The 58th BFI London Film Festival will have the capital’s film-lovers rubbing their hands together with glee thanks to the news that this year’s event is to be bookended by movie mega-stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Brad Pitt.


The festival – which runs from 8th to 19th October – will open with the European premiere of The Imitation Game, already tipped by many for Oscars glory, with Benedict Cumberbatch in the lead playing Bletchley Park codebreaker Alan Turing. Joined by Keira Knightley and a strong supporting cast that includes Matthew Goode, Mark Strong, Rory Kinnear, Charles Dance and Allen Leech, the film wowed audiences at Telluride Film Festival earlier this week.

The 12-day festival will then come to a close on 19th October with the European debut of Brad Pitt’s World War II flick Fury, directed by David Ayer and co-starring Shia Laboeuf, Logan Lerman and Michael Pena. Both films will be shown at simultaneous screenings across the UK and will have a cinecast of all the star-studded red carpet action.

But that’s not all… The capital’s celebration of all things film also plays host to hotly-anticipated wrestling drama Foxcatcher which has also attracted plenty of early awards buzz around Steve Carell and Channing Tatum. Mike Leigh’s Mr Turner – which won Timothy Spall the best actor prize at Cannes – also plays, as will Reese Witherspoon’s Wild, “her finest performance in years”, according to Variety.

The adaptation of Vera Brittain’s First World War memoir Testament of Youth will receive its world premiere supported by the Mayor of London, while Sundance favourite Whiplash starring Miles Teller is also included in the line-up.

Among the stars expected to grace London’s various red carpets are Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Brad Pitt, Steve Carrell, Sienna Miller, Reese Witherspoon, Dominic West, Alan Rickman and more.


The 58th London Film Festival will screen a total of 245 features, including 16 world premieres, nine international premieres and 38 European premieres with tickets on sale to the general public from 18th September.