The 2026 BFI London Film Festival has unveiled its full lineup, featuring 251 titles from 88 countries, with Rubaiyat Hossain’s The Difficult Bride among the 10 films competing in the Official Competition for the Best Film Award. The festival runs from 7 to 18 October.
A France-Bangladesh-Portugal-Norway-Germany co-production, The Difficult Bride marks a major international outing for Hossain. The film stars Zaineen Chowdhury Karim, Rikita Nondine Shimu, Sunerah Binte Kamal, Azmeri Haque, Dameer Khan, Saberi Alam, Shatabdi Wadud and Mohammed Bari. It has an 88-minute runtime and is in Bengali and English.
Hossain’s film will compete alongside Hirokazu Koreeda’s Look Back, Sergei Loznitsa’s Imperium, Carol Morley’s 7 Miles Out, Lili Horvát’s My Notes on Mars, Benjamín Naishtat’s Glaxo, Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor’s Act 3, Giovanni Tortorici’s Ketticè, Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert’s The Idiot(s), and May el-Toukhy’s Woman Unknown.
The festival will open with Simon Stone’s Elsinore, starring Andrew Scott, and close with Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut. Ava DuVernay’s 14th will screen in Special Presentations, while Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters is among the Headline Galas.
The programme includes 33 world premieres, 16 international premieres and 20 European premieres. Works by female filmmakers account for 43% of the programme.
HEADLINE GALAS
Opening Night Gala – Elsinore (Director Simon Stone, UK)
Closing Night Gala – The Debut (Director-Screenwriter Jesse Eisenberg, USA)
Behemoth! (Director-Screenwriter Tony Gilroy, USA)
Being Heumann (Director Siân Heder, USA)
The Beloved (Director Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Spain)
La Bola Negra (Directors Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo, Spain-France)
Bunker (Director-Screenwriter Florian Zeller, UK)
Club Kid (Director-Screenwriter Jordan Firstman, USA)
Fatherland (Director Paweł Pawlikowski, Poland-Germany-Italy-France)
Fjord (Director-Screenwriter Cristian Mungiu, Romania-France-Norway-Denmark-Sweden-Finland)
I Love Boosters (Director-Screenwriter Boots Riley, USA)
Ink (Director Danny Boyle, UK)
Klara and the Sun (Director Taika Waititi, New Zealand-USA-UK)
A Long Winter (Director-Screenwriter Andrew Haigh, Canada-UK)
Minotaur (Director Andrey Zvyagintsev, France-Germany-Latvia)
Paper Tiger (Director-Screenwriter James Gray, USA)
Possible Love (Director Lee Chang-dong, South Korea)
Prima Facie (Director Susanna White, UK-Australia)
Ray Gunn (Director Brad Bird, USA)
Tender Loving Care (Director-Screenwriter Mike Leigh, UK)
Wild Horse Nine (Director-Screenwriter Martin McDonagh, USA-UK-Chile)
Wildwood (Director Travis Knight, USA)
Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother (Director-Screenwriter Bassam Tariq, USA-UK)
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
14th (Director Ava DuVernay, USA)
Gone to Earth (Directors-Screenwriters Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, UK)
Shab-Nameh: Women of Iran’s Forgotten Left (Director Maryam Tafakory, UK)
Sweet Milk Lake (Director-Screenwriter Harvey Zielinski, Australia)
The Trip to the Northern Lights (Director Michael Winterbottom, UK)
Water Body (Lead Artists Marshmallow Laser Feast in collaboration with Robert Macfarlane, UK)
