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Tag: BFI London Film Festival 2025

  • Emma Corrin, Maika Monroe Wrap Up Star-Spangled London Film Festival With ‘100 Nights of Hero’

    The 2025 BFI London Film Festival has closed in style thanks to Julia Jackman’s superstar 100 Nights of Hero cast.

    The Canadian filmmaker was joined by Emma Corrin, Maika Monroe, Amir El-Masry, Richard E. Grant and Felicity Jones at the city’s Royal Festival Hall on Sunday night to wrap up an almighty run of premieres for the LFF. Key cast members Nicholas Galitzine and Charli xcx were not in attendance.

    Jackman’s sophomore feature, based on the graphic novel of the same name by Isabel Greenberg, is a visually stunning fantasy set in a fairytale kingdom. Cherry (Monroe) is happily married to Jerome (El-Masry) and living a seemingly idyllic life. But the couple have yet to conceive an heir, so when Jerome absconds and his dashing friend Manfred (Galitzine) arrives with dastardly intentions, Hero (Corrin), Cherry’s wily and loyal maid, is forced to concoct a plan to distract Manfred by telling captivating stories about rebellious women.

    “I’ve been dreaming of making this film for a long time,” Jackman said on stage. “And I actually, to be honest, didn’t know whether I’d get the chance. So to be here with you guys is incredible. Thank you so much for coming.”

    Corrin, star of The Crown, Nosferatu and Deadpool & Wolverine, added about crafting the character of Hero with Jackman: “So much of it was in Julia’s incredible adaptation. … Hero’s all-knowing wisdom — she [has] confidence and knows who she is and there’s a real relief to playing someone like that. We chatted a lot about that, and [about] getting the comedy right.”

    Monroe — best known for last year’s horror hit Longlegs — said Jackman’s script was “so incredible unique and so beautiful.” She said: “Even just reading the script, I could imagine this fantastical world. I fell in love with Cherry. … [There] was just this feeling of, like, needing to do this role.”

    The Hollywood Reporter‘s review out of Venice Critics Week — where 100 Nights of Hero earned its world premiere in August — described the feature as “eccentric, fey and surprisingly dark.” Leslie Felperin wrote that “viewers may start to expect anything could happen — like pop superstar Charli xcx showing up in a supporting role as an unlucky bride with barely any lines but a sumptuous assortment of jewel-toned gowns.”

    It marks the end to another BFI London Film Festival after 11 days of star-studded screenings that had A-listers, including the likes of George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Daniel Craig, Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jacob Elordi, Josh O’Connor, Oscar Isaac, Paul Mescal, Jessie Buckley and Daniel Day-Lewis, flocking to London’s Southbank.

    The fest kicked off Oct. 8 with the European premiere of Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery and hosted the casts of Jay Kelly, Hamnet, Frankenstein, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, After The Hunt, Die My Love, Bugonia, Ballad of a Small Player, Sentimental Value and Is This Thing On?, among others.

    The fest has also hosted some of the industry’s most celebrated directors and actors for Screen Talks sessions at BFI Southbank, including Yorgos Lanthimos, Daniel Day-Lewis, Richard Linklater, Jon M. Chu, Chloé Zhao and Lynne Ramsay.

    “It’s not enough for a film to just have an incredible cast — the film has to really stand on its own two feet,” London Film Fest director Kristy Matheson told THR at the opening-night gala. “We’re really trying to find a program that’s got a lot of different textures in it, that really feels like it reflects the city that we are in. We want a really great geographical spread.

    “We want different types of stories, because here in London,” she continued, “the cinema audiences are amazing. They’re seeing great films every day of the week here. They really do know their cinema, so we have a standard that we need to meet.”

    A total of 247 titles — comprised of features, shorts, series and immersive works — from 79 countries premiered at this year’s festival, with official wins for Martel’s Landmarks (Nuestra Tierra), David Bingong’s The Travelers (Les Voyageurs), as well as One Woman One Bra by Vincho Nchogu and Coyotes, directed by Said Zagha.

    Lily Ford

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  • Lynne Ramsay Recalls Meeting “Totally Terrifying” Joaquin Phoenix: “I’ve Never Worked With Such an Exciting Actor in My Life”

    Die, My Love director Lynne Ramsay was hosted by the BFI London Film Festival on Saturday and reflected on filming with A-list stars Joaquin Phoenix, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson.

    The Scot’s latest feature — following Lawrence as Grace, a new mother who finds herself spiraling into the depths of psychosis — had its U.K. premiere Friday night at London’s Royal Festival Hall, with Ramsay going into more depth about the filming process at a Saturday Screen Talks session with fellow industry execs and creatives.

