This year’s Competition Jury Presidents are:
Official Competition (Best Film Award) – Elizabeth Karlsen (Producer, Carol)
First Feature Competition (Sutherland Award) – Kibwe Tavares (Director, The Kitchen)
Documentary Competition (Grierson Award) – Eloïse King (Director, The Shadow Scholars)
Short Film Competition (Short Film Award) – Ming-Jung Kuo (Programmer, former Artistic Director of the Singapore International Film Festival)
Full juries: Official Competition – Elizabeth Karlsen, Justin Chang, Kahlil Joseph; Sutherland, First Feature – Kibwe Tavares , Anja Fröhner, Nadia Latif; Grierson, Documentary – Eloïse King, Josh Siegel, Reece Goodwin; Short Film – Ming-Jung Kuo, Matty Crawford, Lee Ott
The 69th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express has announced its jury line-up for this year’s Festival Awards. The Official Competition jury is led by internationally renowned, award-winning producer Elizabeth Karlsen, co-founder of Number 9 Films. Over the course of her distinguished career, she has produced a wide range of critically acclaimed titles, including Carol, Made in Dagenham, Little Voice, Colette, and Mothering Sunday. Her work has been recognised with an extraordinary 52 BAFTA nominations and wins and 20 Academy Award® nominations and wins.
Elizabeth Karlsen
The First Feature Competition (Sutherland Award) jury will be headed up by British filmmaker Kibwe Tavares. Tavares made his feature directorial debut with The Kitchen (2023), co-directed with Daniel Kaluuya, which premiered as the closing night film of the 67th BFI London Film Festival in 2023. He is the co-founder of Factory Fifteen, a studio that uses animation and emerging technologies to understand and explain the built environment. His first short, Robots of Brixton, was awarded the 2011 Royal Institute of British Architects President’s Medal as well as the Short Film Special Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival in 2012.
Leading the jury selecting the winner of the Grierson Award for Best Documentary is Eloïse King. Her groundbreaking debut feature documentary The Shadow Scholars premiered at the 68th BFI London Film Festival 2024. Formerly Global Executive Producer at VICE, she is a recipient of fellowships from Netflix, Firelight Media, and Logan Nonfiction. She previously founded the Women on Docs curatorial programme to champion women and non-binary work in non-fiction, and through her company White Teeth Films continues to tell powerful stories that centre marginalised perspectives in mainstream culture.
The list is rounded off by Ming-Jung Kuo, who has over a decade of experience in festival programming and international co-production. She has previously served as Artistic Director of the Singapore International Film Festival, Advisor at the Locarno Film Festival, and currently a consultant for Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. She will lead the jury selecting the best short film.
Ming-Jung Kuo
The BFI London Film Festival Awards are a celebration of the most exciting, innovative new films and cinematic storytelling. Bold, visually striking, and thought-provoking, the nominees highlight an extraordinary breadth of talent from around the globe.
Kristy Matheson, BFI London Film Festival Director, said: “We are delighted to share our 2025 competition titles with audiences and our esteemed jury members. My thanks to each of them for their generous participation in the festival this year.”
OFFICIAL COMPETITION
Elizabeth Karlsen, Official Competition Jury President said: “One of the highlights of my year is the LFF. It’s been a joy for many years to be one in an excited crowd full of expectation for what is about to flicker across the cinema screen. Everything about the experience; waiting in line, seeing people you know, finding the right seat, watching and talking about the film, is something I love. It’s a real privilege to head the Official Competition Jury. Few things bring more pleasure than watching movies and talking about them with fellow jurors. I can’t wait for the festival to begin and thank the BFI/LFF for all the work they do bringing such a stellar festival to so many film fans.”
Elizabeth Karlsen is joined this year by: Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Justin Chang (The New Yorker, NPR, Los Angeles Times) and acclaimed artist, filmmaker, and co-founder of The Underground Museum in Los Angeles, Kahlil Joseph (BLKNWS).
Justin Chang
The Best Film Award recognises inspiring, inventive and distinctive filmmaking. The Official Competition films are:
BAD APPLES (UK, dir. Jonatan Etzler)
BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL: THE KWAME BRATHWAITE STORY (UK-USA 2025, dir. Yemi Bamiro)
BLACK RABBIT, WHITE RABBIT (Tajikistan–United Arab Emirates, dir. Shahram Mokri)
HAIR, PAPER, WATER… (Belgium–France–Vietnam, dir. Nicolas Graux, Trương Minh Quý)
HEDDA (USA, dir.-scr. Nia DaCosta)
LANDMARKS (Argentina–USA–Mexico–France–Netherlands, dir. Lucrecia Marte)
ROSE OF NEVADA (UK, dir.-scr. Mark Jenkin)
THE TESTAMENT OF ANN LEE (UK, dir. Mona Fastvold)
THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB (Tunisia–France, dir.-scr. Kaouther Ben Hania)
THE WORLD OF LOVE (South Korea, dir.-scr. Yoon Ga-eun)
Kahlil Joseph
FIRST FEATURE COMPETITION
Kibwe Tavares, First Feature Competition Jury President said: “It’s an honour to be Jury President for the Sutherland Award at the BFI London Film Festival. I can’t wait to watch these debut films and celebrate the filmmakers at the start of their journeys—LFF has been central to mine.”