OFFICIAL COMPETITION
7 Miles Out (Director-Screenwriter Carol Morley, UK)
Act 3 (Directors-Screenwriters Christine Molloy, Joe Lawlor, Ireland-UK)
The Difficult Bride (Director-Screenwriter Rubaiyat Hossain, France-Bangladesh-Portugal-Norway-Germany)
Glaxo (Director-Screenwriter Benjamín Naishtat, Brazil-Argentina)
The Idiot(s) (Directors-Screenwriters Małgorzata Szumowska, Michał Englert, Germany-Poland)
Imperium (Director-Screenwriter Sergei Loznitsa, Germany-France-Italy-Lithuania)
Ketticè (Director-Screenwriter Giovanni Tortorici, Italy)
Look Back (Director-Screenwriter Hirokazu Koreeda, Japan)
My Notes on Mars (Director-Screenwriter Lili Horvát, Hungary-Austria)
Woman Unknown (Director May el-Toukhy, Denmark-Latvia-Sweden)
FIRST FEATURE COMPETITION
9 Temples to Heaven (Director-Screenwriter Sompot Chidgasornpongse, Thailand-Singapore-France-Norway-China-Hong Kong-Indonesia-Qatar)
Animol (Director Ashley Walters, UK)
Ben’imana (Director Marie-Clémentine Dusabejamb, Rwanda-France-Gabon-Norway)
A Common Story (Director Anna Foglietta, Italy)
Forest High (Director-Screenwriter Manon Coubia, Belgium-France)
Fruit Gathering (Director-Screenwriter Aung Phyoe, Myanmar-Czechia-France)
Lady (Director-Screenwriter Olive Nwosu, UK-Nigeria)
The Last Day (Director-Screenwriter Rachel Rose, USA)
Masc (Director-Screenwriter Bertil Nilsson, UK)
Our Share of Sand (Director-Screenwriter Shalini Adnani, UK-Greece-India)
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Ba’s Book (Director-Screenwriter Ashley Duong, Canada)
The Calf Doll (Director-Screenwriter Ankur Hooda, India)
Concrete Land (Director Asmahan Bkerat, Jordan-Palestine)
Concrete Turned to Sand (Director-Screenwriter Jessica Johnson, Canada)
Dependence (Director Grace Harper Brighouse, UK)
Once Upon a Time in Harlem (Directors-Screenwriters William Greaves, David Greaves, USA)
Queer Edward II (Director-Screenwriter Theo Rollason, UK)
Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing (Director Erik Shirai, Japan-USA-UK-Denmark)
SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Aman (Director Rahul Roye, India)
Daughters of the Late Colonel (Director Elizabeth Hobbs, UK)
Fareye (Director Hayden Mclean, UK)
How to Hide It (Directors Ramla Ali, Richard A. Moore, UK)
Into the Forest (Director Antonin Niclass, Switzerland)
A Kind of Purity (Director Theo Shivdasani, UK)
Landscapes of Shame (Director Patrick Hough, Ireland)
Mon Taxi (Director Meriem Sakrouhi, Morocco)
Treasure Island (Director Miryam Charles, Canada)
White Musk (Director Fatima Wardy, Sudan)
LOVE
All of a Sudden (Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, France)
Coward (Director Lukas Dhont, Belgium)
Dao (Director-Screenwriter Alain Gomis, France)
Flies (Director Fernando Eimbcke, Mexico)
Frank and Percy (Director Sean Mathias, UK)
Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! (Director Josef Kubota Wladyka, USA)
House of the Wind (Director-Screenwriter Bernard Auguste Kouemo Yanghu, Cameroon)
In a Whisper (Director-Screenwriter Leyla Bouzid, France)
It Will Happen Tonight (Director Nanni Moretti, Italy)
Iván & Hadoum (Director Ian de la Rosa, Spain)
Lemonade (Director-Screenwriter Kim Bartley, Ireland)
Mouse (Director Kelly O’Sullivan, USA)
