I Love Boosters: On the red carpet with Boots Riley and Akinola Davies Jr at London Film Festival 2026

Written and directed by Boots Riley, I Love Boosters is a crime-comedy feature that follows a group of shoplifters who take aim at the fashion corporation. This absurd world Riley has created is shot using bespoke anamorphic lenses and an intense saturated colourscape amplified by the outrageous outfits worn by the fashionable cast.

When fashion mogul Christie Smith (Demi Moore) finds out a group of shoplifters known as “The Velvet Gang” are stealing her designer clothes and selling them at a discounted price, she blasts the group in the media as “Low Class Urban Bitches” before ripping off one of the gang leader’s own designs and presenting it as her own. Seamlessly blending a high-stakes heist with social satire, the film explores modern consumerism, poor factory labour conditions and the absurdity of sky-high pricing.

The Upcoming had the pleasure of speaking to Boots Riley on the red carpet at the BFI London Film Festival, where he talked about the origins of this story, basing his characters on an amalgamation of people he knows, how much fun the cast had on set and how the film reflects people trying to find connection.

The Upcoming also spoke to Akinola Davies Jr, who was in attendance at the premiere, about how the festival had helped shape him as an actor. He revealed Riley had come to speak to his cohort at a BFI networking event in 2018 and how, as a filmmaker, he leans into the absurd and is an inspiration to other directors.

 

Ezelle Alblas

I Love Boosters is released on 30^th October 2026.

Read more reviews from our London Film Festival 2026 coverage here.

For further information about the event, visit the London Film Festival website here.

Watch the trailer for I Love Boosters here: