Before public booking on Saturday, we're giving you our tips for ones to watch . We've already previewed the gala events, when you can see the big hits that won't be on general release for some time. However, the festival also presents the chance to see other lesser known films that will more difficult to catch in cinemas - if they get distributors at all.
Films on the Square are a little cheaper than your fancy gala events, with tickets priced at £9, and showing around the West end in venues like the BFI Southbank, and the ICA . First up, the cinema of the bizarre gets a thorough airing in Mighty Boosh director Paul King's film debut 'Bunny and the Bull'. Centring around two friends' trip to Europe, the movie features the expected trippy animation and cameos from Boosh stars Noel Fielding and Julian Barrett.
Equally surreal and more disturbing is provocateur Gaspar Noé's 'Enter the Void', which picks up a ghostly thread set in an other-worldly Japan. A more lighted-hearted offering comes in the shape of 'Extract', a cleverly observed comedy featuring Ben Affleck and directed by the creator of Beavis and Butthead.
More razor-sharp lines from 'The Informant', featuring a portly Matt Damon as a high-level corporate whistle-blower. Tense and startling, the twists and turns of the plot are aided and abetted by what promises to be a career-high from Damon.
Charleyne Yi, who appeared as stoner flatmate in Knocked Up, pretty much plays herself (or does she?) in a fact/fiction exploration of whether True Love exists. 'Paper Heart' also features real life love interest Michael Cera as predictably geeky side kick. Like it or loathe it, the quirky lo-fi clever-com looks set to hang around for a while.
Some high-class British films will be shown, including a realistic take on the cult of the modern celebrity in Kicks. We follow two young women around Liverpool who bond over their adoration of a Liverpool FC player, which results in dramatic events.
More home-grown talent takes shape in The Scouting Book For Boys, starring Thomas Turgoose of This is England and Somers Town fame. Teenagers David and Emily are close friends, but when Emily disappears increasingly complex turns of events test David's strength of character.
London is the star in Rachid Bouchareb's 'London River', set in the aftermath of the July 2005 bombings. Brenda Blethyn and Sotigui Kouyaté play two very different individuals that come to the capital to seek relatives, in a sparse drama that promises to refrain from indulging in obvious cliches.
Lastly, don't miss American: The Bill Hicks Story, a sensitive piece of work from two British film-makers and involving fascinating animation technology and previously unseen footage of the late funny man.
Watch trailers at http://www.bfi.org.uk/lff/.
Online booking opens to the public on Saturday - get in fast, as BFI members can book already and showings are selling out!
