The 68th BFII London Film Festival will take place from the 9th to the 20th October.
It has been announced that this year’s opening gala for the 68th BFI London Film Festival will be the world premiere of the Apple Original Film Blitz, which has been written, directed and produced by Academy Award and BAFTA winner Steve McQueen.
The film stars Academy and BAFTA Award nominee Saoirse Ronan, Elliott Heffernan, Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clementine, Kathy Burke, Paul Weller, Stephen Graham, Leigh Gill, Mica Ricketts, CJ Beckford, Alex Jennings, Joshua McGuire, Hayley Squires, Erin Kellyman, and Sally Messham.
BLITZ follows the epic journey of George (Elliott Heffernan), a 9-year-old boy in World War II London whose mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) sends him to safety in the English countryside. George, defiant and determined to return home to Rita and his grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller) in East London, ensues on an adventure, only to find himself in immense peril, while a distraught Rita searches for her missing son.
McQueen’s Lammas Park produces alongside Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title Films, Arnon Milchan, Yariv Milchan and Michael Schaefer for New Regency, with producers Anita Overland and Adam Somner.
This world premiere marks the return to the London Film Festival by the London-born director, who has opened the Festival twice before with Widows in 2018 and Mangrove in 2020. McQueen was awarded the BFI’s highest honour, the BFI Fellowship, at the BFI London Film Festival in 2016 for his outstanding contribution to film and moving image culture.
Blitz sees McQueen reuniting with production designer Adam Stockhausen (“12 Years a Slave,” “Widows”), costume designer Jacqueline Durran (“Small Axe”), and composer Hans Zimmer (“12 Years a Slave”), with cinematographer Yorick Le Saux (“Little Women”) and make up designer Naomi Donne (“No Time To Die”).
Talking about the film, Steve McQueen said: “Blitz is a movie about Londoners. It honours the spirit of what and how Londoners endured during the blitz, but also explores the true representation of people in London, while at its core is the story of a working-class family desperate to be reunited during times of war. I could not be more thrilled that the BFI London Film Festival have invited us to open this year’s festival, and to celebrate the World Premiere of ‘Blitz’ in my hometown.”
Blitz will premiere in select cinemas on the 1st November 2024, prior to streaming globally on Apple TV+ on 22 November, 2024.