    Known for her movies Ratcatcher (1999), Morvern Callar (2002) and We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), Ramsay discussed getting to know Hollywood heavy-hitters and recalled meeting Phoenix, star of her 2017 neo-noir psychological thriller You Were Never Really Here. The film follows Phoenix as a traumatized mercenary named Joe, who is hired by a politician to rescue his kidnapped daughter in New York.

    “He’s amazing,” began Ramsay, “I mean, he’s totally terrifying. He’s a beast, you know? When I first met him, I was like — oh, my God, I think I said something really stupid like, ‘Are you left-handed or are you right-handed?’”

    She went on to explain the lengths that Phoenix, an Oscar winner for his performance in Joker, would often go to on set. “He would just never do the same thing twice, he’d just surprise you,” she continued, remembering one unscripted take where Phoenix purposely fell down some stairs. “Everyone’s running, going, ‘What’s happened to Joaquin?!’” said Ramsay. “He just thought, ‘I’ll try this and see if it works.’ […] Honestly, I’ve never worked with such an exciting actor in my life,” she added. “He’s phenomenal and he wants to just get on with it — he’s not into all the paraphernalia and these bullshit things… I feel bad for telling you that story because he’ll kill me!” When filming wrapped, Phoenix suggested they take the same crew and make another film straight away.

    Ramsay delighted the BFI LFF audience with a couple of anecdotes about You Were Never Really Here, including one on a French financier who was desperate for it to go to Cannes. “He was obsessed with Cannes,” recalled the celebrated filmmaker. “He wanted to see a cut every week… [I said], ‘You can wait until you get the director’s cut. But he persuaded me into it. And then [he said], ‘This is shit, this is shit’ for the rest of the edit, which was actually so soul-destroying.”

    Joaquin Phoenix in You Were Never Really Here.

    When the movie finally nabbed a spot on the 2017 Cannes lineup, there were still scenes to shoot and Ramsay was left with a week to get the film ready. It later won best actor for Phoenix and best screenplay at the prestigious festival, but it was “the nuttiest film I had ever been on,” according to its director.

    When asked about bringing music into her films, Ramsay admitted it was only after working with Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood on You Were Never Really Here that she had enjoyed hiring composers. “I never used music unless it was in the scene. And then the more and more I worked on features, and especially after I worked with Jonny Greenwood, whose work really enhanced my film, I changed my mind,” she said. “Because I feel that music can tell you so much about character.” She added that receiving files from Greenwood, who recently composed the score for Paul Thomas Anderson’s buzzy thriller One Battle After Another, was like “getting a Christmas present… I was just blown away by the music.”

    Towards the end of the session, Ramsay was nervous to reveal too much about her latest film with Lawrence and Pattinson. “Jennifer Lawrence was just in a permanently bonkers situation,” she did tease, before going into depth about the characters of Grace and Jackson. “She does the most outrageous things, but he still loves her, you know?”

    “But she kind of takes it to the limit,” continued Ramsay. “It’s also about her marriage and whatnot, and she feels a bit invisible… There’s all that hope moving into a new house, there’s wild sex and then a baby comes in and he doesn’t want sex with her anymore. Those kinds of things that happen in relationships are in the film as well as elements of [postpartum depression].”

    The BFI London Film Festival 2025 runs Oct. 8-19.

    Lily Ford

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  • How Nicki Minaj Inspired Bradley Banton’s Instagram Livestreaming Film ‘More Life’: LFF

    Instagram livestreaming hit the big screen during the 69th edition of the BFI London Film Festival (LFF), courtesy of actor-director Bradley Banton and his feature film More Life, which world premiered during the fest.

    “Framed within the hyper-performative world of Instagram livestreaming, this is an impressive, fresh and beautifully observed debut,” notes the LFF website.

    The movie, backed by Michael Fassbender’s DMC Film, stars Tuwaine Barrett (Hard Truths), Dipo Ola, and Jordan Peters. For a glimpse of what to expect, check out a clip from More Life here.

    Banton and Barrett talked to THR about how More Life came to be and what audience reactions they noticed in the cinema.

    “I was watching a Nicki Minaj livestream,” Banton recalled. “I was just like, ‘This is so entertaining. There’s something that needs to be done about this.’ And then we just built it from there.”

    Originally, the movie was going to be set in London. “And then I was like, ‘You can live stream anywhere.’ So, let’s go to my favorite city, Copenhagen, for live streaming,” he explained.

    It didn’t take weeks or months of production for this one. But the question was whether to do it in one continuous go or not. “Originally, it was going to be one long take,” Banton told THR. “But we thought that was a bit too crazy, especially because we only had four hours to do it. I’ve seen Boiling Point and Victoria. But I thought that would be a bit too crazy. So, we ended up doing glitches in order to splice together different takes.”

