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London Film Festival · 2026

London Film Festival 2026

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16 films · 6 reviews

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All Of A Sudden (Soudain)

Review preview for All Of A Sudden

Hamaguchi’s most pointed provocation is not that the nursing home becomes excessive in its care, but that ordinary neglect has trained us to see basic tenderness as excess.

Edin Custo · 3.5 out of 5
The director of a nursing home in Paris has an encounter with a terminally ill Japanese playwright that transforms her life.

(Country: Japan, France, Belgium, Germany; Year: 2026; Director: Ryusuke Hamaguchi; Writer: Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Léa Le Dimna; Stars: Virginie Efira, Tao Okamoto, Kyōzō Nagatsuka, Kodai Kurosaki, Jean-Louis Garçon, Marie Bunel, Jean-Charles Clichet, Margot Maricot, Lazare Gousseau, Jérôme Chappatte, Evelyne Istria, Elisabeth Tamaris, Aurélia Petit, Heidi Becker-Babel)

Full review

Coward

Soldiers try to keep their hope alive on the frontline in the First World War.

(Country: Belgium, France, Netherlands; Year: 2026; Director: Lukas Dhont; Writer: Lukas Dhont, Angelo Tijssens; Stars: Valentin Campagne, Emmanuel Macchia, Jonas Wertz)

Dao

A wedding in Paris and a ceremony in Guinea-Bissau are intertwined in this consideration of family and heritage.

(Country: France, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal; Year: 2026; Director: Alain Gomis; Writer: Alain Gomis; Stars: Katy Correa, Katy Correa, D'Johé Kouadio, Samir Guesmi, Mike Etienne, Nicolas Gomis, Fara Baco)

Flies (Moscas)

Olga rents out a room to a man whose wife has been admitted to a hospital nearby. However, the man has a nine-year-old son he has been sneaking into the room, which leads to Olga’s carefully controlled world shifting as their lives become intertwined.

(Country: Mexico; Year: 2026; Director: Fernando Eimbcke; Writer: Fernando Eimbcke, Vanesa Garnica; Stars: Teresa Sánchez, Bastián Escobar, Hugo Ramirez)

See: Fernando Eimbcke on fun and games in Flies

Frank And Percy

Meet Frank and Percy, an unlikely pair, who strike up a friendship while dog walking on Hampstead Heath. Soon enough, their platonic bond quietly blossoms into something far more tender.

(Country: UK; Year: 2026; Director: Sean Mathias; Writer: Martin Sherman, Ben Weatherill; Stars: Ian McKellen, Roger Allam, Amari Bacchus, Rob Brydon, Peter Davison, Stephen Fry, Nitin Ganatra, Ncuti Gatwa, Jessica Gunning, Sheila Hancock, Derek Jacobi, Felicity Kendal, Joanna Lumley, Siân Phillips, Hugh Skinner)

Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!

Review preview for Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty!

The story sometimes lacks thrust, but when it isn’t working, something new will be on screen soon enough.

Jeremy Mathews · 3 out of 5
Haru and Luis love competing in Tokyo’s ballroom dance scene, but after tragedy strikes, Haru withdraws into isolation. When friends coax her back to the studio, she develops an infatuation with the new instructor. She must face what comes next as sparks fly.

(Country: US, Japan; Year: 2026; Director: Josef Kubota Wladyka; Writer: Josef Kubota Wladyka, Nicholas Huynh; Stars: Rinko Kikuchi, Alberto Guerra, Alejandro Edda, YOU, Yoh Yoshida, Damián Alcázar)

Full review

House Of The Wind (La Maison Du Vent)

Review preview for House Of The Wind

Ultimately, it is the universality of a diasporic child judging an older parent’s decisions through the distorting lens of distance, age and solitude that will resonate with many.

Edin Custo · 3.5 out of 5
Josette (80) lives alone in Yaoundé, Cameroon. All her children have left for the West. She encourages them to build houses in Cameroon, a ploy to bring them back to her. But the unexpected bond she forms with Sarah, a young woman from her neighborhood, shatters everything she has built her life on: her family, her responsibilities, and her hopes.

