Emerald Fennell’s ‘Saltburn,’ Starring Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi, to Open BFI London Film Festival

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent One of the most buzzed-about international movies of the fall festival circuit, Bertrand Bonello’s “The Beast,” has already lured several distributors ahead of its world premiere in competition at Venice. Represented by Kinology, the dystopian romance is headlined by Léa Seydoux (“Crimes of the Future”) and George MacKay (“1917”) as star-crossed lovers.

Naman Ramachandran The European premiere of Kristoffer Borgli‘s satire “Dream Scenario,” starring Nicolas Cage, will open the 19th Zurich Film Festival (Sept. 28-Oct. 8).

Naman Ramachandran Keenly anticipated sequel “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” will have its world premiere at the 67th BFI London Film Festival. From the Oscar and BAFTA-winning studio Aardman (“Creature Comforts,” “Wallace & Gromit,” “Shaun the Sheep”) and Oscar and BAFTA-nominated director Sam Fell (“ParaNorman,” “Flushed Away”), the film is the sequel to “Chicken Run” (2000), the highest-grossing stop-motion animated film of all time. In the film, having pulled off a death-defying escape from Tweedy’s farm, Ginger has finally found her dream – a peaceful island sanctuary for the whole flock, far from the dangers of the human world.

Chicken Run: Dawn Of The Nugget, the highly tipped animated sequel Aardman and director Sam Fell have made for Netflix, will debut at this year’s London Film Festival.

Ahead of its world premiere in competition at the 80th Venice Film Festival, Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, which follows the Presleys from the perspective of the King’s young bride, has secured a SAG-AFTRA Interim Agreement.

Variety Staff Follow Us on Twitter Today, TIFF announced additional honourees who will be receiving a TIFF Tribute Award at this year’s Festival. Recipients include award-winning Brazilian filmmaker Carolina Markowicz who will be honoured with the TIFF Emerging Talent Award presented by MGM. This award is in the spirit of Torontonian Mary Pickford, the groundbreaking actor, producer, and co-founder of United Artists, whose impact continues today.

EXCLUSIVE: Troy Kotsur, the Oscar-winning star of CODA, will open the inaugural edition of the Little Venice Film Festival.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent “Dance First,” a portrait of Irish writer Samuel Beckett starring Gabriel Byrne and directed by Oscar winner James Marsh, will close this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival, playing out of competition. Byrne, a memorable lead in “The Usual Suspects” and “Miller’s Crossing” who also won a Golden Globe for his performance in “In Treatment,” plays Samuel Beckett, driving into his deep contradictions and inner torment of a writer who was a Parisian bon vivant, a WWII Resistance fighter and then Nobel Prize-winning playwright who, however, became a recluse, living the last years of his life in a single room in a nursing home, ashamed of past actions and convinced that for much of his life he had been a failure.

The London Film Festival (LFF) announced today that it will close its upcoming 67th edition with the dystopian thriller The Kitchen, directed by Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares, for Netflix.

Naman Ramachandran London-set dystopian drama “The Kitchen,” directed by Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya, will close the 67th BFI London Film Festival. The film marks the feature directorial debut of Oscar-winning actor Kaluuya, who also co-wrote with Joe Murtagh (“Calm With Horses”). Tavares previously directed the Sundance-winning short “Robots of Brixton.” In “The Kitchen,” the gap between rich and poor has been stretched to its limits.

Hayao Miyazaki will open the 71st edition of the San Sebastian Film Festival with his latest pic, The Boy and the Heron.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Noted Japanese director Ando Momoko (“Kakera: Pieces of Our Life,” “0.5mm”) has been named as the ambassador for this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival. She also features, alongside her father Okuda Eiji in the festival’s newly-released poster, which recreates a scene from Ozu Yasujiro’s “Tokyo Story” and in which Okuda and Ando represent the classic film’s Ryu Chishu and Hara Setsuko characters. The poster image, shot at the rooftop garden of Kitte Marunouchi Building, with Tokyo Station in the background, was designed by Koshino Junko, who has created the festival’s key visuals for the past three years.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator for SAG-AFTRA, confirmed Tuesday that fall festival buyers will need to agree to the terms proposed for the guild’s new contract before acquiring projects being promoted under an interim agreement.

Naman Ramachandran James Hawes‘ Holocaust drama “One Life” will be the American Express Gala at the 67thBFI London Film Festival. The film tells the true story of Nicholas ‘Nicky’ Winton, a young London broker who, in the months leading up to WWII, rescued 669 children from the Nazis. Fifty years later, in 1988, Winton is haunted by the fate of the children he wasn’t able to bring to safety in England.

James Hawes’s drama One Life, starring Anthony Hopkins as Holocaust rescue hero Nicholas Winton, will make its European debut at the London Film Festival in October as part of its gala program, following the film’s TIFF world premiere.

“I Am Sirat,” a collaboration between Sirat Taneja and Deepa Mehta is all set to have its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film was entirely shot on cellphones and examines the duality of Sirat’s daily existence as a transgender woman living in New Delhi, India.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s “Nyad” will be the opening night film of the Hamptons International Film Festival. The event will take place on Oct. 5, according to HamptonsFilm, which runs the festival.

Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) head Kate Taylor has put together what she describes as an “eclectic and lively” mix of titles for her first year at the helm. 

After an Oscar-winning debut with the release of “Promising Young Woman,” all eyes have been on Emerald Fennell as she preps the debut of her sophomore film, “Saltburn.” Well, as we approach the fall and awards season, we are finally getting our first look at the highly-anticipated drama.  READ MORE: Ana De Armas Wanted Emerald Fennell To Rewrite ‘John Wick’ Spinoff, ‘Ballerina,’ To Add “A Female Touch” “Saltburn” follows the story of a young Oxford student, Oliver, who finds himself swept away to the aristocratic world of his classmate, Felix, as the duo makes their way to the latter’s Saltburn estate.

Saltburn, the latest film from Promising Young Woman filmmaker Emerald Fennell, will open this year’s London Film Festival.