Pakeezah (Director-Screenwriter Kamal Amrohi, India)
Petrolheads (Director Emil Langaballe, Denmark)
The Slightest Touch (Director Rachel Fleit, Ireland-USA)
To Hold a Mountain (Directors-Screenwriters Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić, Serbia)
Various on a Theme (Directors-Screenwriters Devon Delmar, Jason Jacobs, South Africa)
DEBATE
A Good Little Soldier (Director Stéphane Brizé, France)
All About the Money (Director-Screenwriter Sinéad O’Shea, Ireland)
Amazomania (Director Nathan Grossman, Sweden)
Gentle Monster (Director-Screenwriter Marie Kreutzer, Austria)
I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning (Director Clio Barnard, UK)
Mariinka (Director Pieter-Jan de Pue, Belgium)
Musk (Director Alex Gibney, USA)
My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile (Director Julia Loktev, USA)
Panelstory, or How a Housing Development Is Born (Director Věra Chytilová, Czechia)
Rebellion (Directors-Screenwriters Ken Pero, Tariq Mehmood, UK)
The Whisper of Sunlight (Director Siu-pong Wong, Hong Kong)
LAUGH
Hot Water (Director-Screenwriter Ramzi Bashour, USA)
Lali (Director Sarmad Sultan Khoosat, Pakistan)
The Banning Curse (Director-Screenwriter Mohsen Amiryousefi, Iran)
The Fox (Director-Screenwriter Dario Russo, Australia)
The History of Concrete (Director John Wilson, USA)
Too Many Beasts (Director Sarah Arnold, France)
Wicker (Directors-Screenwriters Alex Huston Fischer, Eleanor Wilson, USA-Hungary)
It Gets Worse (Director Mounia Akl, UK)
DARE
A Day in the Life of Jo: Chapter Phaedra (Director-Screenwriter Jacqueline Lentzou, Greece)
A Man of His Time (Director-Screenwriter Emmanuel Marre, France)
At Night (Director-Screenwriter Beatrice Gibson, France)
Atlantic Rhapsody (Director Zhong Kaifeng, China)
Chronicles from the Siege (Director-Screenwriter Abdallah Al-Khatib, Algeria)
Chronovisor (Directors-Screenwriters Kevin Walker, Jack Auen, USA)
Everytime (Director-Screenwriter Sandra Wollner, Austria)
Filipiñana (Director-Screenwriter Rafael Manuel, Singapore)
French Girls (Director-Screenwriter Hyun Lee, Australia)
Hearing (Director-Screenwriter Lê Bảo, Vietnam)
I Plant My Hand in the Garden (Directors-Screenwriters Hoda Taheri, Boris Hadžija, Germany)
Let Them Be Seen (Director-Screenwriter Nolitha Refilwe Mkulisi, South Africa)
Life of Jorge Luis Borges (Director Mariano Llinás, Argentina)
Marie Madeleine (Director-Screenwriter Gessica Généus, France)
My Wife Cries (Director-Screenwriter Angela Schanelec, Germany)
Revolutionaries Never Die (Director Mohanad Yaqubi, Palestine)
Rose (Director Markus Schleinzer, Austria)
THRILL
Black Church Bay (Director Rhys Marc Jones, UK)
Elephants in the Fog (Director-Screenwriter Abinash Bikram Shah, Nepal)
Furies (Director Rami Kodeih, Lebanon)
Heysel 85 (Director Teodora Ana Mihai, Belgium)
Josephine (Director-Screenwriter Beth de Araújo, USA)
Moonglow (Director-Screenwriter Isabel Sandoval, Philippines)
Prince (Director-Screenwriter Federico Borgia, Uruguay)
The Dreamed Adventure (Director-Screenwriter Valeska Grisebach, Germany-France-Bulgaria-Austria)
The Liberation (Director Guy Nattiv, USA)
The Match (Directors-Screenwriters Juan Cabral, Santiago Franco, Argentina)
The Meltdown (Director-Screenwriter Manuela Martelli, Chile)
CULT
Godzilla Minus Zero (Director-Screenwriter Takashi Yamazaki, Japan)