(Country: Cameroon, Benin, France, Belgium; Year: 2026; Director: Auguste Kouemo Yanghu; Writer: Auguste Kouemo Yanghu; Stars: Josette Kwanya, Moudjeu Pouadeu Edwige Tatiana)

Full review

In A Whisper (A Voix Basse)

Review preview for In A Whisper

What follows is not a simple coming-out narrative and not a whodunit either, but an internal struggle constantly externalised through ritual and space.

Edin Custo · 3.5 out of 5
Lilia returns to Tunisia for her uncle’s funeral and reunites with a family that knows nothing about her life in Paris, especially not about the woman she loves.

(Year: 2026; Director: Leyla Bouzid; Writer: Leyla Bouzid; Stars: Marion Barbeau, Eya Bouteraa, Hiam Abbass, Feriel Chamari)

Full review

It Will Happen Tonight (Succederà Questa Notte)

Loosely based on the short story collection Hungry Heart by Lev Raev.

(Country: Italy, Spain, France; Year: 2026; Director: Nanni Moretti; Writer: Nanni Moretti, Valia Santella, Federica Pontremoli; Stars: Louis Garrel, Jasmine Trinca, Angela Finocchiaro, Elena Lietti, Antonio De Matteo, Andrea Lattanzi, Hippolyte Girardot, Pietro Ragusa, Paolo Sassanelli, Nanni Moretti, Melina Åkerman Kvie, Edoardo Purgatori, Tania de la Cruz, Laura Nardi, David L. Bengoetxea)

Iván & Hadoum

Review preview for Iván & Hadoum

Iván & Hadoum announces de la Rosa as a filmmaker with uncommon emotional precision.

Edin Custo · 3.5 out of 5
In a greenhouse in southern Spain, Iván falls in love with his newly hired co-worker, Hadoum. But his long-awaited promotion interferes with their relationship, forcing Iván to decide what kind of person he wants to be.

(Country: Spain, Belgium, Germany; Year: 2026; Director: Ian de la Rosa; Writer: Ian de la Rosa; Stars: Silver Chicón, Herminia Loh, Gregor Acuña-Pohl)

Full review

Mouse

When two girls' friendship is upended one forms a complicated relationship with the other one's mother.

(Country: US; Year: 2026; Director: Kelly O'Sullivan, Alex Thompson; Writer: Kelly O’Sullivan; Stars: Sophie Okonedo, Katherine Mallen Kupferer, Chloe Coleman, Tara Mallen, Iman Vellani)

Pakeezah (Pure Heart)

A woman doomed from birth falls for a man she can never be with.

(Year: 1972; Director: Kamal Amrohi; Writer: Kamal Amrohi; Stars: Meena Kumari, Raaj Kumar, Ashok Kumar)

Petrolheads

Martin's dream is to be normal, but he gave that up long ago. Diagnosed at nine with severe conditions, he now just wants a 1994 Honda Civic. He shares his all-consuming passion for cars with his best friend Casper.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2026; Director: Emil Langballe; Writer: Emil Langballe, Christian Einshøj; Stars: Martin Jensen, Casper Størner)

The Slightest Touch

Emma lives with epidermolysis bullosa (EB), the slightest touch causing her skin to blister and tear. To celebrate her 40th, she runs a marathon with longtime friend.

(Country: UK, Ireland, US; Year: 2026; Director: Rachel Fleit; Stars: Emma Fogarty, Colin Farrell)

To Hold A Mountain

Review preview for To Hold A Mountain

Filmed over seven seasons, the co-directors make time tactile.

Edin Custo · 5 out of 5
In the remote highlands of Montenegro, a shepherd mother and daughter proudly defend their ancestral mountain from the threat of becoming a NATO military training ground, stirring memories of the violence that shattered their family.

(Country: Serbia, France, Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Belgium; Year: 2026; Director: Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić; Stars: Mileva Gara Jovanović, Nada Stanišić)

Full review

Variations On A Theme

When Ouma Hettie falls victim to a scam promising reparation for her father’s unpaid service during the Second World War, her family becomes more involved that she would like them to.

(Country: South Africa, Netherlands, Qatar; Year: 2026; Director: Jason Jacobs, Devon Delmar; Writer: Devon Delmar, Jason Jacobs; Stars: Hettie Farmer, Gladwin van Niekerk, Magdalena Links, Regan Nontas, Albertus Smit, Helen Jacobs, Jason Jacobs, Elton Landrew)