Saoirse Ronan, Kate Winslet Drama ‘Ammonite’ to Close BFI London Film Festival

Jo Malone London, the British perfume and scented candle brand, has issued an apology to John Boyega — who was last year named its first male global ambassador — for taking a personal video he made for them and reshooting it for the Chinese market, in the process removing not onlyStar Wars actor entirely but not featuring a single black individual.

Francis Lee’s “Ammonite” might be the biggest study in contrasts that you’ll find at the Toronto International Film Festival this year.

Todd McCarthy The temptation will be too great for some critics to resist proclaiming, “Ammonite is dynamite!,” as in some respects it is, specifically in the way it resembles a hand grenade thrown into the midst of an otherwise decorous, serious-minded 19th century British period piece.James Ivory might be proud and even jealous of the way writer-director Francis Lee takes the Anglo art house tradition of quality to an uncustomary level of sexual frankness, an aspect that will remind many

In October 2018, British director Francis Lee sent Kate Winslet’s agent a screenplay he had just finished writing. Despite having just one film under his belt — the critically acclaimed drama God’s Own Country about an unlikely romance between two young men — Lee was able to entice the Oscar winner, who committed within 24 hours.

Kate Winslet has admitted she regrets working with Woody Allen and Roman Polanski, describing Hollywood’s regard for the directors as “disgraceful”.

Naman Ramachandran The British Film Institute’s London Film Festival (LFF) is adopting a hybrid physical-online model for the first time in its history, and the process has been fraught with the myriad difficulties expected in a global pandemic.“The biggest challenge, the whole time, has been stepping into the unknown,” festival director Tricia Tuttle told Variety.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterThis year’s BFI London Film Festival, taking place as a hybrid of online and physical activities due to ongoing pandemic disruption, has unveiled a program of 58 titles.A selection of screenings will take place at cinemas and others will take place in a virtual form for audiences across the UK. The films come from 40 countries.

Naman Ramachandran The 64th edition of the British Film Institute London Film Festival (LFF) revealed its full program Tuesday, containing a robust line-up of 58 features from around the world, as well as a range of extended reality (XR) projects and shorts.As previously announced, Steve MacQueen’s “Mangrove” will open the festival and Francis Lee’s “Ammonite” will close it.Highlights of the program include Harry Macqueen’s mature love story “Supernova,” starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci;

Sophie Monks Kaufman Guest ContributorAs the first major film festival to take place in the pandemic era, there’s a gravity to the 77th Venice Biennale simply by virtue of the show going on under such fraught global conditions.Yet 2020 has also sparked an unprecedented awareness of racial discourse, and as such, it’s essential to note that there hasn’t been a Black member of the competition jury since 2004, when Spike Lee was part of a jury led by British director John Boorman.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterThe BFI London Film Festival has set Francis Lee’s Ammonite as its closing film.Starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan, the film is set in the 1840s, following palaeontologist Mary Anning when she encounters a young woman recuperating from a personal tragedy,It is world premiering at Toronto and also took part in the 2020 Cannes Label selection at the cancelled French festival.The London screening will take place on October 17 at cinemas across the UK,

Tom Cruise has donned a face mask to make a secret trip to the cinema for a London screening of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet.The screen icon, who is currently filming Mission: Impossible 7 in the UK, surprised fans by visiting the BFI IMAX in Waterloo and shared footage of the trip on social media.In the video, Cruise is seen riding a black cab through the streets of London, taking in landmarks such as Buckingham Palace before he eventually arrives at the cinema.Despite wearing a mask, he is