    Given that the mobile phone is the typical livestreaming device, that also had an impact on the film and its format. “We knew it was always going to be vertical,” Banton said. But he is curious if some younger audiences will also end up watching the film on their cellphones down the line.

    The cinema experience at the premiere saw some behavior that was atypical for mobile users. “When we had the premiere, there was a young lad in front of us,” Barrett told THR. “He was just so involved. He was locked in. He didn’t play with his phone once. And I think that was because he recognized on screen something that he related to.”

    Concluded the star: “He’s probably always on Instagram, looking at reels, looking at live feeds. So to see that on a big screen, he was just like ‘wow’.”

    Will the duo make another livestreaming feature? Banton is down for it, “if we had any excuse to go to another country.” Adds Barrett with a laugh: “We’ll need a budget. Just give us the money!”

    Georg Szalai

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  • What’s Next for ‘Rose of Nevada,’ ‘Little Amélie,’ ‘Kim Novak’s Vertigo’ Creators: Tea With Filmmakers

    THR caught up with Mark Jenkin, Denzil Monk, Maïlys Vallade, Claire La Combe, and Alexandre O’Philippe at the BFI London Film Festival.

    Georg Szalai

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  • How ‘Lady,’ a Mockumentary About a Deluded Aristocrat, Took Shape in a Real English Mansion

    Sian Clifford (Fleabag) as a narcissistic and lonely aristocrat in outrageous outfits and a camera crew chasing her through an English mansion are the stars of mockumentary Lady, the feature directorial debut of Samuel Abrahams, which he co-wrote with his partner Miranda Campbell Bowling. The film world premieres Thursday evening at the 69th edition of the BFI London Film Festival (LFF).

    Laurie Kynaston (Fool Me Once), who worked with Clifford in BBC drama Life After Life, and Juliet Cowan also star in the movie, which mixes offbeat satire, ridiculous comedy, a healthy dose of surrealism and a warm-hearted exploration of how even the most privileged have the need to feel seen.

    Lady Isabella longs to be in the spotlight, and the local talent show Stately Stars offers her the break she’s long desired. “Deluded aristocrat Lady Isabella (Clifford) hires struggling director Sam (Kynaston) to document life at her imposing country estate, Ravenhyde Hall,” reads a synopsis. “When he discovers that the promise of a Netflix commission was a lie, and that Isabella only wants him there to film her taking part in a ridiculously low-stakes regional talent show held at the Hall, he’s ready to quit — until he realizes the narcissistic Lady is, quite literally, turning invisible.”

    MetFilm is handling sales on the movie.

    Clifford and Abrahams talked to THR about the joys and challenges of shooting the movie at Somerleyton Hall in Suffolk, where The Crown also shot, its timeliness and why we all carry a little bit of Lady Isabella in us.

    “Somerleyton Hall is this beautiful stately home that became not just a backdrop, but a character in the film,” Abrahams tells THR. “We wrote this as a contained two-hander, because it’s mostly about two characters. Obviously, they’re also playing off the camera, so that gives you another dynamic. But really, it’s two characters in one location. So that location had to be incredible.”

    Importantly, the mansion is a reflection of the Lady and her loneliness. “The location is the answer to the question where this type of character is trapped,” the filmmaker explains. “As a character who has essentially trapped herself in this location, she’s surrounding herself with beautiful things, rich colors and textures, amazing wardrobe. Those are great distractions for her to sort of justify why she wouldn’t leave the estate.”

    Abrahams has won two Cannes Lions for his commercials, and his first short Connect was nominated for a BAFTA. It’s no coincidence that Lady Isabella tells Kynaston’s Sam, clearly a tongue-in-cheek on-screen version of Abrahams, that she knows about his BAFTA, leading him to emphasize that it was only a nomination. The filmmaker says it felt like something a person like Lady Isabella would say and focus on. And it also helps establish the dynamic between the two characters early on. “They bring out the darkest and the most beautiful qualities in each other,” he highlights.

    How did Abrahams come up with the idea for Lady? “I got lost down a YouTube rabbit hole and then stumbled across the first video post of someone who clearly was aspiring to be an influencer, but hadn’t got an audience,” he tells THR. “It was just really intriguing, because every single decision that she had made in the making of this video was just brilliantly off. It is a bit like Tommy Wiseau’s The Room but on YouTube.”

    What did he feel? “Obviously, there’s humor in that. But it was also incredibly endearing,” the first-time feature director recalls. “I just subscribed and then I watched all the new posts. What was beneath it for me was this desire to feel seen by a kind of invisible world that’s out there, which would make her complete,” says Abrahams. “But, of course, that won’t fill the void, and that was the starting point, a great sort of jumping off point.”

