandran Actor, writer, director and trans icon Isabel Sandoval wants trans characters in film and TV to be layered, complex and multidimensional.Speaking to Variety during the BFI London Film Festival, where she is the president of the first features jury, the Philippines-born, New York-based Sandoval said that a lot of studios and producers relegate trans characters to the periphery.“It’s important that when you do have trans characters and trans narratives in your films or TV

Two friends try to prevent a war in Munich: The Edge Of War, a thought-provoking Netflix period drama premiering at the BFI London Film Festival.

Richard Kuipers The short life and brilliant career of Hong Kong singer, actress and social activist Anita Mui is celebrated in the middling biopic “Anita,” starring 31-year-old model Louise Wong in her film debut.

Naman Ramachandran Leading British independent filmmakers expressed some frank views on gatekeepers acting as a barrier to independent cinema at a BFI London Film Festival panel discussion on Tuesday.The panel consisted of Palme d’Or winner Mike Leigh (“Secrets & Lies”), Oscar winner Asif Kapadia (“Amy”) and Golden Bear winner Michael Winterbottom (“In This World”).

Ann-Marie Corvin London-based doc specialist Taskovski Films has acquired the world sales rights to Irish director Pat Collins’ feature doc “The Dance,” which is running in the Documentary Competition at this week’s London Film Festival.Produced through Irish prod cos Harvest Films and South Wind Blows with support from Screen Ireland and RTE, the observation documentary claims to give an insight into the creative mind of choreographer Michael Keegan Dolan as he stages a new international dance

Carole Horst The Napa Valley Film Festival, which returns this year as a virtual event running Nov. 10-14, has announced its lineup that includes almost 60 full-length features and shorts.

J. Kim Murphy administratorThe Napa Valley Film Festival has announced its line-up for this year’s virtual festival format.The annual festival will take place over the course of five days from Nov.

Benedict Cumberbatch revealed the biggest challenge of playing a American rancher in his new film was learning how to roll a cigarette with one hand while sitting on a horse - as he walked the red carpet at its UK premiere. The actor plays a domineering bully who responds with mocking cruelty when his brother brings home a new wife and her son in western drama The Power Of The Dog, which is Oscar-winning director Jane Campion's first film since 2009.

George Clooney and his wife, Amal Clooney, are back in the swing of red carpet appearances following more than a year away due to the pandemic. The couple went all out on Sunday, October 10 for their arrival at the London Film Festival premiere of the actor and director’s upcoming film, The Tender Bar.

Sandra Oh is hitting the red carpet!

As a director George Clooney’s filmography has veered through different genres (most recently from the frigid edges of earth into outer space in the big scale epic The Midnight Sky) but I don’t think he has ever hit us directly in the heart quite the way his latest, The Tender Bar does. The only special effect used in this exceptional and universally recognizable story is simply family.

Actor Sadie Frost turns director with Quant, an engaging documentary about the British fashion designer Mary Quant, showing at the London Film Festival. Known for her bold, vibrant designs and pioneering spirit, Quant became associated with the liberating fashions of the 1960s, ditching the style of the fitted ’50s and raising eyebrows along with hemlines.

A lonely kid finds a robotic friend in Ron’s Gone Wrong, an animated family movie from Disney premiering at the London Film Festival. An endearing mix of earthy values and sci-fi concepts, it takes a cynical swipe at social media culture while delivering characters to care about. Chief of these is Barney Pudowski (voiced by Jack Dylan Grazer), a shy child being raised by his widower father Graham (Ed Helms) and immigrant grandmother Donka (Olivia Colman).