The 66th London Film Festival closing ceremony went out with a bang. Rian Johnson presented his murder mystery sequel, Glass Onion: Knives Out Mystery as the festival’s finale. Along with Johnson, some of the actors assembled after the premiere at the Royal Festival Hall to conduct a Q and A including Daniel Craig and supporting actors Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn, Edward Norton, Dave Bautista and Janelle Monáe, all on hand to support the film and the BFI (British Film Institute). 

Johnson said of his Glass Onion films, “All of this started with my love of Agatha Christie and to do what she did with each of her books, which is something totally different.”

The film festival opened on October 6 with the premiere of Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical.  The 12-day event continued its festivities proudly presenting 164 features and 23 premieres.  Along with screenings the festival offered Screen Talks with such high-profile Hollywood heavyweights as filmmakers Noah Baumbach, who was at the festival with his latest film, White Noise. Director Mia Hansen-Love attended for her film, One Fine Day, and Alejandro González Inarritu, was present at the festival for his latest offering, Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths. Actors also participated in the Screen Talks, some of whom included Jennifer Lawrence, Bill Nighy, Aubrey Plaza, and Janelle Monáe. 

We witnessed many celebrities strike a pose on the red carpet such as Emma Corrin, who caused a stir with her various edgy ensembles during the festival including her Goldfish Bag Dress for the My Policeman premiere.  Brendan Fraser, who received yet another standing ovation following Venice and Toronto festivals for his performance in The Whale was also seen on the red carpet. Others include Emma Thompson, Florence Pugh, Timothée Chalamet, Emily Blunt, Kate Hudson, Carey Mulligan and directors Sam Mendes, Park Chan-Wook, Sarah Polley, and Guillermo del Toro. 

The winners of this year’s films screening in competition are as follows: Corsage – filmmaker Marie Kreutzer, won Best Film Award in Official Competition. Kreutzer delivers an original interpretation on one woman’s emancipation. Her story follows the life of Empress Elizabeth of Austria (Vicky Krieps) who refuses to uphold unrealistic beauty expectations. Kreutzer was overwhelmed with her win and said, “The most beautiful thing about my job is to collaborate with so many great creatives and artists and create something together day by day without knowing how it will turn out.”

1976 – Manuela Martelli, won the Sutherland Award in First Feature Competition. The film is a political thriller during the time of the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. It follows a middle-aged woman who steps into an unfamiliar world away from her comfortable life. Martelli, who co-wrote the script said of her cinematic debut, “I spent many years working on this film and I want to dedicate it to the whole crew and to my grandmother who was an inspiration.”

Other awards include All That Breathes – Shaunak Sen, won the Grierson Award in Documentary Competition, As Mine Exactly – Charlie Shackleton, wins Immersive Art and XR Award, I Have No Legs, and I Must Run – Yue Li, wins Short Film Award in Short Film Competition. And not forgetting film fans, their Audience Award categories presented the following winners: Blue Bag Life won the feature audience award and Drop Out won the short audience award.

After the success of this year’s festival, Tricia Tuttle, the Director of the London Film Festival, has stepped down after working in the organization for 10 years. For the past five years she has led the BFI Film Festival and BFI flare, the organization’s LGBTQIA+ film festival. The festival is currently recruiting a new replacement.