    The writer-director wanted Lady to feel like the movies he loved watching in the 1990s. “I grew up watching big comedies that had this surreal hook to them, like Groundhog Day and Being John Malkovich,” Abrahams tells THR. “Those kinds of things are essentially a jumping off point. They hook the audience in with this ‘what the fuck’ idea, but then they’re, at the end of the movie, delivering some kind of meaningful, human journey.”

    ‘Lady’

    Courtesy of London Film Festival

    That was what also appealed to Clifford. “It was everything, really — the concept of it, just the originality of it,” she tells THR. “It felt like a real leap for me in terms of the parts that come my way these days. And it’s comedy, but it’s dark and it’s satirical, and it feels very relevant — satirizing narcissism and that need to be seen.”

    The actress was quickly interested in exploring Isabella. “I just thought that she was so fun and so bonkers, and I loved her immediately,” she explains. “I feel she’s a really tragic character, but I adore her.”

    There wasn’t a single person that Clifford modeled Lady Isabella after. “To be honest, I feel like that’s every human in existence. We’re all so flawed,” she offers. “Her complexity is probably what drew me to her, because I felt there’s so much going on, and that feels very real.”

    Abrahams and Clifford hope to not just entertain but also create debate with Lady. “This is something everyone’s talking about,” the star tells THR. “But I’m not on social media. I think it’s a damaging space. I think culturally it’s damaging. I’ve seen how negatively it can impact — particularly young — people.”

    After all, on social media can look like everyone else’s life is perfect. “The film is about that relationship we have with our self-worth and how we’re measuring that with what we’re seeing from other people online and drawing comparisons,” Clifford says. “Everyone has a platform and has something to say and has an opinion on something. How is that impacting us as a whole? But I don’t think it’s as on the nose as that in the film. It’s exploring those ideas in a really interesting way.”

    Georg Szalai

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  • Daniel Day-Lewis on His Screen Return With ‘Anemone’ and Method Acting Not Being “a Cult”

    Daniel Day-Lewis was back in the London spotlight for the first time in years on Wednesday, appearing at a jam-packed Screen Talk as part of the 69th edition of the BFI London Film Festival (LFF) where he was welcomed with a rousing ovation after signing autographs for fans before the event.

    Discussing his return to acting after eight years in family drama Anemone, directed by his son Ronan Day-Lewis, and his career, the three-time Oscar winner shared: “It began with a pure wish really to work with Ronan” to address the “sadness” of maybe not getting to do so in film otherwise. He described the film as an exploration of brotherhood and the reuniting of estranged siblings.

    “The lack of need for words” is what interested him, and understanding his character’s army career trajectory was key for him to unlock the character, who is chasing his brother, and his behavior.

    Anemone follows a middle-aged man, portrayed by Sean Bean, on his journey into the woods, where he reconnects with his estranged hermit brother, played by Day-Lewis. Samantha Morton also stars in the movie. Day-Lewis previously shared that he had “certain reservations about being back in the public world again” by starring in the film, but that his son “made it pretty clear that he wasn’t going to do it if I didn’t do it.”

    The project from Focus Features had its world premiere at the New York Film Festival. The movie is the feature directorial debut of Ronan Day-Lewis and was co-written by him and his father.

    In a wide-ranging discussion, the star was asked on Wednesday about how he has gotten into the physicality of many of his roles, such as My Left Foot. He eased into that one with “very gentle steps,” he shared. “I thought of the wheelchair as a cage … and I began to work a lot with my foot.”

    Asked about his approach to acting, Day-Lewis said that immersion “to me makes sense,” but other actors can do great work without that, “and hats off to them.” He emphasized that “I still find that process a joyful thing. We’re playing games for a living.”

    The star also argued that criticism of method acting in recent years has at times been portrayed like a cult, saying such comments often come from people who don’t really understand it. “It is invariably from people that have little or no understanding of what it actually involves,” Day-Lewis said. “It’s almost like some special science that we’re involved in, or a cult, but it’s just a way of freeing yourself [for] the spontaneity when you are working with your colleagues in front of the camera, so that you are free to respond in any way that you’re moved to in that moment.”

    The star emphasized that he came into My Left Foot without the screen experience he could have used. ”I was clueless,” he said, drawing laughter. “I didn’t have a fucking clue what I was doing.”

    Back when he went to acting school, theater was considered the “elite cultural form,” while film was seen as “dodgy,” and TV got the reaction of “really?!” he recalled. “It always bugged the hell out of me that we were basically performing for a group of privileged people,” he said about his feelings towards such attitudes.

    To more laughs, he shared how “Stephen Frears was exasperated with me,” because Day-Lewis always needs something “real” to be able to stay in the illusion and in the sphere of acting. For example, he would, in a role, stop sweeping the floor once it was clean, to the director’s frustration, Day-Lewis said.

