Golden Globes Season Continues at BFI London Film Festival
The countdown to the 82nd Golden Globe Awards continued at a star-studded cocktail reception October 13 at the Soho Mews House Mayfair during the 68th edition of the BFI London Film Festival.
The newest addition of the Soho Houses was full of film and TV industry people talking about their experiences at the BFI London Film Festival, their current projects, what they are filming now, world politics and places where they have been or would like to visit.
The event, covering the patio and first and second floors, brought together over 170 guests.
They included filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, actors Kingsley Ben-Adir, Adrien Brody, Jesse Eisenberg, Karla Sofía Gascón, Celia Imrie, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong and Ruth Wilson, and actor-writers Stephen Merchant and Will Sharpe.
Golden Globes president Helen Hoehne said, “Bringing the Golden Globes to the BFI London Film Festival reinforces our commitment to supporting important film festivals worldwide. We are thrilled to be in London, hosting such a wonderful group of actors, creatives, and industry executives. It was an incredible night to connect with artists from around the globe and celebrate the very best in the entertainment industry.”
Villeneuve arrived after a special screening of “Dune: Part Two” on Sunday, his third time at the London fest. “The festival has been really great this year,” he said. “Such a wide range selection of films and so well organized. The event has uniqueness on its own.”
“Dune: Part Two” is one of the highest grossing movies of 2024, with over $700 million worldwide so far. And it still finds its enthusiastic audience. “It’s great, especially taking in consideration that the movie opened in March,” film’s producer and Villeneuve’s spouse Tanya Lapointe continued.
Other notables at the event include Maria Bakalova, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield, Georgina Chapman, Jennifer Grey, Ben Hardy, John Magaro, Saga Radia and Jenny Walser.
Eisenberg, director, writer and actor of “A Real Pain” — movie about two cousins traveling to Poland to honor their grandmother — was talking lively with Golden Globes president Hoehne. Also receiving congrats were Stan, Strong and Bakalova, who star in “The Apprentice,” about Donald Trump in the 1970s and 1980s and his relationship with lawyer Roy Cohn. Bakalova plays Trump’s first wife, Ivana.
Also in a mix were Ben-Adir who plays reggae singer Bob Marley in “Bob Marley: One Love”; Baron Cohen, one of the main actors of the limited series “Disclaimer”; and Ruth Wilson, who stars in the limited series “A Very Royal Scandal” as journalist Emily Maitlis who interviewed Prince Andrew and investigated his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Brody, who will be seen in “The Brutalist” – a story about Hungarian-born Jewish architect who survives the Holocaust and emigrates to the United States with his wife – was surrounded by well-wishers.
Magaro talked about his new movie “September 5,” a story about the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage crisis from the side of ABC Sports crew. From London he will fly to New York to film an espionage TV series, “The Agency.”
This year’s BFI London Film Festival’s Golden Globe event was in partnership with Soho Mews House Mayfair and luxury-lifestyle magazine Robb Report; the event was sponsored by OGM Pictures.
Nominations for the Golden Globes will be announced Monday, Dec. 9. The Golden Globe Awards, aka “The Biggest Party of the Year,” will air Sunday Jan. 5, 2025, on CBS.