With just one month to go until the London Film Festival returns for its 70th edition, the incredible line-up has finally been unveiled.
Over 12 days, the capital's iconic venues – including the BFI Southbank and the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall – will host screenings of the year's most exciting new cinematic releases.
With 251 films on the schedule, narrowing down the must-sees has been a challenge. Here are the eight films we are most eager to watch.
© A24The Debut
Two years after his Oscar-nominated drama A Real Pain, writer-director Jesse Eisenberg is back with another comedy-drama – and it sounds seriously good.
Described as a "raucously funny love letter to community theatre," the musical film stars Julianne Moore as the quiet, unassuming housewife Mona who spontaneously auditions for a part in a local community theatre production and is unexpectedly cast in the lead role. But under the guidance of her domineering director (Paul Giamatti), Mona finds herself going to extreme lengths to embody her character.
The Debut will premiere at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall on 18 October 2026.
© WireImageElsinore
Andrew Scott is already being tipped for an Oscar win for his powerful performance as Scottish stage actor Ian Charleson in Simon Stone's upcoming biographical drama. The film captures the final months of Charleson's life as he portrays Hamlet at the Royal National Theatre while terminally ill with AIDS.
The film boasts a stacked cast, including Billie Piper, Johnny Flynn, Juliet Stevenson, Adeel Akhtar and Peter Mullan.
After his incredibly moving performance in the BAFTA-nominated All of Us Strangers, we've no doubt Andrew will bring the same emotional intensity in Elsinore.
Elsinore will premiere at the opening night gala of the BFI London Film Festival on 7 October 2026.
© Searchlight PicturesBehemoth!
The internet's favourite boyfriend Pedro Pascal stars as Alex Serian, a cello prodigy who, on the run from his latest fling, retreats to LA to record Hollywood film scores.
The film marks director Tony Gilroy's first film in 14 years, following his successful run of Bourne films.
The Materialists actor stars opposite Olivia Wilde, Will Arnett and Eva Victor.
Behemoth! will premiere at the Southbank Centre on 13 October 2026.
© Anthony DickensonInk
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is the subject of acclaimed director Danny Boyle's latest project. The film is set in 1969, when Murdoch acquired British tabloid The Sun and hired gifted editor Larry Lamb. Together, they changed the shape of modern print journalism.
Jack O'Connell stars as Larry Lamb, alongside Guy Pearce as Rupert Murdoch. They're joined by Claire Foy.
Ink will premiere at the Southbank Centre on 12 October 2026.
© Apple TVBeing Heumann
Ruth Madeley stars as disability rights activist Judith Heumann in Siân Heder's star-studded drama about the 28-day takeover of San Francisco's Federal Building in 1977 – a groundbreaking protest which was crucial in bringing much-needed social change.
Mark Ruffalo and Dylan O'Brien also star.
Being Heumann will premiere at the Southbank Centre on 12 October 2026.
© Getty ImagesThe Beloved
Director Rodrigo Sorogoyen's intense psychological study stars Javier Bardem as an Oscar-winning director who offers his daughter, struggling actress Emilia (Victoria Luengo), a role in his new film about Spain's exploitation of Western Sahara. But the film shoot that follows isn't plain sailing as unresolved tensions come to the surface.
The Beloved will premiere at the Southbank Centre on 12 October 2026.
© Penske Media via Getty ImagesPrima Facie
After her Tony Award-winning performance in Suzie Miller's stage play, Jodie Comer hands the baton to Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo, who takes on the role of ambitious barrister Tessa in this anticipated film adaptation. Used to dominating the courtroom defending men accused of sexual assault, Tessa is forced to confront her view of the legal system after she is sexually assaulted herself.
Prima Facie will premiere at the Southbank Centre on 13 October 2026.
© A24Club Kid
Jordan Firstman (I Love LA) directs, writes and stars in this hilarious comedy film, which was one of the most talked about films at Cannes this year.
Jordan plays a washed-up New York club promoter whose whirlwind life is upended by the discovery that he has a son. We'll definitely be tuning into this one.
Club Kid premieres at the Southbank Centre on 17 October.
© WireImage via Getty ImagesThe Idiot(s)
Comedy icon Aimee Lou Wood stars opposite Johnny Flynn in Małgorzata Szumowska's adaptation of Andrew Kaufman's novel, The Gambler’s Wife: A True Story of Love, Risk, and the Woman Who Saved Dostoyevsky.
The film follows famous writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky and his wife Anna during the period that inspired his novel, The Idiot. Anna desperately tries to motivate her husband, a gambling addict struggling with a lack of ambition and creative imagination, to write a new novel.
The Idiot(s) premieres at BFI Southbank on 14 October 2026.