    Asked about his long creative relationship with Jim Sheridan, he shared: “I met Jim, and I basically had a crush on him within 10 minutes.”

    He also mentioned on Wednesday how he “revered Marlon Brando,” among other actors. And he shared: “I had a crush on Mary Poppins. Julie Andrews, I mean,” he also shared. That and Zulu were two of his favorite films when he was young.

    The role that changed his life when he viewed it was Dai Bradley in Kes. “It remains one of the greatest performances,” he said before expressing hos “admiration for Ken Loach.”

    The star also discussed working with writer-director Rebecca Miller, now his wife, on The Ballad of Jack and Rose and now his son. “There was never any question about … a conflict of interest” between family and work roles in both cases, he concluded. Both movies were “experiences that people will remember happily,” he said.

    Ronan Day-Lewis joined the on-stage discussion for the final 20 minutes, sharing that the shoot for Anemone, much of which takes place in a shed, was “claustrophobic” but also “incredibly intimate.”

    The two wrote the script together, with Day-Lewis senior mentioning that he can’t really type. But his son also saw another benefit of working with his father, explaining the familial collaboration this way: ”It takes the edge off because you know they will give you the benefit of the doubt,” as long as you have a good relationship. Added his father: “It was a joyful experience to have this time together.”

    Ronan Day-Lewis highlighted how David Lynch has influenced him and how he shared with the legendary filmmaker the interest in “exploring darkness” without “existing in darkness.”

    Asked about funny moments in Anemone, his father said, among other things, that he found the idea of ”shitting on a priest” that is mentioned in one scene really “hilarious.”

    Daniel Day-Lewis recently admitted he regretted announcing his retirement following his role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2017 film Phantom Thread. “Looking back on it now — I would have done well to just keep my mouth shut, for sure,” he told Rolling Stone. “It just seems like such grandiose gibberish to talk about. I never intended to retire, really. I just stopped doing that particular type of work so I could do some other work.”

    The star also shared final words of advice for young actors on Wednesday, before a farewell standing ovation. “A lot of young actors, especially if they’re lucky enough – when you get chances, people want to keep coming for you. They keep looking for you as long as the money’s coming in,” Day-Lewis said. “And so it takes a certain steadiness in yourself to say, ‘No, I need to just do this the only way I know how.’ And I did just do it the only way I knew how.”

    Georg Szalai

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  • ‘Ish’ Filmmakers on Turning Real-Life Trauma Into a Lyrical Debut About Racial Injustice

    A racially profiled police stop-and-search sets two best friends on a collision course in Imran Perretta’s debut feature film Ish, which he co-wrote with Enda Walsh (Die My Love, Hunger) and developed with producer Dhiraj Mahey through their company Primal Pictures with BBC Film.

    The film, which won the audience award at the Venice Critics’ Week, stars Farhan Hasnat, Yahya Kitana and Sudha Bhuchar and tells the story of Ish and Maram, two barely teenagers who “endure police harassment and its seismic repercussions,” according to a note on the website for the 69th edition of the BFI London Film Festival (LFF) where it will be screening on Wednesday. “Naturalistic performances, an atypical score (also composed by multi-disciplinary artist Perretta) and lyrical, monochrome images make this a standout British film, which stands up for characters who are too often marginalized — both onscreen and off.”

    Writer-director Perretta, producer Mahey and co-writer Walsh shared insights and a look behind the scenes in a Tuesday LFF Industry Days session, moderated by former BAFTA head of programs Mariayah Kaderbhai and organized in association with The Hollywood Reporter. The session was entitled “Anatomy of a Debut: Ish.”

    Asked about the genesis of the coming-of-age film, Perretta said it allowed him to “plumb the depths of my youth and teenage experience.” He recalled an experience that had a huge impact on his life. “Baked into this idea of the coming-of-age narrative is this idea of the loss of innocence,” he said. “And for me, if I was being honest with myself, the moment that I grew up at a time when I didn’t want to was the first time I was dragged into a van by the police. And that happened when I was 13. It was definitely the moment that I sort of became an adult.”

    It took him years to realize this, the filmmaker concluded. “It’s about heartbreak and loss with a political meta-narrative,” he said. “It’s [about] self-determining who you are in the world.”

    The film is based on Perretta’s experience, but it became a true creative collaboration, all three panelists highlighted. “The soul of the piece was really, really beautiful,” Walsh shared when asked about the point he came on board. “It was about 1,000 pages. It was bloody long. There were all those classic things that I do myself in the first draft. Sometimes you tell it too quickly, and it takes a while for you to figure it out. But it was all there. There was definitely a three-act structure, and I’m a lover of the three-act structure. It was just about the change in temperature and tension around not telling the audience something and the placement of the audience within the script.”

