BFI London Film Festival: Clooney, Craig and return of Day-Lewis top this year's bill

As the curtain falls on the Venice and Telluride film festivals, and just before Toronto begins, the 69th BFI London Film Festival yesterday announced a programme that cherrypicks from all three predecessors.

- Catherine Shoard

The third Knives Out film featuring Daniel Craig's eccentric detective, Benoit Blanc, opens the festival, after its debut in Toronto on Saturday. Other notable screenings include the European premiere of Chloé Zhao's Hamnet, the Maggie O'Farrell adaptation that won raves for Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal at its Telluride premiere last weekend, and the UK premieres of Hikari's Rental Family, starring Brendan Fraser, and Noah Baumbach's meta comedy Jay Kelly, starring George Clooney.

Bradley Cooper's third film as director/star, the standup comedy drama Is This Thing On? is also on the lineup, as is Bugonia, Yorgos Lanthimos's well-received latest collaboration with Emma Stone.

In total, 247 films are on the lineup from 79 countries, with 103 made by female or non-binary directors. This proportion – 42% – is marginally down on last year (44%), though there is parity in the official competition selection and the debut film-makers sidebar.