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65th BFI London Film Festival Announces Additional Titles And First Of 2021 Screen Talks
Clooney’s The Tender Bar To Debut At LFF
The 65th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express is thrilled to announce that the International Premiere of George Clooney’s much-anticipated THE TENDER BAR has been added to the 2021 programme. Starring Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan and Lily Rabe, the film will premiere at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall with Clooney expected to be in attendance…
Also added to the programme is VENGEANCE IS MINE, ALL OTHERS PAY CASH from Indonesian director Edwin, a dizzying film adaptation of Eka Kurniawan’s acclaimed novel about an impotent aspiring assassin.
The Festival also announces the first of its 2021 Screen Talk line-up, which is supported by The Liberation Initiatives, with acclaimed directors Jane Campion, Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Asghar Farhadi joining SUCCESSION-creator Jesse Armstrong and Norwegian actor Anders Danielsen Lie for a series of in-person talks about the careers of some of the industry’s key talents, both in front of and behind the camera. Most Screen Talks are expected to take place live at the Festival and then be made available post-event via BFI YouTube, while others are planned as Online-only presentations via YouTube and BFI Social channels.
The Festival is delighted to welcome Academy Award-winner Jane Campion back to London on the occasion of her dark and captivating THE POWER OF THE DOG, this year’s BFI LFF American Express Gala. She’ll cover a number of career highlights with a focus on her latest work. Acclaimed British screenwriter and producer Jesse Armstrong joins the Festival to discuss his impressive career in television and film, as well as the upcoming third season of the Emmy award-winning hit SUCCESSION, screening at the Festival on Friday 15 October, and actor Anders Danielsen Lie will join audiences to discuss his work, including two new films in the Festival: Mia Hansen-Løve’s BERGMAN ISLAND and THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD, the final part of Joachim Trier’s Oslo trilogy. Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, who helms two of the films in this year’s Festival, WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY and DRIVE MY CAR, will take part in a Screen Talk, made available to audiences via YouTube and BFI Facebook, to discuss these Silver Bear and Cannes Best Screenplay-winning films along with his wider filmography and Academy Award-winning director Asghar Farhadi will return to the Festival to explore is captivating Cannes Grand-Prix winner A HERO as part of a wider look at his impressive career. A HERO screens at the Festival on Monday 11 October.
Further Screen Talks will be announced shortly alongside the LFF for Free programme of free events including talks and debates, short film screenings and unique VR experiences.
NEW ADDITIONS TO THE PROGRAMME: THE TENDER BAR
Sunday 10 October, at the Southbank Centre in Royal Festival Hall, 21:10
Director George Clooney. Producers Grant Heslov, George Clooney, Ted Hope. With Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan, Lily Rabe. USA 2021. 105min.UK Distribution Amazon Studios
JR is a boy without a name and a father. At least, that’s the story according to many of the adults outside of his family. But when his mother moves back into her childhood home, JR’s charismatic bar-owning Uncle Charlie (Affleck) is determined the boy doesn’t see himself that way. Based on the memoirs of writer JR Moehringer and elegantly adapted for the screen William Monahan (The Departed), Tender Bar is a poignant reflection on the ways in which the right influence, at just the right time, can have a profound impact. Fueled by the sounds of Jackson Browne, Golden Earring and Steely Dan, and with period-perfect design from an exceptional production team, Clooney’s impressive drama also features Tye Sheridan as an older JR, reflecting back on his childhood, while newcomer Daniel Ranieri is a revelation as the budding young writer. Lily Rabe and Christopher Lloyd round out the terrific lead cast.
Screening in LOVE
VENGEANCE IS MINE, ALL OTHERS PAY CASH
Screening in DARE
Saturday 16 October, Curzon Soho, 21:15
Director Edwin. Producers Meiske Taurisia, Muhammad Zaidy. Screenwriters Edwin, Eka Kurniawan. With Marthino Lio, Ladya Cheryl. Indonesia-Singapore-Germany 2021. 114min. Sales The Match Factory.
Language Indonesian with English subtitles
Combining elements of retro East Asian fight cinema, raunchy sex comedies, ghost stories and all out romance movies, this utterly distinctive, weirdly moving film focuses on Ajo (Lio) a moody gangster intent on proving his worth by assassinating a local gangster. But when Ajo meets troubled bodyguard Iteung (Cheryl), a softer side to this young man emerges, an initially knockabout connection morphing into something more romantically physical. The only snag is that Ajo is impotent, just one of many obstacles the new couple must face as they hurtle into an uncertain, unpredictable and violent future. Constantly evolving narratively and tonally, prolific director Edwin’s beautifully shot and performed film fires along at breakneck pace, unfolding its complex, thematically rich story with real elegance, energy and strikingly sincere emotion. A truly unique film.
