248 films. 17 venues. 12 days. One festival. London really knows how to go hard.

 

Now, it would be an impossible task to review every single screening at the London Film Festival. As it is, I am lucky to be seeing just three films this year. But the point is, this nearly-fortnight of cinema celebration is as much about embracing the atmosphere fellow flick-obsessed champions unapologetically generate, as it is actually watching the films. Each day is a fresh chance for hungry creatives to display their as yet concealed filmic know-how (or know-not, that’s up to the audience), behind or in front of the camera, or the platform for an established director’s new and much-anticipated work. In 2013, London spent almost £1.1 billion on film production, so what better place to host a film festival than this capital, dominated by moving picture?

 

Cameras and lights and all that showbiz nonsense swarm to cinemas from East to West, giving us plebs a chance to reel in the hype, leaving that world at the door on our way out. Making your way into the everyday, slightly tatty foyer of Odeon Leicester Square is somehow more glamorous than it usually is, as if the popcorn is tinted with gold-leaf or the ushers are all George Clooney look-a-likes. The excitement is tangible. The people around you are buzzing.

 

Directed to your seat, through swarms of suits and the occasional pair of jeans – contrary to popular belief, there isn’t, in fact, a dress code – the lights dim and you know what happens next.

 

The first red carpet to roll was for a Gala (premiere) screening of Norwegian director Morten Tyldum’s The Imitation Game. Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch shines as Alan Turing, the pioneer of modern-day computing and the man who, unbeknownst to many, cracked the German Enigma code, playing a huge part in the ending of the Second World War. Each viewing is opened by The British Film Institutes Artistic Director, Clare Stewart – a regular face if you make a habit of BFI cinema-hopping. From weird and wonderful documentaries (The Immortalists) to cult classics (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), experimental cinema (Letters to Max) to family-friendly animation (Animal Farm), no one was exempt from the festival’s vast programme.

 

If you put anything in your diary for next October, make it LFF.

 

This year’s programme

 

Imogen Bristow

Wallington High School for Girls