BFI London Film Festival announces 2015 dates and opens for film submissions

Benedict Cumberbatch at the Opening Night Gala of the 58th BFI London Film Festival

The in partnership with American Express® announced today that its 59th edition will run from 7-18 October 2015 at venues across the UK capital. Submissions for both feature and short film also opened today.

Under the leadership of BFI’s Head of Cinemas and Festivals, Clare Stewart, the LFF continues to build on the striking success of its recent editions with 2014 enjoying its biggest ever audience turn out with 163,000 festival goers – an increase of 7.5% on the previous year. Over 12,000 people across the UK also attended simultaneous screenings of The Imitation Game, Fury and CITIZENFOUR. 

The 2014 Festival, which included 18 world premieres, nine international and 35 European premieres, was widely regarded as an outstanding line-up. Many LFF 2014 gala presentations have emerged as the year’s most celebrated films, including BAFTA and Oscar nominated best films Birdman (Surprise Film), The Imitation Game and Whiplash. There are a total of 13 films with Oscar nominations from the LFF 2014 programme and 17 BAFTA nominations, cementing the Festival’s strategic position in the award season calendar and capitalising on the city’s high population of BAFTA and AMPAS members.

The 2014 edition, which opened with the European premiere of The Imitation Game and closed with the European premiere of Fury, was presented across 20 screens in London, showing 248 fiction and documentary features from 70 countries, with 772 filmmakers attending to present their work.

The 2014 Festival featured red carpet arrivals of Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley and Morten Tyldum for The Imitation Game; Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman and David Ayer for Fury; Steve Carell, Sienna Miller and Bennett Miller for Foxcatcher; Timothy Spall and Mike Leigh for Mr Turner; Reese Witherspoon for Wild; J. K. Simmons, Miles Teller and Damien Chazelle for Whiplash and Jennifer Lawrence for Serena.

The Festival benefits from both the deep cultural heritage of the BFI and the strength of the UK market (the world’s third largest market for film) as well as the desirability of the capital as a premiere location with its iconic Leicester Square cinemas and the cultural hub of the BFI Southbank.

Feature and short films for the 2014 edition can be submitted through the BFI London Film Festival website with the final deadline for shorts on 12 June 2015 and for features on 19 June 2015.