The opening night gala of the London Film Festival has been announced with Oscar and BAFTA award winning writer-director
Steve McQueen’s Apple Original WWII drama Blitz securing the coveted festival spot. The film stars Saoirse Ronan, Harris Dickinson, and nine-year-old newcomer Elliott Heffernan.

Having opened LFF twice before first with 2018′s Widows and then again in 2020 with Small Axe anthology feature Mangrove, McQueen is no stranger to the festival and the premiere venue Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. Many of McQueen’s other films such as Hunger and 12 Years a Slave have also been part of the BFI London Film Festival, making him something of a firm fixture during the past 16 years.

In recent years, that coveted opening slot at the festival has been taken by films such as Saltburn, Matilda The Musical, and The Harder They Fall.

Official Synopsis below for Blitz:

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.

This year the 68th BFI London Film Festival — which will run from Wednesday 9 October to Sunday 20 October. Sat tuned for more exciting festival coverage.