Don’t be mad if I didn’t include your personal fave, or a Hollywood title. There are plenty of those, with galas and special conversations to boot. But for me, these titles deserve a second look.
There are so many things to do during the upcoming London Film Festival that I’ve put a moratorium on my personal life, all my needs and routines. I’ll still feed my loved ones of course, work out once or twice a week, but don’t expect me to socialize. At least not outside of press screenings, special events and festival get-togethers. Films, films and more films is my motto from October 8th to the 19th, 2025.
Five films have made the list, but there could have been tons more. Under the artistic direction of the lovely Kristy Matheson, the festival has become a go-to event which people travel into London to witness. It used to be, as a colleague pointed out nearly a decade ago “a festival where you can catch what you’ve missed in Cannes and Venice.” But no more! It’s now a veritable smorgasbord of cinematic talks, screenings that unify Cannes and Venice but also San Sebastian, Telluride, TIFF and NYFF. It’s like having a giant filmy cake, and eating it too.
Bear with me while I whittle down this diminutive and personal selection, which could have easily featured ten times more titles. But at least it gives you a place to start, right?!
‘Palestine’ 36 by Annemarie Jacir
Alright, I’m kicking off with a film that is near and dear to my heart. I have to confess, I haven’t watched the whole thing but I already love it. Beyond the provocative title, the film features one of the greatest acting debuts to come out of the MENA region in ages, in the form of theater thespian Karim Daoud Anaya, and is directed by the ever-wonderful Annemarie Jacir. While the world seems to have finally discovered Palestine, through a Tunisian filmmaker in Venice — yup this is the world we live in! — those of us who have visited its land, know it and love it, adore Jacir for the relentless work she has been doing in bridging cultures. And for the amount of time her beautiful films have spent in our dreams. A story which touches on the history of Palestine, through the eyes of Yusuf, a young man longing for a future, beyond the growing unrest in an era of turmoil and transition — sound familiar?! — Palestine 36 is the country’s entry to this year’s Oscar race.
‘Calle Malaga’ by Maryam Touzani
With her Spanish language debut, Touzani along with hubby co-writer Nabil Ayouch, weaves a tale of a woman (played by veteran actress Carmen Maura) whose childhood home in Morocco is being sold from under her, by her own daughter. And her fight to keep it. Critics have called it a “crowdpleaser” which in journo language means it’s going to be very popular with audiences, maybe not-so-much with the hoity-toity intelligentsia. Whatever you wish to take away from Calle Malaga, this is one film that has been on my radar for ages, and Touzani and Ayouch can do no wrong by me. The film is Morocco’s submission to the International Oscar race.
‘Broken English’ by Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth
This duo just knows how to make beautiful non-fiction films. No one touches a music legend or highlights a whimsical story quite like Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth. With Broken English, they rework a legend and offer up a true-to-life portrait of cultural icon Marianne Faithfull. Finally, for a woman who has often been misrepresented and objectified in the wrong way. What does emerge from the film, with the help of Tilda Swinton, Nick Cave and a slew of other talents, is the history of a woman who danced to her own rhythm, and who lived on her own terms, which is always seen as somehow stepping out of line. But what is that quote, “Well-behaved women seldom make history”? And with her music, and now a stunning doc made by Pollard and Forsyth, Faithfull is part of our feminine history, all the way. If you wish to read more about it, check out my interview with the filmmakers and George MacKay.
‘Sink’ by Zain Duraie
Zain Duraie’s feature debut is the only Arab title in the First Feature Competition at this year’s London Film Festival and the Jordanian filmmaker was named one of Screen’s Arab Stars of Tomorrow in 2024. I’ve been following her career since her work on shorts like Horizon (2013) and her haunting 2019 title Give Up the Ghost. In Sink, Duraie tackles an issue near and dear to her heart — mental health. In it, a mother, played by the extraordinary Clara Khoury, struggles to come to terms with her son’s growing irrational behavior, trying to avoid the obvious signs of his deteriorating mental health. This is the Arab world — the film takes place in Jordan — and such issues are not only never talked about, they are often left untreated. How personal this story is to Duraie, that remains for her to tell the world. But what I know and can say about Sink is that it’s a film worth watching. And tickets are still available for it, miraculously for LFF!
‘A Sad and Beautiful World’ by Cyril Aris
When it was recently announced that Cyril Aris’s film would be the Lebanese entry to this year’s International Feature Film Oscar race, I wasn’t surprised. There is something really beautiful and devastating at once about this love story, between two people who were born on the same day and somehow, against all odds, end up together in a ravaged, yet ever adored Beirut. A Sad and Beautiful World is that rare masterful film which manages to entertain and overwhelm the viewer, since BTW, the film also won the People's Choice Award at the 22nd Giornate degli Autori in Venice this year — always a great indication of audience appeal. The fact that oftentimes we have to choose what to give up in love is a theme that breaks my heart every time and when I told the film’s star Mounia Akl — also a phenomenal director in her own right — and Aris about my feelings, the idea that their film had “devastated” me, they were quick to point out how positive it is. Which is why the film is such a perfect work to represent Lebanon to the world. A country which features beauty and passion and which is constantly under attack. But also a place that measures its brilliance in its heartbreak, as if the latter is a form of currency to achieve the former. Whatever the reason, please watch A Sad and Beautiful World, an audience pleaser and thought-provoking quiet masterpiece about what it must feel like to live in contemporary Beirut
For the full program of this year’s BFI London Film Festival, check out their website.
Top image courtesy of Tabi360, used with permission.