Lego blocks, opera stars and canine antics: Seven films to look out for at this year’s LFF

As film festival season gathers pace, the 68th BFI London Film Festival (LFF) has announced its full 2024 programme, featuring a whopping 39 world premieres.

Angelina Jolie, Daniel Craig and Sir Elton John are among the stars to head up the 255-strong collection of movies from around the world.

Here are seven LFF films to look out for – with some hotly tipped for the coming awards season.

Blitz

London-born director Steve McQueen opens the festival for the third time, with the world premiere of his World War Two drama Blitz. The movie re-creates a war-torn London, bombarded by nightly air raids, as battle rages all around.

Saoirse Ronan stars as Rita, an East End mother who makes the heartbreaking decision to send her young son George, played by newcomer Elliott Heffernan, to safety in the countryside. But, George has other ideas, and is determined to return home despite the many dangers ahead.

The ensemble cast includes Kathy Burke, Benjamin Clementine, Harris Dickinson and Stephen Graham, with a score by Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer.

Maria

Angelina Jolie makes a return to the big screen after several years away, starring in the biopic about famed opera singer Maria Callas, one of the greatest sopranos of all time.

While the majority of the vocals we hear in the movie are from original recordings of Callas in her prime, the depictions of singing at the end of her life are mostly Jolie’s own voice. The Oscar-winning actress, who spent seven months training for the role, has called it the most demanding of her career.

Directed by Pablo Larrain, it depicts Callas’s final days in Paris when she was addicted to anti-anxiety drugs, looking back to the peak of her career when she wowed audiences around the world. Larrain has said he hopes it will encourage people to listen to more opera.

Queer

Bond star Daniel Craig plays a drug-addicted American living in 1950s Mexico, in the historical drama Queer.

Based on the 1985 semi-autobiographical novel by Beat Generation author William Burroughs, the film delves into the nightlife of Mexico City, in an immersive flood of colour, and doesn’t shy away from full-on sex scenes.

With some reviewers praising it as Craig’s best performance to date, it also stars Jason Schwartzman, Lesley Manville and newcomer Drew Starkey.

Nightbitch

A comedy horror starring the ever-adaptable Amy Adams as a stay-at-home mother who slowly thinks she may be turning into a dog.

Based on the 2021 novel by Rachel Yoder, it’s pitched as a modern feminist fable, examining a society in which women are told they can “have it all”.

The movie is directed by Marielle Heller, who in 2020 was one of the female filmmakers many felt were snubbed by the Oscars and Golden Globes when she failed to get a nomination for her movie A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood. Heller will no doubt be hoping this film – as offbeat as it is – is a different story.

The Apprentice

One of the most polarizing political figures of the 21st century, this film unpacks the young Donald Trump, examining his life before politics, and his career in real estate in New York in the 1970s and 1980s.

Directed by Iranian-Danish filmmaker Ali Abbasi, it stars Sebastian Stan stars as Trump, with Succession actor Jeremy Strong (aka Kendall Roy) playing attorney Roy Cohn.

Possibly the most controversial film of the year, it’s been beset with legal issues, not least of which include a cease-and-desist letter from Mr Trump’s legal team.

With a US election due in November, this one will at least be topical when it finally makes it to cinemas.

Twiggy

This is the first fully approved documentary to tell British model Twiggy’s life story.

Directed by actor-turned-director Sadie Frost it tells the story of the fashion icon – whose real name is Lesley Lawson – going back to her working-class childhood in northwest London, through to her international stardom as a celebrity model, and her career as an actor, singer, fashion designer, writer and TV presenter.

Other noteworthy documentaries screening at LFF include Elton John: Never Too Late, about the singer’s final US live shows, and Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, which looks back at the late actor’s rise to fame as the superhero and his life following a horse-riding accident that left him paralysed from the neck down.

Piece By Piece

A movie about the life of musician Pharrell Williams will close the festival – but told entirely using Lego.

Directed by Morgan Neville, and produced by Williams himself, it depicts the Happy singer’s early life in Virginia, through to his rise to fame as he tops the charts.

Williams recorded five new songs for the soundtrack, and many think it’s a likely contender for best animated feature and best original song come awards season.

LFF takes place from Wednesday 9 October to Sunday 20 October.