BFI London Film Festival trail

Festival artwork through the ages

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Your #LFF stories

Partying with Helena Bonham-Carter and Tim Burton at Battersea Power Station for the 2012 Closing Night Gala party for Great Expectations. I'd joined as an intern two weeks before and naively assumed that this early, very glamorous experience was reflective of everyday life at the BFI!”

It’s 1987. An awkward boy has four quid and a dilemma: what to see? Ticket booth guru says Manhunter. I walk in. Michael Mann’s in the audience – how? – and Hannibal Lecter is on the screen. Two hours and one epiphany later, I want more of this. I’m still awkward, but I now work at the BFI.”

I will never forget that walk to the front door. I can't remember what was worse: the photographers lifting up their cameras and then instantly lowering them when they realised I was clearly not famous, the scrutiny from the crowd, or my weird arm gestures as I tried to cover up the cat hair. The red carpet is massive, it's longer and wider than I imagined and the whole thing probably took 15 to 20 seconds but felt like an eternity. If I could have lain down and rolled into the Odeon, I would have done. The first thing I saw when I finally entered the cinema was a prosecco stand, I bought two glasses. Then I bought another two. I had not eaten and was so drunk when Greta Gerwig came on stage, I whooped and punched the air. While comfort is still part of the LFF wardrobe plan, I always make sure I'm red carpet presentable.”

2018 was the first time I attended the LFF. I attended the Maggie Gyllenhaal Screen Talk. After it, I was queuing at the BFI cafe to get a tea and Diana – who was also in her first year attending the LFF and had attended the Screen Talk – was in front of me in the queue. We started talking while waiting in the queue, then spent the rest of the day together at the festival, attending different screenings and events. We’ve become amazing friends since! We are both called Diana, which makes it really funny and cute when we meet new people.”

Watching Sandra Hebron (former Festival Director) trying to interview Mickey Rourke after the Surprise Film screening of The Wrestler. He was just uncontrollable, expletive-ridden and hilarious – everything you’d expect and want in a real life Mickey Rourke! He came out with story after story, sitting on the stage with the audience loving every minute of it. ‘There was this one time …..’ followed by a tale of drug and alcohol-fuelled abandon…”