    Mahey shared how his goal was to submit the film to screen at Berlin, Cannes or Venice. But the creative team’s work on Ish meant it missed the deadlines for the first two fests, making it all or nothing for Venice, where the movie ended up.

    Mahey also shared insight into what went into working with a cast of young people who are not professional actors. “Outside of things like child protection and safeguarding and whatnot, we worked really closely with an organization called We Are Bridge, who are kind of the leaders, I suppose, in working with young actors,” he explained. “So, we had youth workers on set. We had every specialist and had chaperones.”

    The two main characters are of British-Palestinian and British-South Asian descent, but that wasn’t the original plan before the casting process. Gaza being in the news was in the script “from the very beginning,” recalled Perretta. “But when we cast Yahya Kitana, who is British-Palestinian, we felt, ‘Well, this is an opportunity to be more specific, to be more sensitive.’ Absolutely, not to make more of it, but just to make sure that we’re looking after this boy in the context of this film and also to really portray things in authentic ways. What does it mean for those young boys to see those images [from Gaza] on a daily basis and to reckon with them? What it means for a young Palestinian boy to see those images and be that far away from family and so on. We felt that we had a responsibility to re-engineer [his] character of Maram to make him fit Yahya’s cultural context more.”

    The casting process took a lot of work to get the chemistry right. “We saw a lot of young boys from Luton,” near London, where the story is set, the director recalled. “It was close to 1,000.” It turned out that Hasnat and Kitana had long-running chemistry from real life as they have known each other since they were four and two years old, respectively. “So, they basically were real-life best mates,” concluded Perretta. “What a gift!”

    Georg Szalai

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  • Aidan Gillen Is a 1980s Pop Star Facing a Moral Dilemma in Kathryn Ferguson’s ‘Nostalgie’

    Things just aren’t what they used to be! Or are they? And is that good, bad, or ugly? Nostalgie, a fiction short directed by Kathryn Ferguson, the Belfast-based filmmaker known for the likes of Sinéad O’Connor documentary Nothing Compares, will raise questions like that in your mind. And more!

    “A 1980s popstar receives a surprising invitation to perform, pulling him out of musical retirement and into a moral dilemma,” reads a synopsis for the 19-minute short that stars Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones, Peaky Blinders, Kin, Mayor of Kingstown, The Wire). Jessica Reynolds (Kneecap) and Michael Smiley (Bad Sisters, Alien: Earth, The Lobster, Blue Lights) also feature in the film.

    Based on a short story by Wendy Erskine, Nostalgie was written by Stacey Gregg and produced by Stille Productions and Tara Films Production, in association with Globe Originals and Hopefield. Co-financed by Film4, the executive producers were Lucy Pullin, Neil Chordia, Tim Clark, Amy O’Hara, Eleanor Emptage, and Ferguson. The producers were Kath Mattock, Marie-Thérèse Mackle, and Marc Robinson, with editing by Mick Mahon and Edel McDonnell. Robbie Ryan served as the director of photography, with the songs and score courtesy of none other than Bastille’s Dan Smith. 

    One of four shorts supported by Film4 at the 69th edition of the BFI London Film Festival (LFF), it will world premiere on Friday, along with other shorts under the theme “Pulling the Rug Out.”

    Ferguson discussed Nostalgie, the weight of history, and why, despite her reputation for doc work, she is planning to make more fiction features.

    How did you come on board to direct this fictional story after making a name for yourself in docs?

    Well, I’m Irish, obviously, and I had just made Nothing Compares, my feature documentary about Sinéad O’Connor. A producer called Kath Mattock reached out to me, saying: “Have you thought about drama?” And I said: “Well, I would love to do it.” But I’m a documentarian, and obviously that’s quite a long shot. But she said, “Have you thought about drama? And have you read the work of Wendy Erskine?” Wendy Erskine is an amazing Belfast born and bred writer. I’m from Belfast. And I was basically sent her manuscript of a book of short stories that she had written.

    So I spent a bit of time reading through this book, and all of her short stories are incredible. They are modern fables about Northern Ireland today, but it was Nostalgie that really jumped out to me, because it just felt so deeply cinematic and relevant. And because I’d come off the back of making a film about an artist who often has had their work co-opted. It’s fascinating, and troubling, how artists like Sinéad O’Connor can lose control of their work once it’s out in the world, particularly when their music is politically co-opted or used in ways that contradict their original intent.

    Did you ever envision it as a feature film?

    Very much, it was a short for me. It was a really wonderful chance to be able to take such strong material and then work through the process. We managed to bring in this incredible script writer, Stacey Gregg, who’s also from Belfast, and it was the process of working through this short with Stacey and Wendy. It just felt like a really self-contained story.

