Londonist Loves The LFF

By Londonist Last edited 198 months ago
Londonist Loves The LFF

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Almost time for the London Film Festival again!

This year the event is opened by David Cronenberg's London-set Eastern Promises - Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen following up A History of Violence with this violent tale of Russian organised crime, penned by Steve Dirty Pretty Things Knight. One to watch for sure. Closing the festival is the new Wes Anderson movie, The Darjeeling Limited.

In between there are some 180+ feature films and 133 shorts, free screenings in Trafalgar Square (including Capital Tales which features London on film over the last 100 years!) and the continuing outreach of Film in the City that take prints to every corner of the capital.

And of course there's the usual mix of actors, actresses and directors on tap plus a host of interesting live events (here's one standout and weird event that caught our eye).

Every year though there's a certain amount of grumbling about how fast some of this stuff sells out. It's no real wonder when a lot of these movies will never grace a London cinema screen again, but combine that with the fact that it's still cheaper to see a movie in the festival than it is to see the dross that normally plays in Leicester Square. And remember that anyone can attend the red carpet stuff and premieres. People book early for the chance to share popcorn with Tom Cruise.

This is the largest public film event in the UK so our advice is to try and get your tickets as early as possible. The Times BFI 51st London Film Festival runs from October 17th until November 1st. Tickets can be booked online here or by telephone on: 020 7928 3232 from Saturday 29th of September. TIP: BFI members booking opens on Wednesday 26th of September.

Have fun!

Last Updated 21 September 2007