The BFI has announced the selection of 10 films competing for the Best Film Award at the 2026 London Film Festival. 

The films selected in the Official Competition category are: 

7 Miles Out (UK, Dir. Carol Morley) 

Act 3 (Ireland-UK, Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor) 

Glaxo (Brazil-Argentina, Dir. Benjamín Naishtat) 

Imperium (Germany-France-Italy-Lithuania, Dir. Sergei Loznitsa) 

Ketticè (Italy, Dir. Giovanni Tortorici) 

Look Back (Japan, Dir. Hirokazu Koreeda) 

My Notes on Mars (Hungary-Austria, Lili Horvát) 

The Difficult Bride (France-Bangladesh-Portugal-Norway-Germany, Rubaiyat Hossain) 

The Idiot(s) (UK-Poland, Dir. Małgorzata Szumowska, Michal Englert) 

Woman Unknown (Denmark-Latvia-Sweden, Dir. May el-Toukhy)

Follow our BFI London Film Festival coverage here.

BFI London Film Festival Director, Kristy Matheson, said: “As we celebrate the 70th edition of the BFI London Film Festival, it’s an honour to have a number of alumni filmmakers represented in the Official Competition alongside those making their first appearance at the festival. 

“Our 2026 competition selection brings an astounding array of filmmaking styles to the screen. As ever, it’s been creatively nourishing for myself and the team to encounter each of these works – we’re excited to share these with audiences in October.”

Whilst this is the 70th edition of LFF, the award only began in 2009 and is said to celebrate “inspiring, inventive and distinctive filmmaking”.

So far this decade, recent winners include Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist in 2023, Adam Elliot’s Memoir of a Snail in 2024, and Lucrecia Martel’s Landmarks in 2025. Other previous recipients include Jacques Audiard for A Prophet.

The winner of the Best Film Award will be announced on Sunday 18 October, the last day of the festival.

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