LONDON: The London Film Festival is one of the biggest venues of its kind in the world. Less glitzy than Cannes and definitely less arty than Venice, its focus is a balance between independent and mainstream cinema in order to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. “It's much more of a public event than industry-driven festivals like Edinburgh, or smaller festivals like Sheffield Doc/Fest. The screenings do seem to be filled with genuine film fans,” says Philip Ilson, one of this year's programmers. British cinema seems to have a special place in the festival in 2010 as both opening and closing galas were made in the country. Never Let Me Go, based on a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro will open the event while 127 Hours, by Danny Boyle, will bring the festival to a fold. Besides, a discussion called British Cinema: Breaking with Convention , which is part of a huge line-up of non-screening events, will address the theme head on. Typically, the festival is crammed with events where the audience can interact with film artists and industry professionals. These include career interviews, post-screening Q&As, masterclasses (this year including Darren Aronofsky, whose latest film is called Black Swan, and Javier Bardem, star of Biutiful), workshops and live events. Time Out and Sight & Sound magazines will be presenting debates. One of the last-minute additions to the festival's program is Inside Job, which will appeal to the more politically inclined. Variety magazine described it as ‘the definitive screen investigation of the global economic crisis'. Directed by Charles Ferguson's (director of No End in Sight), Inside Job “offers study of greed and amorality, showing how the United States financial meltdown was far from accidental”, according to the festival's notes. The film is narrated by Matt Damon and will be screened on October 27 (8:30 pm) and 28 (18:15pm). For more information on the program, visit the festival's official website. BM