Alongside Tavares will be: Head of Programme at Zurich Film Festival, Anja Fröhner and genre-defying theatre maker and film director Nadia Latif.
The Sutherland Award recognises the most original and imaginative directorial debut. Introduced in 1958 and named in honour of BFI Patron George Sutherland Leveson-Gower. This year’s nominated directors are:
BECOMING HUMAN (Cambodia, dir. Polen L)
DIAMONDS IN THE SAND (Philippines, dir. Janus Victoria)
DREAMERS (UK, dir. Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor)
ISH (UK, dir. Imran Perretta)
MAD BILLS TO PAY (US, dir. Joel Alfonso Vargas)
MY FATHER’S SHADOW (UK-Nigeria, dir. Akinola Davies)
ONE WOMAN ONE BRA (Kenya-Nigeria, dir. Vincho Nchogu)
SINK (Jordan-Saudi Arabia-Qatar-France, dir. Zain Duraie)
SONGS OF FORGOTTEN TREEs (India, dir. Anuparna Roy)
A USEFUL GHOST (Thailand-France-Singapore, dir. Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke)
DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
Eloïse King, Documentary Competition President said: “I’m incredibly honoured to chair the Grierson jury at LFF – it’s especially meaningful having premiered my debut here last year. Documentary filmmaking is in an intensely challenging, thrillingly creative, and vital period, so it’s a true privilege to help celebrate and uplift the perseverance and extraordinary talent of my peers who are pushing the form forward, continuing its legacy of artistic excellence and profound cultural impact.”
Joining King on the jury this year is: Josh Siegel, curator at The Museum of Modern Art and founding director of To Save and Project: The MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation, and Film & TV Curator at ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image), Reece Goodwin.
The Grierson Award recognises feature-length documentaries with integrity, originality and social or cultural significance. The selected documentaries this year are:
ALWAYS (dir. Deming Chen)
THE EYES OF GHANA (dir. Ben Proudfoot)
LIFE AFTER (dir. Reid Davenport)
ONLY ON EARTH (dir. Robin Petré)
SEEDS (dir. Brittany Shyne)
SINGING WINGS (dir. Hemen Khaledi)
SUPER NATURE (dir. Ed Sayers)
THE TRAVELERS (dir. David Bingong)
SHORT FILM COMPETITION
Ming-Jung Kuo, Short Film Competition President comments: ” I’m deeply honoured to be heading the shorts jury at this year’s BFI London Film Festival. There’s so much exciting work coming from new filmmakers across the UK and Ireland, and the short film competition is always the place to catch the bold, brilliant voices just breaking through.”
Joining Kuo will be BAFTA nominated British Filipino writer-director of Stomach Bug (2024), Matty Crawford and award-winning animation director Lee Ott, whose first stop-motion short, Dragfox (2024) – featuring Ian McKellen and Divina De Campo – celebrates queer identity and belonging and was showcased this year at BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival.
The Short Film Award recognises short-form works that speak with a unique cinematic voice, demonstrating a confident handling of theme and content. The nominated films this year are:
CAPYBARAS (LOS CARPINCHOS) (France-Uruguay-Chile, dir.-scr. Alfredo Soderguit),
COYOTES (Palestine-UK-France-Jordan, dir.-scr. Said Zagha)
ELEPHANT FAMILIES (UK-Spain, dir.-scr. Elena Escalante)
HAPPINESS (Turkey, dir. Firat Yücel)
HOPE IS LOST (Nigeria, dir. Eno Enefiok)
KA BA DDI: A BREATH, A MOVE, A GAME (UK, dir. Alia Syed),
MAGID / ZAFAR (UK, dir. Luís Hindman, scr. Sufiyaan Salam, Luís Hindman)
NOSTALGIE (UK, dir. Kathryn Ferguson, scr. Stacey Gregg)
WE HAD FUN (France, dir.-scr. Linda Lô)
WOMB (New Zealand, dir.-scr.Ira Hetaraka).
The ever-popular LFF Audience Awards will also return for 2025, with audiences casting their votes to determine the winners of Best Feature Film and Best British Feature Film. 2024 winners of LFF Audience Awards were Four Mothers (Best Feature), Holloway (Best Documentary), and Two Minutes (Best Short Film).
