The must-watch films of London Film Festival 2024

Summer is over, let proper movie season begin. Going live this morning is the programme for the 68^th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express. Running from 9^th to 20^th October, this year’s event – for which THE FACE is media partner – promises cinematic riches galore. Stay tuned to the​face​.com and our socials for exclusive coverage of the festival.

To kick things off ahead of tickets going on sale on 17^th September, here are the six films we’re most excited about…

The new film from Andrea Arnold (Wasp, American Honey) swoops in, borne on strong headwinds: a lead role for Barry Keoghan, still on a salty Saltburn high; a meaty part for Franz Rogowski, fresh from his much-garlanded role in last year’s romantic drama Passages; and, playing Keoghan’s character’s 12-year-old daughter Bailey, a by-all-accounts startling performance from newcomer Nykiya Adams. Oh, and the soundtrack features new music from Burial, his first film commission. (The dubstep don subsequently also scored Harmony Korine’s new film, Baby Invasion.)

Keoghan’s Bug is a shiftless Kent geezer, living in a rackety, multiple-occupancy squat with Bailey. He’s about to get married and is trying to get-rich-quick by harvesting hallucinogenic toad saliva (as you do). Then a mysterious, kilt-wearing German (Rogowski) blows into their already-well-chaotic lives.

Arnold’s inspo? As she explained at Bird​’s Cannes premiere, it was, as is typical for the Oscar-winning director, a single shot: ​“A very long time ago, I had the image of a very tall, thin man with a long penis standing on a roof. In that image, there was mist around him. I didn’t know if he was good or bad, or who he was. Was he an alien? That’s where I started.”

Spoiler alert: it’s not, this time, Keoghan getting his tackle out…

Director Sean Baker continues his hot streak (after 2017’s The Florida Project and 2021’s Red Rocket) with the Palme D’Or-winning Anora – his fifth film about sex workers.

Mikey Madison plays the titular Anora, an Uzbek-American stripper in Brighton Beach, a Russian-heavy neighbourhood in New York City. After small roles in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (playing a Manson Family member) and the last Scream movie, this looks set to be Madison’s breakout moment.

Fun fact: rather than the now commonplace intimacy coordinator, this tragi-comic fairy-tale’s numerous ​“sex shots” (Baker’s preferred term) were first choreographed and acted out by the director and his producer wife. ​“Those scenes were fun to shoot,” said Madison in Cannes, ​“and all of the lap dance scenes were very fun to shoot as well because the environment on set was very comfortable. After a little bit, I was almost too comfortable in those situations, especially walking around the club. All the women are naked and I was too, and it was normal.”

Oh, Luca, you are spoiling us… After Bones and All in 2022 and Challengers this year, maestro Guadagnino completes his quick-fire one-two-three punch with this adaptation of William S. Burroughs’ cult novella.

In part a sequel to the author’s novel Junkie and written between 1951 and 1953, the story centres on Lee, played by Daniel Craig, who’s still living his best life post-Bond (see: that Belvedere vodka advert and that Loewe campaign). An expat American holed up in post-War Mexico, he becomes obsessed with recently discharged US Navy serviceman and drug addict Eugene. The latter is played by Drew Starkey who, at 30, and after a decade of ploughing through bit parts, seems poised for the big time.

On the announcement that, last month, A24 had picked up the film, the leading man and director issued a joint statement. ​“Queer is a labour of love, and we could not be more excited that our film has found a home with a studio as daring, vital and trailblazing as A24,” said Guadagnino and Craig. ​“It is our deep honour to finally bring Burroughs’ legendary novel to life on screen for the first time, and we feel immense gratitude and excitement to be able to present it alongside our treasured collaborators. We could not ask for better partners on this journey.”

In Sasha Nathwani’s London-set coming-of-age feature, Deba Hekmat – as featured in our Summer 2024 Introducing portfolio – makes a big splash. The 22-year-old model-slash-actor plays Ziba, an Anglo-Iranian teenager celebrating A‑level results day with friends Tara (Lydia Fleming), Shea (Solly McLeod) and Merf (Jay Lycurgo) on a London-wide odyssey.

“Nathwani gets a headlong rush of energy from his zesty young cast, as they roam all over London,” wrote The Guardian​’s Peter Bradshaw after the film premiered at this year’s Berlin film festival, ​“firstly in Shea’s horribly uncool ​’80s car, then on bikes, then via train. They go to Portobello to get a sandwich from a shop that Ziba has capriciously decided is the city’s best, then up to Hampstead Heath and Primrose Hill. And just as the film looks like settling into the placid tropes and cliches of the coming-of-age film, we are blindsided by a startling event…”

We’re on the edge of our seats.

Max is a 25-year-old aspiring writer in London, working on his debut novel. To better research his storyline and characters, he goes full Method, moonlighting as a sex worker. The second feature from London-based Finnish filmmaker Mikko Mäkelä, Sebastian – the name of Max’s night-time alter-ego – premiered at Sundance earlier this year, where it sold to multiple international distributors.

“The genesis of it came from me moving to London after university,” said Mäkelä in a recent interview. ​“I started to realise just how many young men were involved in sex work in some shape or form. And it seemed that, especially with the help of apps and the internet, it’s become an easy threshold for a lot of people to cross and it’s become much more commonplace.

“I was really intrigued to craft a portrait of someone who is doing sex work out of choice rather than for a lack of them… So often… sex work has been depicted as a last resort for someone who has no other options.”

In the role of Max is Ruaridh Mollica, with the director drawn to the Scottish-Italian newcomer in part because ​“it is a story of self-discovery… So I didn’t want to go to someone who has proved themselves in previous roles because I didn’t want that baggage. But from the first tape of Ruaridh, I recognised that there was something really, really raw and compelling about him.”

Another intimate, empathetic portrayal of sex work? We’re here for it.

Wait, what? Piece by Piece, LFF’s Closing Night Gala, is Pharrell Williams’ life-story… told in cartoon form… Lego cartoon form? On the naffometer, that’s up there with the factoid that Pharrell co-wrote McDonald’s I’m Lovin’ It jingle.

But hold that thought: experienced music documentarian Morgan Neville (20 Feet from Stardom) is at the helm of the project, and he and his subject have head-spinning fun with this buzzy animation that takes Pharrell from Virginia Beach to Despicable Me 2 via multiple pop-history points in between.

Piece by Piece is wildly imaginative and hugely entertaining. Using Lego pieces and animation to illustrate Pharrell’s creativity and, somehow, the essence of his songs, is a masterstroke. It’s also a punchy reminder of just how many bangers he’s written, produced and/​or performed. Having the ​“usual” talking-head contributors rendered in Lego figures is also hilarious. We say ​“usual”, but really it’s off-the-scale: Kendrick Lamar, Missy Elliot, Jay‑Z, Pusha‑T, Gwen Stefani, Justin Timberlake, Nigo, Teddy Riley, Snoop Dogg…

And seeing Daft Punk perform Get Lucky with Pharrell and Nile Rodgers in knobbly brick form? An absolute trip.

The 68^th BFI London Film Festival takes place 9^th-20^th October at venues in London and across the UK. Tickets go on sale on 17^th September. BFI Members can book early on 10^th September and American Express® Cardmembers can access presale 13^th – 17^th September. bfi​.org​.uk/lff