    It was fascinating just to actually be part of that process and developing it from page to screen, which took a bit of time. And because it’s a film about these songs, about this musician, and about his words, we then had to write the songs as well. So that became a huge part of the creative process. And I worked with Dan Smith, who’s the lead singer of Bastille, and Wendy to really come up with the right lyrics for this song.

    Kathryn Ferguson

    To avoid spoilers, I’ll just say I loved the music of the song, but then also got scared and horrified when I saw what happens with it…

    Well, it certainly needed to be that. It needed to be almost like a theme tune.

    [SPOILER WARNING: The next question and answer contain spoilers!]
    The protagonist’s song, we find out, is being used as an anthem of sorts by some people who have a past full of violence. Is that based on any real-life story?

    The original story is based on the reality of paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland taking very famous singers’ music and using it in this way. One example is “Simply the Best: by Tina Turner, which is a theme song in Northern Ireland for a paramilitary group and has been for decades. It was this idea of taking something with such a catchy hook, and the lyrics being misconstrued.

    How early on did you know that Aidan Gillen would play your protagonist, and what did you look for in the casting process?

    We needed an actor who could stand up and sing. So that became a huge part of the casting process. And we were extremely fortunate to be able to get Aiden Gillen, an amazing piece of casting. He can sing, he’s Irish. He is playing an Englishman, but understands the intricacies and complexities of this story. And then he was able to stand up and perform to a room of wild-eyed men. It was complicated enough trying to find the right person, but we were thrilled with Aidan’s performance. He was incredible!

    The rest of the cast is also amazing…

    Yes, we had this incredible Northern Irish cast come on board. Jessica Reynolds, who just came off the back of Kneecap, and Michael Smiley. I just stood there thinking: “How did this work out like this??” It was an extraordinary experience, truly, honestly. It was really thrilling.

    I’m curious: Do you plan to do more work in fiction and drama or are you going to return to docs? What are you working on next?

    I’m just finishing a new feature documentary at the minute, which will hopefully be out in early 2026.

    Can you share any details or do you have NDAs to stick to?

    I can’t say much. But it’s a very natural step on from Nothing Compares.

    Any fiction plans?

    Yes, I’m starting to write a script, starting to get a treatment done, basically, for a drama feature that I will eventually want to try and get off the ground. Yeah, just the experience I had on this short was so potent, and I really, truly find it thrilling and exciting. It’s definitely whetted my appetite to do a lot more.

    For more LFF 2025 shorts coverage, check out:
    Sheep and Mob Mentality: ‘Flock’ Writer-Director Mac Nixon Wants to Reframe Welsh Identity on Screen
    and
    ‘Magid / Zafar’ Writer-Director Luís Hindman Sets the Beat to Explore South Asian Masculinity

    Georg Szalai

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  • Chloé Zhao on the “Superpower” of Being a Neurodivergent Director: “I Have an Extreme Sensitivity to Dissonance”

    Oscar winner Chloé Zhao reflected on her career as a neurodivergent filmmaker at a BFI London Film Festival session on Sunday morning.

    The Chinese director, who on Saturday premiered her long-awaited Hamnet alongside stars Paul Mescal, Jessie Buckley and producers Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes, spoke candidly to a small audience about crafting Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015), The Rider (2017), Nomadland (2020) — the feature that brought her Academy Award acclaim — and Eternals (2021).

    “I’m neurodivergent, so I’ve always [been] quite confused why I don’t fit in, or why certain things are so easy for other people but so hard for me — like small talk,” Zhao began when asked about being an actor’s director. “It’s very easy for me to be overstimulated, because I take in a lot more information. I’m already assuming what you think of me,” she said, gesturing to an audience member. “What does your outfit mean? Where do you come from? I do these things all the time. I can’t shut it off.”

    “But later on, once I understood it and I could put language around it, I [realized] I have the ability to recognize patterns, maybe I’m just faster or more sensitive. So if that’s used in the right space, then I can almost predict certain situations. It’s helpful if you are on set and just feeling the dissonance [with actors]. Even off camera, you want to go, ‘What is it?’ And usually in that kind of setting, they will share, and then you go, ‘Okay, what’s underneath is actually interesting. This is not what we wrote for this character in this moment. But that’s where you are right now. So are you willing to take the mask right now and let the world see what’s underneath?’ It’s not always a yes — certainly with the professional actors… but if they do in that moment, it’s really special because that’s the kind of authenticity that I think is a performer’s greatest gift to the world.”

    Zhao joked about her extreme sensitivity to this dissonance: “So if you’re smiling and you’re actually sad, that’s why small talk is hard. I go: ‘What’s happened?’ What’s your childhood trauma?’ which is not always welcome,” she added as the crowd laughed.