Ken Russell’s The Devils (Director-Screenwriter Ken Russell, UK)
Hot Spot (Director Agnieszka Smoczyńska, Poland)
Nightborn (Director Hanna Bergholm, Finland)
Rogue Trooper (Director-Screenwriter Duncan Jones, UK)
The Blood Countess (Director-Screenwriter Ulrike Ottinger, Austria)
The Face of Horror (Director-Screenwriter Anna Biller, UK)
The Unknown (Director Arthur Harari, France)
JOURNEY
A Bit of Light (Director Ali Asgari, Iran)
A Girl Unknown (Director-Screenwriter Zou Jing, China)
A Place to Heal (Director Cédric Kahn, France)
Ana, En Passant (Director-Screenwriter Fernanda Salgado, Brazil)
Clarissa (Directors Arie Esiri, Chuko Esiri, Nigeria)
Florid (Director-Screenwriter Billy Lumby, UK)
In the Shadows (Director Anthony Wonke, UK)
Isabel (Director Gabe Klinger, Brazil)
La Dérive (Director-Screenwriter Paula Delsol, France)
La Gradiva (Director Marine Atlan, France)
La Perra (Director Dominga Sotomayor, Chile)
No Good Men (Director-Screenwriter Shahrbanoo Sadat, Germany)
Perfect Road (Directors Adam Bonke, Christian Bonke, Denmark)
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives (Director Daniel Oriahi, Nigeria)
The Station (Director Sara Ishaq, Jordan)
Tutu (Director Sam Pollard, UK-South Africa)
VisionQuest (Directors Christopher J. Byrne, Gandja Monteiro, Vincenzo Natali, Terry Matalas, USA-UK)
CREATE
Carl Sagan: We Are Made of Star Stuff (Director Nanette Burstein, USA)
Congo Boy (Director Rafiki Fariala, Central African Republic)
Easter (Director-Screenwriter Mokya Shin, South Korea)
Making Marie Antoinette (Director Eleanor Coppola, USA)
Supporting Role (Director-Screenwriter Ana Urushadze, Georgia)
The Echo Chamber (Director Andrea Pallaoro, Italy)
The Friend’s House Is Here (Directors-Screenwriters Hossein Keshavarz, Maryam Ataei, Iran)
The Man I Love (Director Ira Sachs, USA)
The Story of Documentary Film – The 1990s (Director-Screenwriter Mark Cousins, UK)
Zero Intention of Living Quietly (Director Edward Lovelace, UK)
EXPERIMENTA
Az Zeeb (Director-Screenwriter Rafael Guendelman, Chile)
All That Appears Solid Is Built on Blood (Director Izdihar Afyouni, Palestine)
An Unimaginable Leap (Director Hope Pearl, UK)
Badak (Director-Screenwriter Riar Rizaldi, Indonesia)
Between Us and the World (Director Wallace Minchong, UK)
Buckskin (Director Mars Verrone, USA)
Endless Sunlight (Director Tyson Houseman, Canada)
Gestures to Break and Image (Director Maya Villavicencio, Peru)
Going Home (Director Kamal Aljafari, Germany)
Guided Tour (Director Alba Jaramillo, France)
Hanabi (Director Ana Vaz, France)
Landscapes of Shame (Director Patrick Hough, Ireland)
Local Sensations (Director Tulapop Saenjaroen, Thailand)
Masao Adachi Takes a Passport Photo (Director-Screenwriter Kamal Aljafari, Japan-Germany)
No Archive Can Restore This Chorus of (Diasporic) Shame (Director Onyeka Igwe, UK)
O River, We Forced You to Chew Up Their Crops (Director Philip Rizk, Egypt)
RW-LO (Director Martine Syms, USA)
Sitrep (Director Blair Barnes, USA)
The Centre Cannot Hold (Director Ufuoma Essi, UK-France)
The Muscles Are Tense (Director Mahshid Mahboubifar, Germany)
The Thought of the Innermost Being (Director Jack Jefferys, UK)
Title (Director Laida Lertxundi, France)
Tropical Fractals (Director-Screenwriter Leonardo Pirondi, Portugal)
