Sam Mendes’ ‘Empire of Light’ Sets BFI London Film Festival Gala Screening With Olivia Colman, Colin Firth

K.J. Yossman Among the world premieres set for the BFI London Film Festival are Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pinocchio” and Emily Blunt series “The English.” Others include “Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical,” Asif Kapadia’s ballet-infused “Creature,” family animation “My Father’s Dragon” from Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon and Nora Twomey, Jez Butterworth’s “Mammals,” which stars James Corden and “A Spy Among Friends,” starring Guy Pearce and Damian Lewis. The number of feature-length world premieres at the festival has gone up from 11% to 15% since 2019. This year three of those are Netflix productions: “Pinocchio,” “Roald Dahl’s Matilda The Musical” and “My Father’s Dragon.”

The 66th BFI London Film Festival is set to host the world premiere of Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, the Oscar-winning director’s dark take on the classic fairy tale about a wooden marionette brought to life to mend the heart of a grieving woodcarver named Geppetto.

Over the past 20+ years, filmmaker Sam Mendes has released numerous films, each earning acclaim. Even his two James Bond films, “Spectre” and “Skyfall,” are seen as high watermarks in the world of 007.

Mark Jenkin’s latest Cornish horror Enys Men and Alice Diop’s feature debut Saint Omer are among the eight titles set to compete in the Official Competition of the 66th BFI London Film Festival, running from October 5 – 16.

Naman Ramachandran The BFI London Film Festival has revealed eight titles that will be in official competition. The films include Santiago Mitre’s political drama “Argentina, 1985” (Argentina); Clement Virgo’s brotherly love tale “Brother” (Canada); Marie Kreutzer’s irreverent period drama “Corsage” (Austria-Luxembourg-Germany-France); Fyzal Boulifa’s atmospheric domestic drama “The Damned Don’t Cry” (France-Belgium-Morocco); Mark Jenkin’s folk horror tale “Enys Men” (U.K.); Hlynur Palmason’s historical epic “Godland” (Denmark-Iceland-France-Sweden); Soudade Kaadan’s poignant family film “Nezouh” (U.K.-Syria-France); and Alice Diop’s courtroom drama “Saint Omer.”

Empire Of Light, starring Olivia Colman, has been released. You can watch it below.Directed by Sam Mendes (1917, Skyfall), the upcoming film tells the story of a romance that takes place in a scenic old cinema on the South Coast of England in the 1980s.Micheal Ward (Blue Story, Top Boy) stars opposite Colman as her love interest, while Toby Jones (Detectorists) plays a projectionist.“Film: It’s just static frames with darkness in between,” Jones’s character narrates in the trailer, which reveals very little about the film’s plot.

set to receive the Ebert Director Award at next month’s Toronto International Film Festival, where “Empire” will make its Canadian premiere.Check out the full teaser trailer above or here.

Sam Mendes is set to be honoured by the Toronto International Film Festival following the Canadian premiere of his latest fil, “Empire Of Light”.

Over the past 20+ years, filmmaker Sam Mendes has released numerous films, each earning acclaim. Even his two James Bond films, “Spectre” and “Skyfall,” are seen as high watermarks in the world of 007.

The BFI London Film Festival will debut Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin’s latest project as part of LFF Expanded, the festival’s Immersive Art and Extended Realities strand, which runs from October 5-16, 2022.

Naman Ramachandran The BFI London Film Festival has revealed the line-up for LFF Expanded, its immersive art and extended realities strand (Oct. 5-16). Programmed by Ulrich Schrauth, the BFI’s immersive art and XR curator, this year’s program features interactive virtual reality, screen-based installations, augmented reality, mixed reality, immersive audio experience and live performance. The program will be at multiple venues on London’s South Bank. The highlight of the program is the world premiere, commissioned by the festival, of Guy Maddin’s “Haunted Hotel: A Melodrama in Augmented Reality,” which promises to transport the audience into a surreal paper world, created from a selection of clippings drawn from Maddin’s own personal archive, set to a soundscape by composer Magnus Fiennes.

Brendan Fraser will receive the TIFF Tribute Award for Performance for his role in A24’s upcoming film “The Whale.”TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey announced the news.  “Brendan Fraser gives a performance of staggering depth, power and nuance in ‘The Whale,’” Bailey said. “This former Torontonian has been an action star, a screen comic and a romantic lead.

Actor Brendan Fraser will receive the TIFF Tribute Award for Performance at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced on Monday.Fraser is attending the festival for the North American premiere of Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale,” in which he stars as a severely obese man attempting to repair a fractured relationship with his teenage daughter (played by “Stranger Things” star Sadie Sink). He will receive the award during the TIFF Tribute Awards, an in-person gala fundraiser that will take place on Sunday, Sept.

Sam Mendes is set to be honoured by the Toronto International Film Festival.

Director Sam Mendes will receive the TIFF Ebert Director Award at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced on Friday.Mendes will be at the festival for the Canadian Premiere of his new movie, “Empire of Light,” which stars Olivia Colman as a woman who works in a seaside movie theater in 1980s England. It is his ninth film as a director and second as writer in a career that began with the Oscar-winning “American Beauty,” which made its world premiere at TIFF in 1999.

Carson Burton Sam Mendes will receive the Ebert Director Award at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey announced Tuesday.The award, which recognizes filmmakers who have exemplified greatness in their careers, was named after legendary film critic Roger Ebert and is an evolution of the festival’s Roger Ebert Golden Thumb Award. Past recipients of the award include Denis Villeneuve, Chloé Zhao and Taika Waititi.

Sam Mendes, whose latest movie from Searchlight, Empire of Light, is making its Canadian premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, will be receiving the event’s TIFF Ebert Director Award.

Naman Ramachandran Sam Mendes’ “Empire of Light,” starring Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward and Colin Firth, will be this year’s American Express Gala at the 66th BFI London Film Festival.Written, produced and directed by Oscar and BAFTA winning filmmaker Mendes, the film also stars Toby Jones, Tanya Moodie, Tom Brooke and Crystal Clarke. Set in an English seaside town in the early 1980s, the film is about human connection and the magic of cinema. It marks Mendes’ first solo credit as screenwriter and reunites him with Oscar winning cinematographer Roger Deakins (“1917,” “Skyfall”).The film is produced by Mendes and Pippa Harris’ Neal Street Productions, in partnership with Searchlight Pictures.

The 66th BFI London Film Festival has set Empire Of Light, the latest film from Sam Mendes, as its American Express Gala screening.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterIFC Films nabbed North American rights to “The Lost King,” which will have its world premiere at the 47th Toronto International Film Festival.Directed by Stephen Frears, the feel-good true story stars Sally Hawkins as Philippa Langley, an amateur historian who uncovered the remains of King Richard the III after they had been lost for 500 years. Langley spent years researching — and searching — for the remnants, even when family, friends and academics openly doubted her.Steve Coogan (who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jeff Pope) is playing Philippa’s husband, John Langley.