The 65th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express takes place from Wednesday 6 October – Sunday 17 October, 2021.
About the BFI
We are a cultural charity, a National Lottery distributor, and the UK’s lead organisation for film and the moving image.
Our mission is:
- To support creativity and actively seek out the next generation of UK storytellers
- To grow and care for the BFI National Archive, the world’s largest film and television archive
- To offer the widest range of UK and international moving image culture through our programmes and festivals – delivered online and in venue
- To use our knowledge to educate and deepen public appreciation and understanding
- To work with Government and industry to ensure the continued growth of the UK’s screen industries
Founded in 1933, the BFI is a registered charity governed by Royal Charter.
The BFI Board of Governors is chaired by Tim Richards.
The BFI London Film Festival
BFI London Film Festival is Britain’s leading film event and one of the world’s best film festivals. It introduces the finest new British and international films to an expanding London and UK-wide audience and attracts significant international film industry participation. LFF is a compelling combination of diverse films, red carpet glamour, friendly audiences and vibrant exchange. LFF provides an essential profiling opportunity for films seeking global success; promotes the careers of British and international filmmakers through its industry and awards programmes and positions London as the world’s leading creative city.
Tricia Tuttle Biography
Tricia Tuttle continues her role as Director of BFI Festivals for the fourth year. She was appointed following working as Artistic Director of the 62nd Edition of the BFI London Film Festival in 2018, and five successful years as Deputy Head of Festivals at BFI, including BFI Flare and BFI London Film Festival. Tricia has been instrumental in evolving BFI Festivals, meeting the challenges of a global pandemic head on and creating a new hybrid model for the LFF in 2020 and evolving the structure for 2021. Her work has seen an expanded audience reach year on year both in the UK and internationally. Tricia has introduced impactful initiatives such UK-wide cinema venue partnerships, digital screenings, LFF For Free and also BFI Flare’s FiveFilms4Freedom, in partnership with the British Council. Tricia has worked to broaden the scope of the Festival, spearheading new strands including LFF Expanded which sees the Festival present virtual, augmented and mixed reality works and co-commissions, as well as the Festival’s new focus on series and episodic work. On the industry side, she is also working to turn LFF into a globally recognised destination for the discovery of new British Talent. Under her tenure, the LFF has welcomed some of the world’s finest filmmakers and creatives to London, offering UK audiences unique opportunities to see some of the most anticipated new films and awards contenders. Particular highlights include opening the 64th edition of the Festival with Steve McQueen’s MANGROVE in 2021 in the first time the Festival has opened with a work made for broadcast, and the international premiere of THE IRISHMAN in 2019 which saw Martin Scorsese, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci grace the red carpet. Significant world premieres in her tenure include Pixar’s Oscar winning SOUL, Peter Jackson’s THOU SHALL NOT GROW OLD and this year’s Festival opener THE HARDER THEY FALL from Londoner Jeymes Samuel.
Moving from North Carolina in 1997 to complete a joint MA at BFI and Birkbeck, University of London in Film and TV Studies, Tricia’s passion for film has seen her work as a programmer, lecturer, writer and journalist. Her career has spanned a five year tenure at BAFTA, starting in 2008 and with her appointment as Film Programme Manager in 2011; programming the BFI London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (the pre-cursor to BFI Flare) and as Event Producer at London’s The Script Factory.
About the Southbank Centre
The Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre occupying a prominent riverside location that sits in the midst of London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. We exist to present great cultural experiences that bring people together and we achieve this by providing the space for artists to create and present their best work and by creating a place where as many people as possible can come together to experience bold, unusual and eye-opening work. We want to take people out of the everyday, every day.
The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. The Southbank Centre is made up of the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery as well as being home to the National Poetry Library and the Arts Council
Collection. It is also home to four Resident Orchestras (London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Sinfonietta and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment) and four Associate Orchestras (Aurora Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Chineke! Orchestra and National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain).
About The Liberation Initiatives
The Liberation Initiatives is a force for systematic change against the social and economical disadvantages faced by Black and marginalised communities. By partnering with organisations across the UK, The Liberation Initiatives is making activism approachable and accessible. It is paving the way for companies who are committed to making positive change by mentoring them through much-needed internal developments, as well as connecting them with charities and initiatives that share our common goal of a more fair and just future for everyone. The Liberation Initiatives is taking action to educate, motivate and challenge others to foster practices that will rebalance the state of diversity, equality and inclusion in today’s society.
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