Screen Talks programme announced for 68th BFI London Film Festival

The 68th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express is thrilled to announce this year’s line-up of Screen Talks, in which audiences have the chance to hear first-hand from leading voices in contemporary cinema and television from both sides of the camera. 

The Screen Talks programme will include interviews with Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank, Red Road), Sean Baker (Tangerine, The Florida Project), Mike Leigh (Secrets and Lies, Vera Drake), Steve McQueen (Hunger, Widows), Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave, Queen of Katwe) , Zoe Saldaña (Avatar, Guardians of the Galaxy), Denis Villeneuve (Dune, Arrival) and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin (Nyad, Free Solo).

One of the major voices of British cinema, Andrea Arnold’s impact on both the large and small screen cannot be overestimated. From Wasp, Fish Tank and American Honey to I Love Dick and Transparent, Arnold has proven herself a formidable filmmaker.

The Palme d’Or awarded to Sean Baker at Cannes this year for Anora was acknowledgement of the importance of his work, which has found innovative creative ways to represent the experiences of the marginalised or ignored lives on the screen. The filmmaker behind Tangerine, The Florida Project and Red Rocket will discuss his career with us.

Few British actors have made such a seismic impact on cinema in the UK and US as Daniel Kaluuya. From Skins, Sicario and a star-making role in Get Out to the widening range of Black Panther, Queen & Slim, Judas and the Black Messiah, Nope and his feature filmmaking debut The Kitchen (which closed the LFF in 2023), he will discuss his career in front of and behind the camera.

The director of Blitz, the LFF’s Opening Night Gala, acclaimed Academy Award and BAFTA-winning filmmaker and Turner Prize-winning artist Steve McQueen is one of the most important British filmmakers to emerge this century. He will talk about his new film, alongside his work for the big and small screen, from Hunger and 12 Years a Slave to Widows, Small Axe and Occupied City.

From her Oscar-winning breakthrough performance in 12 Years a Slave, to Queen of Katwe, Black Panther, Us and A Quiet Place: Day One, Lupita Nyong’o has shown herself to be a versatile and charismatic screen presence. She will discuss her screen career with us.

Mike Leigh has a formidable body of films over the course of the last 50 years. From Bleak Moments and Nuts in May, through Life Is Sweet, Naked and Palme d’Or winning Secrets & Lies to Vera Drake and Mr. Turner, the writer-director will join us to talk about his work.

She made Uhura her own, fought for her planet as Neytiri and avenged a galaxy as Gamora. She has played an embittered assassin and the leader of a CIA undercover operation, among many richly layered performances; Zoe Saldaña, star of Avatar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Trek, and Lioness joins the LFF to discuss her remarkable acting career.

Following the Oscar success of Free Solo and their venture into fiction filmmaking with Nyad, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin join to talk about their work chronicling the huge range and challenges of human endurance.

Infusing both intimate and epic cinema with profound human drama and emotional intelligence, Denis Villeneuve is a modern-day virtuoso filmmaker. From August 32nd on Earth, Polytechnique, Incendies and Sicario to Arrival, Blade Runner 2049 and the Dune diptych, we will journey with Villeneuve through his extraordinary career.

Saturday 19 October, 12:30 – BFI Southbank NFT1

Saturday 12 October, 13:30 – Curzon Soho Screen 1

Wednesday 9 October, 11:30 – Picturehouse Central

Sunday 20 October, 15:15 – BFI Southbank NFT1

Wednesday 9 October, 14:00 – BFI Southbank NFT1

Monday 14 October, 12:30 – BFI Southbank NFT1

Saturday 12 October, 15:00 – BFI Southbank NFT1

Sunday 13 October, 15:00 – BFI Southbank NFT3

Saturday 12 October, 11:30 – Southbank Centre

Tickets go on sale 17 September. BFI Members book early on 10 September and American Express® Cardmembers can access presale from 13 to 17 September.