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Festival coverage

Leeds International Film Festival

29 October – 15 November 2026

This Oscar-qualifying festival is like an end of year wrap-up for the year's big emerging titles. As its host city turns 400 this year, there's a special celebration of cities playing themselves.

The festival runs from 29 October to 15 November.

Other years (8)

Box office and information

Latest reviews

  • Wild Horse Nine
    Review preview for Wild Horse Nine

    Malkovich and Rockwell are magnetic.

    Andrew Robertson · 4 out of 5
    Shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup, CIA agents Chris and Lee are dispatched from Santiago to Rapa Nui.
  • La Bola Negra
    Review preview for La Bola Negra

    La Bola Negra was an unfinished work in a life cut short but the film named (variously) for it is extension and tribute and triumph.

    Andrew Robertson · 4.5 out of 5
    Drama exploring the inter-connected lives of three gay men.
  • Elsinore
    Review preview for Elsinore

    Scott’s beacon of light is swallowed up by Stone and Beresford’s heavy-handedness.

    Paul Risker · 3 out of 5
    Account of Ian Charleson’s life, capturing the moment when he faced his own mortality as he prepared to play Hamlet at the Royal National Theatre.
  • Adam's Apple
    Review preview for Adam's Apple

    The ordinary material of growing up mingles here with trans-specific experiences.

    Jennie Kermode · 3.5 out of 5
    A transgender teen and his mother chronicle their lives, weaving a rare and intimate portrait of a family in transition. Two decades of footage trace a boy's path to manhood and his parents' vulnerability as they reckon with change.
  • A Long Winter
    Review preview for A Long Winter

    Worse than incomplete, Haigh's film lacks a fully developed soul. This is in spite of striking aesthetic moments and sharply written scenes complemented by strong performances from the cast.

    Paul Risker · 2.5 out of 5
    Returning to his childhood home deep in the mountains, Mike is drawn back into the quiet rituals of family life as the clan prepares for the winter ahead.
  • The Debut
    Review preview for The Debut

    Eisenberg’s obvious love of amateur dramatics provides The Debut with a foundation that feels akin to a warm hug.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    A shy housewife is unexpectedly cast in a local am-dram original musical. Under the spell of the strong-willed and enigmatic director, she loses herself in the role.
  • Tender Loving Care
    Review preview for Tender Loving Care

    Tender Loving Care is all about the little bits of conversation that make the world a bit more comfy for others.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
    In contemporary London, social workers Amy and Rosie navigate the stressors and joys of life together, be that work, family or messy dating lives.
  • Ink
    Review preview for Ink

    Danny Boyle brings his customary energy to James Graham’s adaptation of his own stage play, which flies along quicker than paper through a printing press.

    Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
    Drama charting Rupert Murdoch's acquisition of The Sun newspaper and its upturning of the landscape under editor Larry Lamb in 1969.
  • A Man Of His Time
    Review preview for A Man Of His Time

    There exists no safe ground when you are part of a regime that uses fear and threats as casual tools.

    Anne-Katrin Titze · 3 out of 5
    Historical drama set against a backdrop of Vichy France as a man strives to help France's renewal.
  • The Difficult Bride
    Review preview for The Difficult Bride

    Hossain keeps the mood claustrophobic.

    Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
    In contemporary Dhaka, a bride-to-be preparing for her dream wedding begins to lose control of her body as beauty rituals, social expectations, and supernatural forces collide, transforming her journey toward marriage into an unsettling search for freedom.

A–Z of Leeds International Film Festival 2026 reviews

Features

  • The only thing worth saying
    Chuko and Arie Esiri on adapting Mrs Dalloway and making Clarissa
  • Care and community
    Mike Leigh and the Tender Loving Care cast on humanity and looking out for one another
  • A family affair
    Ashgan El-Hamus on casting and working with distant relatives on her debut Al Baraneya
  • Vampire party
    Nicky Murphy, Aminata Thiboult, Leonor Oberson and Louiza Aura on I Love Paris
  • From the withered tree
    Taratoa Stappard on colonial hierarchies, Ariana Osborne and Marama
  • The dying house
    Taratoa Stappard on colonial horrors and inventing the Maori Gothic with Marama
  • Bear necessities
    Jack Weisman and Gabriel Osio Vanden on working together and making naivety work for them in Nuisance Bear
  • Bearing witness
    Gabriela Osio Vanden and Jack Weisman on balance and perspectives in Nuisance Bear
  • 'Our present is Barbara’s future'
    Brydie O’Connor on Barbara Forever, queer wisdom and reaching younger audiences
  • Mining for truth
    Warwick Thornton on survivors and storytelling in Wolfram
  • Perspective shift
    Beth de Araújo and Channing Tatum talk about a child's eye view of crime in Josephine
  • The buzz of a bond
    Fernando Eimbcke on fun and games in Flies