AWARD WINNING DIRECTOR PAWEL PAWLIKOWSKI

to head-up LFF Official Competition Jury

With fellow jurors Christine Vachon, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kristin Scott Thomas and Mabel Cheung

The 59th BFI London Film Festival announces this year’s Official Competition Jury.

President of the Official Competition jury is three-time BAFTA winner and LFF Best Film (2013) prize winner PAWEL PAWLIKOWSKI, whose IDA garnered him both the BAFTA and Oscar® for Foreign Language Film. Previous credits include Last Resort and My Summer of Love.

CHRISTINE VACHON, whose film CAROL is this year’s American Express® Gala and whose other producer credits include Boys Don’t Cry, Far From Heaven, Savage Grace, One Hour Photo, Velvet Goldmine, Happiness and Kids. Her exec producer credits include Still Alice and Nasty Baby which also features in this year’s Festival. 

CHIWETEL EJIOFOR, the BAFTA-winning and Oscar® nominee whose broad range of acting credits include Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, Stephen Frears’ Dirty Pretty Things, Richard Curtis’ Love Actually, Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men, Phillip Noyce’s Salt and Ridley Scott’s The Martian.  

Kristin Scott Thomas, the BAFTA-winning and Oscar® nominee whose many screen roles in both English and French language cinema include Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives, Sam Taylor-Johnson’s Nowhere Boy, Catherine Corsini’s Leaving (Partir), Robert Altman’s Gosford Park and Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient.

Mabel Cheung, whose new film A Tale of Three Cities – based on the romance between Jackie Chan’s parents – has its European Premiere at LFF and whose previous directorial credits include The Soong Sisters, An Autumn’s Tale and The Illegal Immigrant all of which were nominated for Best Director at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

Pawel Pawlikowski said: “It is an honour to be Jury President for the BFI London Film Festival this year especially as my last film IDA won the Best Film Award in 2013 at the very beginning of its journey.”

On Saturday 17 October at the annual Awards Ceremony, prizes will be presented for the Festival’s competitive sections - The Best Film Award is presented to the winner of the Official Competition; the Sutherland Award is presented to the winner of the First Feature Competition and the Grierson Award is presented in partnership with the Grierson Trust, to the winning film in the Documentary Competition. This year there is also the newly introduced Short Film Award, presented to one of a shortlist of 12 films selected from across the programme. Each of these sections is open to international and British films.  As previously announced Cate Blanchett will receive the BFI Fellowship, awarded each year at the BFI London Film Festival Awards ceremony.  Juries for the First Feature, Documentary and Short Film competitions will be announced shortly.

The Best Film Award recognises inspiring, inventive and distinctive filmmaking. The Official Competition films are selected by Festival Director Clare Stewart, together with the Festival programming team.

·         Jerzy Skolimowski, 11 MINUTES

·         Cary Fukunaga, BEASTS OF NO NATION

·         Apichatpong Weerasethakul, CEMETERY OF SPLENDOUR

·         Athina Rachel Tsangari, CHEVALIER

·         Simon Stone, THE DAUGHTER

·         Jonás Cuarón, DESIERTO (European Premiere)

·         Lucile Hadžihalilović, EVOLUTION

·         Johnnie To, OFFICE (European Premiere)

·         Lenny Abrahamson, ROOM

·         László Nemes, SON OF SAUL

·         Terence Davies, SUNSET SONG

·         Sean Baker, TANGERINE

·         Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya, VERY BIG SHOT (European Premiere)