Kristy Matheson is preparing for the 68th BFI London Film Festival (LFF), her second as director of the BFI Festival.
The Australian, who previously programmed the Edinburgh Film Festival, and her team have selected a total of 255 titles from 80 countries, mixing highlights from this year's festival circuit such as the Cannes-winning film Sean Baker AnoraBy Jacques Audiard Emilia PerezPablo Larraín MaryMike Leigh Hard truthsMarielle Heller Night time bitchAli Abbasi The Apprentice and that of Edward Berger Conclavewith 40 world premieres.
Among them are drama films about the Second World War Blitzstarring Saoirse Ronan, Harris Dickinson and more, Londoner Steve McQueen's third LFF opening film which will kick off the festival on 9 October, by Ben Taylor Joywith Thomasin McKenzie, James Norton and Bill Nighy in the story of the team that invented in vitro fertilization, and Netflix animation That Christmasdirected by Simon Otto and starring Brian Cox as the voice of Santa Claus, as well as Jodie Whittaker, Fiona Shaw and Bill Nighy.
The LEGO biopic of Pharrell Williams Piece by piece the 68th edition of the festival will close on October 20th.
He spoke with Matheson, who succeeded the new Berlin Film Festival director, Tricia Tuttle, at the helm of the LFF The Hollywood journalist on what it took to put together its second edition, the new countries represented and the importance of star power.
LFF 2024 will feature 255 titles from 79 countries, including world premieres of 16 feature films. What are the major world premieres?
Being able to open the festival with Steve McQueen's Blitz it's fantastic, and having it as a world premiere is a real icing on the cake. There are other great world premieres, like an Irish film called Four mothers [from director Darren Thornton]which is very emotional, but also very comical and well acted. It's one of those films that really has broad appeal. You don't want people to let it slip under their radar, because it's a really joyful movie to experience.
In competition we have another film entitled The extraordinary Miss Flowerby Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard that they made 20,000 days on EarthNick Cave's documentary. Once again, they bring this intense creativity to how they tell someone's life story through documentary.
We don't have a formal market here at the London Film Festival, but London itself is a fantastic place for people to submit their films, not only in preparation for a number of awards, but also for film crews and distributors really looking to get into a road. testing films in front of audiences, because here in London we have a really strong and adventurous audience. It's also a very effective place for people to come and do business because it doesn't have to be a long trip to get a lot done.
We are a festival aimed at the public. So when we put the program together, we think about the entire program. We are certainly very honored and excited to release the films into the world. But this is not the only parameter to think about. We really want the program to be very appealing to many different audience members, so that drives our decision making.
Are there any themes or genres that are particularly well represented in the LFF line-up?
Animation is huge this year. We have had the pleasure of seeing many great animated films, and not all of them for young audiences. We have some great films for young audiences and families, like That Christmas AND The wild robot. So, the entertainment is out of the park.
We also have many different types of animation, from Adam Elliot's beautiful Annecy winner, Memory of a snailwhich is beautiful clay craftsmanship, right down to the sophisticated 3D Lego you see in our closing film, Piece by piece. There is a beautiful film from the Dominican Republic called Olivia and the cloudswhich is another different type of animation style. So, people who love animation will find a lot.
The other thing that fascinated us throughout the program were the animals, which are abundant in our program this year. There are so many great artists, stars and animal heroes in movies across the board. As we went along we kept saying, “Oh, look, it's another animal movie.” We have the great movie, Pepper [about a hippo once owned by Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar]. We were all thinking about who our favorite animals are and Pepe is definitely up there. For me it is our favorite hippo.
Many of these films examine our connection to the world, how humans and animals coexist. How can we enrich the lives of others? But some of these films also examine more deeply the philosophical relationship between the animal and human worlds. Some of them look at things from a more environmental perspective, like animation Flowwhich has an entirely animal cast. It's about examining how we need to relate interspecies and what we need to do to survive.
Any other big philosophical themes or central topics in the LFF line-up?
I would say motherhood in all its many forms. We have a great movie called Motherboarda wonderful documentary from here in the UK about a woman [Victoria Mapplebeck] who documented her life as a mother and documented her son, which is very moving and an interesting examination. We also have something going all the way to Marielle Heller Night time bitch with Amy Adams, which is another kind of examination of motherhood, but something that I think most people who are parents of young children or who have that memory will be able to really connect with.
And another thing that's been really nice this year is seeing a couple of films that feature disability but don't necessarily foreground it as a theme. There is a French film called My everythingwith Laure Calamy by Anne-Sophie Bailly, and there's an Australian comedy called Audrey [by director Natalie Bailey]. Both films feature disabled characters who are just part of the makeup of the film. And in them we see disabled professional actors playing those roles. Both films really help normalize disability. It's not about people making a statement, it's just that these are great performers who do a wonderful job with them.
