Carl Roberts 
MUBI announces 7 films at the BFI London Film Festival which will be receiving their UK premieres. Find out more here.
MUBI, the film distributor, global streaming service, and production company, is thrilled to announce its stunning selection of feature films and documentaries from around the world. Headed to this year’s 68th BFI London Film Festival.
The festival will see seven UK premieres: Andrea Arnold’s Bird. Mati Diop’s Dahomey. Miguel Gomes’ Grand Tour. Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Harvest. And Joshua Oppenheimer’s The End, including two MUBI Productions: Christopher Andrews’ Bring Them Down (in Official Competition). And Elizabeth Sankey’s Witches.
BIRD
Headline Gala
Premiere Date: Saturday, 19 October – 8.45 PM/Royal Festival Hall
Director: Andrea Arnold
Cast: Barry Keoghan, Franz Rogowski, Nykiya Adams and Jason Buda
12-year-old Bailey lives with her single dad Bug and brother Hunter in a squat in North Kent. Bug doesn’t have much time for his kids and Bailey who is approaching puberty seeks attention and adventure elsewhere.
BRING THEM DOWN
Official Competition for Best Film
MUBI Production
Premiere Date: Friday 18 October – 8.40 PM/BFI Southbank NFT1
Director: Christopher Andrews
Cast: Christopher Abbott, Barry Keoghan, Paul Ready, Nora-Jane Noone and Colm Meaney
Michael, the last son of a shepherding family, lives with his ailing father, Ray. Burdened by guilt over the death of his mother, Michael has isolated himself from the world. When a conflict with rival farmer Gary and his son Jack escalates, Michael is drawn into a devastating chain of events, forcing him to confront the horrors of his past and leaving both families permanently altered.
DAHOMEY
Special Presentation – Documentary
Premiere Date: Saturday 12 October – 5.15 PM/BFI Southbank NFT1
Director: Mati Diop
Cast: Gildas Adannou, Habib Ahandessi and Joséa Guedje
Winner of the Golden Bear at the 2024 Berlinale. DAHOMEY delves into real perspectives on the far-reaching issues surrounding appropriation, self-determination and restitution. The film’s subject is 26 royal treasures of the Kingdom of Dahomey. Which, along with thousands of others, were plundered by French colonial troops in 1892. As these artifacts are due to leave Paris to return to their country of origin: the present-day Republic of Benin, Diop questions how they should be received in a country that has reinvented itself in their absence.
GRAND TOUR
Love
Premiere Date: Sunday 13 October – 8.35PM/Curzon Mayfair
Director: Miguel Gomes
Cast: Gonçalo Waddington, Crista Alfaiate and Cláudio da Silva
Rangoon, Burma, 1918. Edward, a civil servant for the British Empire, runs away from his fiancée Molly the day she arrives to get married. During his travels, however, panic gives way to melancholy. Contemplating the emptiness of his existence, the cowardly Edward wonders what has become of Molly. Resolved to marry and entertained by Edward’s actions, Molly pursues his path on their grand Asian tour.
HARVEST
Special Presentation
Premiere Date: Saturday, 12 October – 8.45 PM/Royal Festival Hall
Director: Athina Rachel Tsangari
Cast: Caleb Landry Jones, Frank Dillane and Harry Melling
Over seven hallucinatory days, a village with no name, in an undefined time and place, disappears. In Tsangari’s tragicomic take on a Western, townsman-turned-farmer Walter Thirsk. And befuddled lord of the manor Charles Kent are childhood friends about to face an invasion from the outside world. The trauma of modernity.
WITCHES
Grierson Documentary Feature Competition
MUBI Production
Premiere Date: Tuesday 15 October – 8.30 PM/BFI Southbank NFT1
Director: Elizabeth Sankey
Cast: Catherine Cho, Sophia Di Martino and David Emson
In her personal and intimate film, writer-director Elizabeth Sankey explores the unexpected yet compelling connections between perinatal mental health illness, drawing on her own experience of being admitted to a psychiatric ward following the birth of her son. And the history and portrayal of witches in Western society. Using clips of cinema’s witches to illustrate her own experience and those of fellow sufferers. Alongside interviews with medical professionals and academics, Sankey creates her own spell book for all to use.
THE END
Premiere Date: Friday 11 October – 8.45 PM/Curzon Soho 1
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
Cast: Tilda Swinton, Michael Shannon, George Mackay and Moses Ingram
Twenty-five years following an environmental collapse that rendered the Earth uninhabitable, a family consisting of Mother, Father, and Son find themselves confined to a luxurious bunker. They strive to preserve hope and normalcy through daily rituals—until Girl, a stranger, arrives and disrupts their contented routine. Son, an innocent young adult who has never experienced the outside world, is captivated by Girl, causing the fragile ties of their blind optimism to unravel. As tensions rise, their seemingly idyllic existence starts to crumble, with long-repressed feelings of remorse and resentment threatening to destroy the family’s delicate balance. But their reckoning with difficult truths also points to a different way forward, one based on acceptance, love, and a capacity for change.
The BFI London Film Festival takes place from October 9 to 20.
Introducing Carl! As the News Editor at Future of the Force, Carl has been an invaluable member of our team since early 2016. His expertise and dedication have made him an integral part of our editorial staff. Beyond his professional role, Carl is a fervent supporter of Liverpool F.C. and an avid follower of pop culture. He has a deep passion for Halloween, Friday the 13th, and the iconic movie franchises Star Wars and Star Trek.
He can be found either at his neighborhood cinema, enjoying the latest releases on the big screen, or at home streaming the newest blockbuster movies.
