The London Film Festival is the biggest movie event in the United Kingdom. For just over one week, the West End turns into a hub of red carpets, movie stars and auteur directors. It is where some of the hottest titles of the awards season first screen on our shores. In the past, the London Film Festival has played host to the UK premieres of Argo, Birdman, 12 Years A Slave, The Artist and many more. So, with tickets on sale to the public today, what are the big titles you need a score a place for? Here are our top ten choices:
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10. Son Of Saul
Son Of Saul is undoubtedly harrowing. The film, directed by first-timer Laszlo Nemes and Hungary's official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at this year's Oscars, is about an Auschwitz prisoner whose job is the burn the bodies of the dead when he finds a boy he believes to be his son. However, Son Of Saul is sure to be worth the grim experience. It is already a frontrunner for the aforementioned Best Foreign Language Film award, as well as an unexpected potential Best Picture nominee according to pundits.
9. Trumbo
Walter White was one of the great television performances of all time. Can Bryan Cranston match it in his hotly anticipated role as Dalton Trumbo? He plays the Hollywood screenwriter who was blacklisted when he refused to testify against his colleagues when called before the House Of Un-American Activities. However, he defied their order and went on to script the Oscar winning films The Brave One and Roman Holiday. Jay Roach, known his political HBO movies Recount and Game Change, directs the movie.
8. When Marnie Was There
Studio Ghibli has been responsible for some of the most entertaining, original and downright adorable animations of the last 30 years including My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away. With its creative director Hayao Miyazaki now in retirement, the studio has announced that it will be going on an indefinite hiatus. Therefore, its latest release When Marnie Was There could also be its last. You can catch its potential swansong, about the friendship between two girls when one moves to the country, at the London Film Festival this October.
7. Tangerine
A day in the life of a transgender sex worker searching for her boyfriend and pimp, Tangerine has been one of the most talked about features of the year so far and it will arrive at the London Film Festival in October. It has been celebrated not only for its complex portrait of a transgender character, but also because it's one of the first films to be shot on iPhone. Director Sean Baker used three iPhone 5s devices to film Tangerine because of the tight £650,000 budget he was given.
6. Steve Jobs
Directed by Danny Boyle, starring Michael Fassbender and written by The Social Network and The West Wing's Aaron Sorkin, this brand new biopic of Steve Jobs has all the ingredients for greatness. It's set over three episodes - the launch of the first Macintosh in 1984, the release of a new computer for NeXT in 1988 after he was fired from Apple, and the celebrated launch of the iMac in 1998 after a triumphant return to the company. Boyle shoots each in a different way - 16mm film at first, 35mm film next and HD digital for 1998 - and provides an insight into the tech revolutionary's complex life.