London fest highlights
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No Home-Field Advantage
The London Film Festival prides itself on making no special allowances for British films. So it's no great shock that this year's main selection features more French directors than Brits.
The 14 showpiece galas include just one film by a British filmmaker, Anthony Asquith's restored 1928 silent "Underground," and he's been dead for 41 years.
Fest artistic director Sandra Hebron says it's a cyclical dip after last year's unusually strong U.K. presence. Her policy is to select films according to quality, not nationality, and she won't lower her standards for the home team.
"Showing films that don't hold up against the other international films," Hebron says, "doesn't help the home industry."
Brit world premieres
Nonetheless, this year's fest is giving world premieres to several intriguing new British directors. There's "Nowhere Boy" by artist Sam Taylor-Wood, actor David Morrissey's directing debut "Don't Worry About Me," Tom Harper's "Scouting Book for Boys" and Malcolm Venville's "44 Inch Chest."
'Fox' in the henhouse
Fox chose London to launch Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr. Fox" because it's based on a beloved Brit book, while "The Men Who Stare at Goats," "An Education," "Bright Star," "The Boys Are Back," "The Road" and "Valhalla Rising" all have strong British elements.
Say 'Cheese'
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of "Wallace and Gromit," animator Nick Park will give a career-retrospective interview, accompanied by a digitally remastered screening of Wallace and Gromit's debut, "A Grand Day Out."
