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Here is the press release:
The 70th BFI London Film Festival (7 to 18 October) is excited to announce the films selected to screen in Official Competition, contending for the festival’s prestigious Best Film Award.
The nominated titles bring together an international line-up of filmmakers from across the world, with 10 countries represented including the UK, Ireland, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan and Poland.
This year’s Official Competition explores an incredible range of storytelling, from a wide range of voices and styles, spanning fiction to documentary, from post-war Europe to Dhaka, Japan and beyond.
The competition welcomes new work from internationally celebrated filmmakers Hirokazu Koreeda, Sergei Loznitsa, Carol Morley, Lili Horvát, Benjamín Naishtat, Christine Molloy & Joe Lawlor, Giovanni Tortorici, Małgorzata Szumowska, May el-Toukhy & Michal Englert, Rubaiyat Hossain, who each bring bold cinematic perspectives to this edition of the festival.
Established in 2009, the BFI London Film Festival’s Best Film Award celebrates inspiring, inventive and distinctive filmmaking. Previous recipients include Jacques Audiard for A Prophet. Recent winners include Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist in 2023, Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail in 2024 and Landmarks by Lucrecia Martel in 2025.
The 10 films in Official Competition are:
- 7 Miles Out (UK, Dir. Carol Morley)
- Act 3 (Ireland-UK, Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor)
- Glaxo (Brazil-Argentina, Dir. Benjamín Naishtat)
- Imperium (Germany-France-Italy-Lithuania, Dir. Sergei Loznitsa)
- Ketticè (Italy, Dir. Giovanni Tortorici)
- Look Back (Japan, Dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)
- My Notes on Mars (Hungary-Austria, Lili Horvát)
- The Difficult Bride (France-Bangladesh-Portugal-Norway-Germany, Rubaiyat Hossain)
- The Idiot(s) (Germany-Poland, Dir. Małgorzata Szumowska, Michal Englert)
- Woman Unknown (Denmark-Latvia-Sweden, Dir. May el-Toukhy)
BFI Southbank will once again be home to the Official Competition titles this year, as the 70th BFI London Film Festival continues to celebrate the power of film in the heart of London.
The films shortlisted for the festival’s other competitive categories, the Grierson Award for Best Documentary, the Sutherland Award for Best First Feature and the Short Film Award will be revealed in September. Winners in all four categories will be chosen by LFF Awards Juries, the members of which will be announced in the coming weeks.
The ever popular The Audience Awards also return for 2026, following last year’s wins: Chloé Zhao’s period drama Hamnet won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film, and Yemi Bamiro’s documentary Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story won the Audience Award for Best British Discovery.
“As we celebrate the 70th edition of the BFI London Film Festival, it’s an honour to have a number of alumni filmmakers represented in the Official Competition alongside those making their first appearance at the festival,” said Kristy Matheson, BFI London Film Festival Director. “Our 2026 competition selection brings an astounding array of filmmaking styles to the screen. As ever, it’s been creatively nourishing for myself and the team to encounter each of these works – we’re excited to share these with audiences in October.”
The winner of the Best Film Award will be announced on Sunday 18 October.
The 70th BFI London Film Festival takes place from Wednesday 7 October to Sunday 18 October 2026. The full festival programme will be revealed on Wednesday 2 September 2026, with tickets on general sale from 17 September (BFI Members book early).
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