The London Film Festival returns next month with the premiere of Steve McQueen’s wartime drama “Blitz”, as well as the first look at a new television series from “Peaky Blinders” creator Steven Knight, the organizers said Wednesday. Oscar-winner McQueen’s World War II drama will open the 12-day festival on October 9 - the third time the British director of “Hunger” and “12 Years a Slave” is kicking off the annual event. Festival director Kristy Matheson said his latest movie - “an expansive tapestry of British life during the Second World War” - was the perfect choice to begin with.

“It’s an incredibly visually dazzling film,” she told a launch event at the British Film Institute (BFI)’s central London base. “It really represents the finest portrayals of life in a moment of crisis, perseverance and renewal.” The festival is also getting the first glimpse of “A Thousand Blows”, the new TV series from Knight starring British actor Stephen Graham. Due to air next year on streaming platform Disney+ in the UK and elsewhere, and Hulu in the United States, it is set in the world of illegal boxing in 1880s London.

Matheson said the “exhilarating” drama captured the underbelly of the Victorian capital and features a “towering performance” from Graham. The London festival will also host the world premiere of “Joy”, which tells the true story of the three British pioneers behind the world’s first IVF baby starring Bill Nighy and James Norton.

Silent Sherlock

While not among Europe’s top-tier film festivals, London has a reputation for eclectic programming and celebrating established and emerging British talent. It will close on October 20 with the European premiere of “Piece By Piece”, a new animated film by Oscar winner Morgan Neville about the life of musician Pharrell Williams, who is among its producers. Chronicling his childhood in Virginia and subsequent rise to fame entirely using Lego, it debuted to critical acclaim at the recent Telluride Film Festival.

The BFI will also unveil a newly-restored silent Sherlock Holmes film from 1922, starring creator Arthur Conan Doyle’s favorite impersonator of the famous fictional detective, Eille Norwood. It will be screened for the first time since its release in the dramatic Victorian setting of Alexandra Palace in north London with a live score.

Another BFI restoration of one of the UK’s greatest animated films, Martin Rosen’s 1978 classic “Watership Down”, will also premiere at the festival. Other highlights include the European premiere of “Elton John: Never Too Late”, a new documentary by directors R.J. Cutler and the singer’s husband David Furnish following the British music icon on his US tour. — AFP