    “I think it’s a superpower, I really do,” she continued. “And it’s a spectrum. So everyone is very different… I find that I question sometimes: am I not the typical one? Or has our world become a little bit too inhabitable? Is this too loud? Is it too bright? It’s too fast, you know? So I try to not think of it as less different,” she said. “If I tune into how I function then I’m going to create a world, not just on camera, but also off camera, that is going to be healthy for me.”

    Zhao is in London promoting her newest film Hamnet, starring Irish talent Mescal as William Shakespeare and Buckley as his wife, Agnes, who are thrown into contrasting experiences of grief following the death of their young son, Hamnet. The gut-wrenching drama had audiences reaching for the tissues at Saturday’s premiere.

    The filmmaker is also well known for making the MCU’s 2021 blockbuster Eternals, a departure from the realism of her previous films. Though Zhao said the feature’s sci-fi and fantasy elements were a huge draw for her. “My dream when I was a girl was to become a manga artist,” said the Beijing-born director. “I drew Japanese manga religiously every day, and I consumed everything there was at that time. So I have always loved telling stories through fantasy or mythology.”

    Eternals, starring Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Barry Keoghan, Richard Madden and Gemma Chan, is still the only film of Zhao’s that she storyboarded. “Because my manga skills!” she giggled. “I really enjoyed them, [drawing] the big eyes.”

    On making the Marvel film, Zhao explained that she was at a moment in her life where “a lot of stuff was bubbling inside of me.”

    “I made three films, I traveled around, I met people, and I looked at the East and the West, I looked at different cultures I encountered,” she said. “It was like a volcano inside of me that wanted to examine the human condition so desperately. I’m still sort of working through the eruption and that eruption was Eternals.”

    Growing up in Beijing, she added, meant that Zhao and her family were able to watch one Western film a week. Her first ever? The Terminator (1984). “I know. It’s great,” she said. “The second one I saw was Ghost and then the third one was Sister Act.”

    The BFI London Film Festival 2025 runs Oct. 8-19.

    Lily Ford

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  • Yorgos Lanthimos Jokes He Needs an AI Avatar to Get Out of Promoting His Films: “Do I Have to Say the Same Thing a Thousand Times?”

    Yorgos Lanthimos might be on board with AI, after all.

    The Oscar-nominated filmmaker, director of movies The Favourite, Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness, jokingly told BFI London Film Festival attendees on Saturday that he’s willing to send out a computer-generated avatar of himself if it helps him get out of promotional duties.

    Lanthimos spoke with Succession creator Jesse Armstrong the day after the U.K. premiere of his latest thriller, Bugonia, starring Emma Stone as a powerful CEO who is kidnapped by two conspiracy-obsessed men, played by Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis, convinced she is an alien about to destroy Earth.

    “I have mixed feelings about… figuring out what the best way to do it is, because [producers] spend a lot of money and they do have to make it back,” Lanthimos began when asked if he cares about the commercial success of his features. “It’s not my passion to go around being photographed and tell people stuff. It’s almost the same amount of time as making a film — you spend four to six months filming, six months editing and then you have, like, six months going around promoting the film.”

    He continued about the repetitive nature of a film’s press run: “Isn’t there another way? You sit down with your people and they say, [You need to do] this interview, this interview. Can’t you just take out some of them? Do I have to do all of them and say the same thing a thousand times? By the middle of the day, I won’t remember the things I’ve said. I’m looking at people like, ‘Did I tell you this?’” It’s a big part of it, I understand… But especially now with technology, you capture something and everyone has it! Why do I have to do it a million times?”

    As audience members erupted with laughter, the director joked, “I mean, AI… I’ll make an avatar and send it out. That sounds really opposite to my beliefs [about AI]!”

    Armstrong quipped back: “First you want a dictatorship and now you want an AI version of yourself to talk about your films.” The award-winning Brit writer was referring to earlier in the session when Lanthimos told Armstrong he believes the world needs a benevolent dictator to combat the far-right dominating the world’s current political landscape. “The way things are going, [we have] ones that are doing the bad things, but [we need] a dictator who does good things for the people.”

    Lanthimos clarified: “Because it seems like, whatever you call it, maybe the left, they haven’t found a way to do this. You need someone who will take responsibility and go: ‘We’re going to do the good things.’”

    Across the session, the men covered a myriad of topics including how Lanthimos made films in the wake of the 2008 financial crash — which hit Lanthimos’ native Greece particularly hard — and finding creative freedom in moving to the U.K. to make English-language films.

    Stone, in particular, is already garnering more awards buzz for Bugonia only two years after her Oscar win for Poor Things.

    The BFI London Film Festival 2025 runs Oct. 8-19.

    Lily Ford

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