London Film Festival Bristol screenings confirmed

The Covid pandemic left us with little to be thankful for. But its legacy includes one very welcome innovation. Back in October 2020, the prestigious BFI London Film Festival (LFF) found itself obliged to contract its number of screenings but also took the opportunity to expand, with regional screenings at partner venues of eleven of the most exciting films. The Festival’s partner venue in Bristol is the Watershed, which hosted Nomadland, Thomas Vinterberg’s magnificent black comedy Another Round and Pixar’s Soul, among other titles.

Fortunately for local cineastes, the Festival continued these screenings after the pandemic passed and the annual LFF on Tour programme, which runs concurrently with the London event, has become an important part of the local cinematic calendar. “There’s always a sense of infectious excitement around these shows and tickets tend to fly out the door, especially with the calibre of titles over the last few years, with hotly-anticipated previews of Triangle of Sadness, Banshees of Inisherin, Decision to Leave and All of Us Strangers to name just a few,” says Watershed Programmer Steph Read. “Last year we were also thrilled to be presenting the first south-west screening of Aardman’s Chicken Run sequel, in the very city in which it was made. There was such a warm, buzzy atmosphere in the room for those few shows. It felt a bit like a homecoming for that film. The Tour’s a real rare chance to see some of the festival highlights often months before their theatrical release, and we really appreciate LFF’s efforts to broaden their offer out across the country – giving audiences the chance to join in on the LFF hype a little closer to home.”

Blitz

This year’s 68th festival runs from October 9-20. At the same time as its gala world premiere at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, the Festival’s opening film will be shown at the Watershed. Oscar and BAFTA winning 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen’s Blitz is a WWII drama following the epic journey of nine-year-old Londoner George (newcomer Elliott Heffernan), whose mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) sends him to safety in the English countryside. Defiant and determined to return home to Rita and his grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller) in east London, the boy embarks on an adventure, only to find himself in immense peril.

After the premiere, Blitz will open in selected cinemas on November 1, prior to streaming globally on Apple TV+ on November 22.

Also showing in Bristol is the LFF’s closing night film, Piece by Piece. Directed by Morgan Neville, whose 20 Feet From Stardom won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature back in 2014, this tells the story of the life and career of US rapper Pharrell Williams through the novel medium of Lego animation. Also appearing in Lego form are the likes of Jay-Z, Missy Elliot, Gwen Stefani, Busta Rhymes and Snoop Dogg.

Piece by Piece screens at the Watershed on Sunday October 20 and goes on general release from November 8.

In between those dates, a further 11 LFF highlights will be screened at the Watershed:

Anora

Sean Baker’s Pretty Woman-esque Cannes Palme d’Or winning drama in which a young sex worker from Brooklyn is whisked away by the spoiled son of a Russian oligarch.

Bird

Bird

A 12-year-old girl’s difficult home life is transformed when she encounters a mysterious ,free-spirited stranger in Andrea Arnold’s latest coming of age story  ​

The taffrail and wheel of the Endurance underwater, as seen over a century after it sank. (Credit: Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust)

Endurance

Documentary recounting Ernest Shackleton’s 1915 Antarctic expedition and the 2022 mission to find his sunken ship.

Joy

Jack Thorne’s dramatisation of the true story of the world’s first ‘test tube baby’ (Bristol’s very own Louise Brown), with Bill Nighy as Patrick Steptoe.

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Nightbitch

Nightbitch

Amy Adams stars in Marielle Heller’s modern feminist fable exploring ​the role of motherhood in a society where women battle to ‘have it all’.

A Real Pain

A comedy-drama about two estranged cousins who travel to Poland to pay their respects to their Jewish grandmother. Jesse Einsenberg directs and stars alongside ​Kieran Culkin.

That Christmas

That Christmas

Another of those films about ‘the real meaning of Christmas’, this is an animated seasonal tale written by Richard Curtis. ​

The Wild Robot

A sentient robot is marooned on a​n island and must learn how to survive from its animal inhabitants in this animated feature from the co-director of How to Train Your Dragon.

Conclave

Tense, Vatican-set drama about the process of choosing a new Pope. Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci star.

All We Imagine as Light

All We Imagine as Light​

The lives of three women intersect and overlap in Payal Kapadia’s haunting Mumbai-set drama that’s billed as “a profound and deeply humanist meditation on urban migration and dislocation”.

I’m Still Here

I’m Still Here

Central Station and The Motorcycle Diaries director Walter Salles returns with an emotionally layered, visually rich account of family life under an oppressive regime in 1970s Brazil.

Tickets for all screenings will be on sale soon from the Watershed Box Office.

Main pic: Saoirse Ronan in ‘Blitz’. All images: BFI