Films in Journey
Whether it’s the journey or the destination, films to transport you and shift your perspective.
Journey gala
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Wonderstruck
Dir Todd Haynes | USA
Part children’s coming-of-age tale, part homage to silent cinema, entirely wonderful.
Feature films
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Abu
Dir-Scr Arshad Khan | Canada
A kaleidoscopic personal documentary in the vein of Sarah Polley’s Stories We Tell, exploring family dynamics, emerging sexuality and Pakistani-Canadian identity.
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Araby
Dir-Scr Affonso Uchôa, João Dumans | Brazil
A teenager is drawn into the past life of his neighbour in this delicate, poetic work from Brazilian filmmakers João Dumans and Affonso Uchoa.
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Chateau
Dir Modi Barry, Cédric Ido | France
Bustling with African hair salons, this is a sprightly-paced drama set in the working-class area of Paris around the Château d’Eau metro station.
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The Drummer and the Keeper
Dir-Scr Nick Kelly | Ireland
In this warm, witty Irish drama, a rock drummer with bipolar disorder builds an unusual friendship with a goalie who has Asperger syndrome.
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Equilibrium
Dir-Scr Vincenzo Marra | Italy
Tough, gripping drama about a committed, principled priest taking on the Mafia and risking his life in a poverty-stricken parish in Naples.
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The Journey
Dir Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji | UK-Iraq-France-Qatar-Netherlands
Iraqi filmmaker Mohamed Jabarah Al-Daradji takes us into the mind of a potential female suicide bomber in this unforgettable drama.
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Lebanon Factory
Dir-Scr Ahmad Ghossein, Lucie La Chimia, Shirin AbuShaqra, Manuel Maria Perrone, Una Gunjak, Rami Kodeih, Mounia Akl, Neto Villalobos | Lebanon-France
A portmanteau feature that is an often laugh-out-loud portrait of Lebanon and all its myriad charms and idiosyncrasies.
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Lucía
Dir Humberto Solás | Cuba
A beautifully restored cinematic tour de force from Humberto Solás, the enfant terrible of Cuban cinema in the 1960s.
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Lucky
Dir John Carroll Lynch | USA
Harry Dean Stanton gives the performance of a lifetime as an irascible nonagenarian maverick in a New Mexican town, grappling with his mortality.
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My Generation
Dir David Batty | UK
The Swinging sixties narrated and presented by Michael Caine himself and featuring an era-defining soundtrack.
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One Thousand Ropes
Dir-Scr Tusi Tamasese | New Zealand
Samoan former fighter turned midwife and baker deals with a harsh reality and the supernatural in this quietly powerful drama.
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Our Time Will Come
Dir Ann Hui | China-Hong Kong
A woman is drawn into Hong Kong’s underground resistance movement in Ann Hui’s emotionally acute spy thriller.
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Pickups
Dir Jamie Thraves | UK-Ireland
Aidan Gillen stars – as not-quite-himself – in a playful comedy about an actor struggling to keep things real after his divorce.
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Pop Aye
Dir-Scr Kirsten Tan | Singapore-Thailand
A disaffected, middle-aged Thai architect is reunited with an elephant from his childhood in this gently surrealistic and boldly visual debut from Kirsten Tan.
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Promised Land
Dir Eugene Jarecki | USA-Germany
Comparing Elvis’s life and times with everyday existence in Trump’s America, this slyly amusing road movie documentary is a treat for the eyes and ears.
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Ravens
Dir-Scr Jens Assur | Sweden
A beautiful but haunting psychological drama about a farmer and his family set in 1970s rural Sweden.
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The Rider
Dir-Scr Chloé Zhao | USA
A luminous and enthralling study of a young South Dakotan cowboy’s struggle following a rodeo injury, from the director of Songs My Brothers Taught Me.
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Salesman
Dir Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin | USA
A portrait of Bible salesmen selling their wares becomes a fascinating window on 1960s American life.
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A Season in France
Dir-Scr Mahamat-Saleh Haroun | France
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s compassionate and sincere film observes a troubled soul struggling to survive in an apathetic world.
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Sheikh Jackson
Dir Amr Salama | Egypt
Sheikh Jackson follows a hardline Islamist preacher who yearns to moonwalk again after the death of singer Michael Jackson.
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Untitled
Dir Michael Glawogger, Monika Willi | Austria-Germany
A film about nothing is one of the year’s finest documentaries, and a lyrical tribute to its late director, Michael Glawogger.
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Walk With Me
Dir-Prod-Scr Marc J Francis, Max Pugh | UK
Take a slow and meditative walk with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, the inventor of mindfulness.
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Wallay
Dir Berni Goldblat | France-Burkina Faso-Qatar
A heart-felt coming-of-age tale set in Burkina Faso exploring mixed cultural identity and finding one’s place in the world.
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The White Girl
Dir-Scr Jenny Suen. Co-Dir-Scr Christopher Doyle | Hong Kong
Debut director Jenny Suen collaborates with Christopher Doyle for this gorgeous Hong Kong-based drama, set to delight dreamers, outcasts and sensualists.
Short films programmes
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Heading for that Adult Crash
The journey from childhood to adulthood is a headlong dive into the unknown. Whatever country or culture, it’s fraught and stressful for all involved, negotiating family, love and relationships as you try to find your place in the world.
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London Calling
A selection of new shorts from some of the capital’s most exciting upcoming filmmakers, supported by Film London.
Festival calendar
2018 Festival submissions
2018 BFI London Film Festival submissions are now open.
