The BFI London Film Festival 2026 is almost here – and while this isn’t my first time heading to the festival, it will be my first attending on behalf of Cinephile Tourist as accredited press. Considering I only launched the publication earlier this year, it feels pretty special to see how far it has already come.
The BFI London Film Festival is, of course, a major fixture on the annual film festival circuit. Running from October 7–18, its 70th edition brings together films and filmmakers from around the world, with 251 titles representing 88 countries across the full programme.
Naturally, there are far more films on the schedule than I could possibly squeeze into 12 days. But from stories transporting us to a small Norwegian town and the slopes of Mount Everest to a Pakistani dark comedy and a wonderfully strange village inhabited by Olivia Colman and a wicker Alexander Skarsgård, there are already plenty at the top of my list.
As the person behind a film publication sitting at the intersection of cinema and travel, I’m always going to have my eye on the destinations, landscapes, cultures and traditions that make their way onto the screen. But sometimes, the location is half the reason I’m interested in a film.
I’m a film buff first and foremost, so some films simply demand to be seen because of the stories they tell, the performances, the filmmaking or the chance to experience something completely outside your own world for a couple of hours. After all, travel isn’t the only way cinema can transport us.
So, with that in mind, here are the nine films currently at the top of my BFI London Film Festival 2026 watchlist – some for the places they’ll take me, and others simply because I just really want to see them.
1. The Debut
Director: Jesse Eisenberg
Cast: Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti, Halle Bailey, Jesse Eisenberg, Cara Buono
Jesse Eisenberg returns behind the camera for The Debut, with Julianne Moore playing a shy woman who unexpectedly lands a role in a local musical and becomes increasingly consumed by the world of community theatre. Paul Giamatti, Halle Bailey and Eisenberg himself round out the cast.
It’s also a particularly fitting one for the list: The Debut has been chosen as the Closing Night Gala of this year’s festival, bringing the curtain down on LFF’s 70th edition.
Read more / When to see: Click here
2. Fjord
Director: Cristian Mungiu
Cast: Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, Lisa Carlehed
The title alone was probably always going to get Fjord onto Cinephile Tourist’s radar. Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner follows an evangelical family who relocate to a small Norwegian town, where concerns surrounding their children’s wellbeing place them under scrutiny.
Norway provides the backdrop for a story dealing with religion, family, cultural differences and competing ideas of morality – and with Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan leading the cast, this is easily one of my most anticipated films of the festival.
Read more / When to see: Click here
3. Klara and the Sun
Director: Taika Waititi
Cast: Jenna Ortega, Amy Adams, Mia Tharia, Steve Buscemi, Natasha Lyonne
Kazuo Ishiguro’s bestselling novel gets the big-screen treatment from Taika Waititi, with Jenna Ortega starring as Klara, an Artificial Friend chosen by a young girl named Josie. Amy Adams plays Josie’s mother, while Steve Buscemi and Natasha Lyonne are also among the rather stacked cast.
The sci-fi premise might make this one less obviously travel-focused than some of my other picks, but I’m intrigued to see the world Waititi has created around Ishiguro’s story – particularly how the film visualises Klara’s experience of discovering the human world.
Read more / When to see: Click here
4. Prima Facie
Director: Susanna White
Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Daniel Ings, Toheeb Jimoh, Noma Dumezweni, Elliot Levey
After becoming a phenomenon on stage, Suzie Miller’s Prima Facie is heading to the screen with Cynthia Erivo taking over the central role of Tessa, an ambitious barrister whose faith in the legal system is fundamentally altered when she becomes the complainant in a sexual-assault case herself.
This is admittedly one I’m here for primarily because of the story and Erivo rather than the travel inspiration. But that’s allowed occasionally!
Read more / When to see: Click here
5. Gentle Monster
Director: Marie Kreutzer
Cast: Léa Seydoux, Jella Haase, Catherine Deneuve
Léa Seydoux, Catherine Deneuve and Corsage director Marie Kreutzer are more than enough to pique my interest in Gentle Monster.
Seydoux plays Lucy, a woman whose apparently stable family life is shattered when her husband becomes the subject of a police investigation. The Austria-Germany-France production mixes German, English and French, giving this one an international flavour even as its subject matter heads into much darker territory.
Read more / When to see: Click here
6. Lali
Director: Sarmad Sultan Khoosat
Cast: Mamya Shajaffar, Channan Hanif, Rasti Farooq
A Pakistani film was inevitably going to catch my eye, and Lali sounds delightfully strange.
The Punjabi-language dark comedy follows Zeba, a woman considered cursed after two previous fiancés die, who is pushed into an arranged marriage with Sajawal. From there, things apparently get increasingly unconventional, with romance, pitch-black comedy and hints of the supernatural thrown together.
Directed by Sarmad Sultan Khoosat, with Joyland filmmaker Saim Sadiq working as editor and casting director, it’s also a chance to see another distinctive piece of contemporary South Asian, Pakistani cinema on the big screen.
Read more / When to see: Click here
7. Wicker
Directors: Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson
Cast: Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård, Elizabeth Debicki
Possibly the most wonderfully bizarre premise on my list: Olivia Colman plays an unmarried fisherwoman ostracised by the inhabitants of her village who decides to order herself a husband made from wicker. Said wicker husband is played by Alexander Skarsgård. Obviously, I need to know more.
The eccentric village setting is also exactly the sort of cinematic location that interests me – somewhere that becomes part of the strange little world of the film rather than simply serving as scenery.
Read more / When to see: Click here
8. Josephine
Director: Beth de Araújo
Cast: Mason Reeves, Channing Tatum, Gemma Chan
After winning the Grand Jury Dramatic Prize at Sundance, Josephine arrives in London with one of the heavier stories on my watchlist.
Mason Reeves stars as eight-year-old Josephine, who witnesses a sexual assault and struggles to process what she has seen, while Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan play her parents. Director Beth de Araújo blends elements of thriller and horror with an intimate family drama.
This is another where the story and performances are drawing me in more than the travel element – but after its Sundance reception, it’s firmly on the list.
Read more / When to see: Click here
9. Everest: The Other Side
Directors: Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin
Featuring: Jim Morrison, Hilaree Nelson
Finally, one that couldn’t be more Cinephile Tourist if it tried.
Oscar-winning Free Solo filmmakers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin turn their cameras towards Everest, following mountaineers Jim Morrison and the late Hilaree Nelson and their ambition to climb and ski the mountain’s formidable north face.
I’ve already written about Everest: The Other Side as part of this year’s unexpected wave of mountain movies, so getting the chance to see those extraordinary Himalayan landscapes on the big screen makes this one of my biggest priorities at LFF.
Read more / When to see: Click here
What is on your BFI London Film Festival 2026 watchlist? Let us know! Also, are you travelling to London for the BFI London Film Festival 2026? Make a trip of it and explore some of the capital’s most famous film and TV locations while you’re here. Click here!