How are the speakers and other LFF events different this year?
What's really exciting is that we have a much more robust lineup than Screen Talks, which means that this year we'll have more opportunities for people to come together and have that more intimate moment and listen to someone talk about their career.
The strongest lineup of speakers, including the likes of Zoe Saldaña, Daniele Kaluuya, and Lupita Nyong'o, why was last year so difficult with the strikes?
Certainly, in terms of upcoming talent, we're really proud of the impressive and eclectic lineup. But obviously, with the strikes last year, there was no opportunity to listen to talent on camera, so it's nice to be able to invite artists back to speak to the public. Lupita Nyong'o is a voice actress in The wild robotwhich is just a whole other dimension and a different kind of acting that we'll talk about with her along with her entire career. The same goes for Zoe Saldaña with Jacques Audiard Emelia Perez. If you've followed his career, you might not think this film is the natural next step. So, it will be fascinating for us to hear how he navigated his career.
Are there any countries represented with films at the LFF for the first time?
It's not the first time, but we have an Indonesian film titled Crocodile tearswhich is a fantastic first film, although it's not the first time we've screened an Indonesian film. It's a really interesting story between a mother and son, another film about motherhood, but with a very different approach. And the film plays with genre in a really interesting way.
From Singapore this year, once again a country that is not the first time to be added to the LFF, but not from which we see many films, we also have a beautiful film that was presented in Venice and is entitled Unknown eyeswhich is a slow burn thriller [about a young couple dealing with the sudden disappearance of their baby daughter and looking for clues about the kidnapper].
And then another movie, Small hours of the night by Daniele Hui [which the LFF website describes as “a somber chamber piece that implores us to find connections between divergent acts of political dissidence across history]. So, I think Southeast Asia in general is well represented this year. There are some great films from Vietnam, and we've seen a lot of great films from Southeast and East Asia this year, but Southeast Asia in particular has been quite exciting.
The Dominican Republic also achieved excellent results. We have a wonderful movie called Sugar Island [directed by Johanné Gómez Terrero and about the complex past, present and future lives of Afro-Dominican people in the Dominican Republic], Pepper [from Nelson Carlos de los Santos Arias]and the animated Olivia and the clouds. They are not all the same type of film: an animated film, a more experimental film, a drama film. It's great to see the diversity of film styles.
And Brazil also made a good impression this year. And once again, they're all very different in terms of their cinematic styles and the topics they tackle. [They include Brazil’s Oscar contender by director Walter Salles, I’m Still Here, Julia de Simone’s Formosa Beach, Marcelo Caetano’s Baby, Juliana Rojas’ Cidade; Campo, and Marco Dutra’s Bury Your Dead].
[On Oct. 11, the London fest will even put on “DJ Night: Ritmos do Brasil,” described as “a night of the very best Brazilian music to complement the breadth of Brazilian films in this year’s festival.”]
Tell me a little about the thematic threads the festival uses to attract audiences in new ways and structure the LFF programme. They range from Love, Debate and Laugh to Thrill, Cult, Family, Experimenta and more.
These elements are really very useful for us when planning the festival because it simply means that we have to keep ourselves in check. We could indulge a little and say, “Oh, here's another sad, moody movie.” Or we could indulge and say we just want to watch a lot of funny comedy movies. So it's good for us.
And it can help the public try to decipher such a vast program by giving some indications, depending on their own and their friends' tastes and moods. Thrill, I think, is a really good example. In that section we have everything from more traditional thrillers to slow burn films Unknown eyes. You could place that film in many different places. For example, it could also be in Dare, because formally it is quite bold. It could be brought into the debate because it raises a lot of questions. But for us, plots are a way to convince an audience member to risk something they don't know about. Some might say, “Oh, I love thrillers.” Or “I'm going to the festival with a friend and they really like this type of film.” So, we hope the strands offer a little guidance to help you navigate the festival.
Some strands are quite large…
Yes, like love. I mean, so many movies are about love. We love love in movies. But you know, this year we put on Alex Ross Perry's film Floors in Love, which may seem like a strange place to say that. It could have easily gone into Create because it's about the creative process and people who create things. But what really struck us while watching the film is that it really is a love letter to fandom. Fandom is something we all engage with, in different ways and on different levels, but the film is a total love letter to the band Pavement. So yes, we're creating strands that are broad enough to try to satisfy a lot of different tastes and keep us from being too indulgent.