Wales Visitation (Director Sadia Pineda, UK)
You Dreamt You Saw Yourself but Couldn’t See Your Face (Director-Screenwriter Shireen Seno, Philippines)
SHORTS
Agnes (Director Leah Vlemmiks, UK)
Listen (Director Taliesin Black-Brown, USA)
Geronto (Director Mark Pluck, UK)
All Change (Director Lena Molander, UK)
In the Morning Sun (Director Serville Poblete, Philippines)
A Grief Encounter (Director James Ashley McLaren, Australia)
Untitled Woman (Director Camille Summers-Valli, UK)
How to Hide It (Directors Ramla Ali, Richard A. Moore, UK)
Sweet Bitter Sweet (Director Nicolee Tsin, UK)
Laundreams (Directors Amber Gadd, Evie Ward Drummond, UK)
Micro Bangs (Director Iris Breward, UK)
A Twist of Hate (Director Maddy Shenai, UK)
Date Night (Director Tanya Reynolds, UK)
The Devil Is in Me (Director Tia Salisbury, UK)
A Kind of Purity (Director Theo Shivdasani, UK)
The Animals (Director Calvin Demba, UK)
Hindsight (Director Remi R.M. Moses, UK)
Free Eliza (Notes on an Anatomical Imperfection) (Director Alexandra Matheou, Cyprus)
In Dreaming (Director Kristina Pringle, UK)
Paper Plane (Director Saoirse Ronan, UK)
Last Minute (Director Sam Brain, UK)
Treasure Island (Director Miryam Charles, Canada)
Bermuda Riots Are Different (Directors Alyson Thompson, Matt Mead, UK)
Aman (Director Rahul Roye, India)
The Sorrows of Young Charlotte (Director Shir Ariya, UK)
Meatmylk (Director Lucy Luscombe, UK)
Fishbrain (Director Max Vanderspuy, UK)
All Yours (Director Sophia Di Martino, UK)
The Last Snow (Director Rodolphe Bouquet-Populus, France)
Man Eating Pussy (Director Emily Lawson, Canada)
Fantasies of a Rescue Dummy (Director Adrian Maganza, UK)
Dance of the Spirits (Director Andreea-Lorena Florea, UK)
Film Film (Director Arturs Voblikovs, UK)
Daughters of the Late Colonel (Director Elizabeth Hobbs, UK)
Babyface (Director Sacha Beeley, UK)
Eyeliner (Director Aisha Boudjillouli, UK)
The Bird’s Placebo (Director Rami Jarboui, Tunisia)
I Was Kidnapped (Director Dhananjay Barangule, UK)
Please (Director Anna Mantzaris, Sweden)
The Clouds of Odessa (Director Luca Arcangeli, Italy)
LFF EXPANDED
Water Body (Lead Artists Marshmallow Laser Feast in collaboration with Robert Macfarlane, UK)
Red the Ocean Around U (Lead Artists CROSSLUCID, Original Story Orion J. Facey, Germany)
Solwata (Lead Artists Felix Gaedtke, Gayatri Parameswaran, USA)
The World Came Flooding In (Lead Artists Isobel Knowles, Van Sowerwine, Australia)
And Roger (By TearyHand Studio)
Lofsöng (By Unrelated Studio)
Love Eternal (By brika)
Mixtape (By Beethoven and Dinosaur)
The Day I Became a Bird (By Passion Pictures and Hyper Luminal Games)
FAMILY
A Mighty Adventure (Director-Screenwriter Toe Yuen, Taiwan)
Aller & Retour (Directors Lucia Bulgheroni, Michele Greco, Italy)
Bats & Bugs (Director Lena von Döhren, Switzerland)
Grounded (Director Chris Callus, New Zealand)
Into the Forest (Director Antonin Niclass, Switzerland)
Iron Boy (Director Louis Clichy, France)
Julián (Director Louise Bagnall, Ireland)
Koschka (Director-Screenwriter Bernd Sahling, Germany)
Loulou (Director Hanneke van der Linden, Netherlands)
Maebee: The Camping Trap (Director Tim O’Sullivan, UK)
My Friend the Sun (Director Alejandra Pérez González, Mexico)
Piccolo Piccolo (Director Marta Gennari, France)
Sphinx Alberta’s Smile (Director Dace Riduze, Latvia)
