BFI London Film Festival 2025 launch: On the red carpet with the stars and filmmakers

4^th September 2025

Ezelle Alblas

Ezelle Alblas

4 September 2025

With the approach of the 69^th BFI London Film Festival, the red carpet press launch at Southbank brought a host of innovative filmmakers, directors and actors together. The exciting programme this year includes shorts, features and eclectic storytelling showcasing the talent within this creative industry from across 79 countries. Set over 12 days, the festival will deliver 27 world premieres and a diverse palette of 247 creative works.

The Upcoming had the pleasure of attending the LFF press launch ahead of the festival, where we spoke to some of the talented artists, such as Andy Serkis, who told us about his animated reimagining of Animal Farm and his directorial role on the new Lord of the Rings film.

We spoke to BFI Festival Director, Kristy Matheson, about this year’s festival programme, what she is looking forward to about the upcoming festival and the importance of this platform for emerging filmmakers.

Writer and actor Hugh Stubbins spoke to us about creating his film, Mother Goose and what inspired him to tell this quirky story.

Ed Sayers and Rebecca Wolff chatted to us about their feature Super Nature and bringing audiences back to the simple feel of nature and our surroundings.

Film director Rowan Athale chatted to us about his work Giant, working with childhood hero Sylvester Stylone in the seat as executive producer, and having Pierce Brosnan as one of the lead actors in this movie about the boxing genre.

James Lucas spoke to us about working in collaboration with Kate Moss to bring the story of her friendship with the artist Lucian Freud to screen, how they chose the right cast to portray this story as authentically as possible and the keen interest that audiences might have given the level of privacy she casts over her private life.

Filmmaker and actor Pippa Bennett-Warner and Harry Lloyd talk about their film 22+1, the importance of unveiling the taboo of grief surrounding pregnancy and working with Pippa Warner.

We spoke to Mo Abduda, who produced Dust to Dreams, and Eku Edewor, who stars in the feature, about working with Idris Elba on this film, having the talented musician Seal in one of the lead roles and how music became another character in the movie.

Susan Wokoma and Maeve Demurger discuss their film, Dark Skin Bruises Differently, how excited they are to bring it to the BFI and what they hope audiences will take away from watching it.

Ahmed Jamal spoke to us about his film Hotel London, which was first released in 1987 but is being reissued at this year’s BFI film festival as the feature highlights the plight of homelessness and remains as relevant today as it did then.

Letitia Wright, who wrote and directed Highway to the Moon, discusses her inspiration behind the film, working with an amazing cast and the challenges and also the personal journey she went on to bring it to screen.

We spoke to Yemi Bamiro and Joanna Boetang about their feature Black Is Beautiful, why they wanted to tell this story and what it means to them to engage their work with audiences around the world.

Ezelle Alblas
Image: Courtesy of BFI

The BFI London Film Festival 2025 will take place from 8^th to 19^th October 2025. For further information about the event, visit the London Film Festival website here.