Feature | Lights, Camera, Action! Preview – London Film Festival 2014 Page 1

Feature | Lights, Camera, Action! Preview – London Film Festival 2014

London Film Festival 2014 Preview

It's a hefty programme; 248 feature films, 148 shorts, talks, master classes, educational events… the 58th London Film Festival packs a lot into just 12 days, and, for stats lovers, those films come from 70 countries and include 16 world premieres and 38 European premieres.

This year's opening and closing films were announced several weeks ago. Both are set during World War II but tell two sharply contrasting stories. British movie The Imitation Game kicks off proceedings (more of that later) and Brad Pitt stars as a tank commander in Fury, the closing gala.

Out of all those films, though, which are the must-sees? Here's Lights, Camera, Action's top ten - and, to keep things even handed, it's in alphabetical order.

'71

British actor Jack O'Connell is soon to be seen in Angelina Jolie's directorial debut Unbreakable, and will no doubt be catapulted onto the A list. Before then he stars as a squaddie fresh out of training that's sent to the streets of Belfast at the height of the troubles and finds himself cast adrift from the rest of his unit.

Charlie's Country

The always-impressive Australian actor David Gulpilil won best actor in the Un Certain Regard strand at Cannes this year for his performance as an aging aboriginal fighting prejudice and neglect. Image for Feature | Lights, Camera, Action! Preview – London Film Festival 2014

Foxcatcher

Already seen as an early Oscar contender, Bennett Miller's latest sees him sticking to his familiar stomping ground of a true story, this time of an eccentric multi-millionaire who sponsors two wrestling brothers. An almost unrecognisable Steve Carell stars alongside Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo. Originally scheduled for release in 2013, it was held back to this year to avoid being overshadowed by last year's exceptionally strong award contenders. Miller will also be giving one of the festival's Screen Talks.

Love Is Strange

With Alfred Molina and John Lithgow leading the cast, this will be a real actor's movie. They play a long-established gay couple who eventually marry and find themselves having to live apart. Image for Feature | Lights, Camera, Action! Preview – London Film Festival 2014

Mr Turner

One of this autumn's most anticipated British films gets a gala screening at the LFF. It's an early chance to see the performance that won Timothy Spall the Best Actor award at Cannes and word is that Mike Leigh's biography of artist J M W Turner is his best film ever.

Rosewater

The directorial debut of The Daily Show's Jon Stewart, this tells the story of a journalist imprisoned in Iran during the 2009 elections - a story that Stewart featured on his own programme. Gael Garcia Bernal takes the lead role. Image for Feature | Lights, Camera, Action! Preview – London Film Festival 2014

The Drop

The film with the sad distinction of being James Gandolfini's last on-screen appearance is set in the criminal underworld of Brooklyn and based on a story by Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Shutter Island). He's dragged back into a life of crime, alongside his right hand man, played by Tom Hardy. Image for Feature | Lights, Camera, Action! Preview – London Film Festival 2014

The Imitation Game

The festival opener stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing, who cracked the Enigma Code during World War II. The cast reads like a who's who of British acting - Keira Knightley, Mark Strong, Charles Dance and Rory Kinnear - and the film also has the backing of the mighty Harvey Weinstein.

The Keeping Room

One of the LFF's two westerns, set at the end of the Civil War, with Hailee Steinfeld and Brit Marling as two sisters left to fend for themselves - and defend themselves from Yankee soldiers. Image for Feature | Lights, Camera, Action! Preview – London Film Festival 2014

Whiplash

The much-anticipated winner of both the Jury Prize and the Audience Prize at this year's Sundance gets a gala screening. The story of a talented drummer and his ruthless teacher is structured like a riveting, cat and mouse thriller and promises to be a firecracker.

Public booking for this year's London Film Festival opens on Thursday, 18th September and the full programme is at the British Film Institute website. Lights, Camera, Action! will be there to bring all the festival news and reviews in October.