Top image: The Florida Project (2017) dir. Sean Baker

As October rolls in, the BFI London Film Festival returns to the city to raise any dreary post-summer spirits, and just like it’s eponymous city, this year’s festival boasts a colourful and diverse selection of films that celebrate all different facets of our world. 

Boasting a mouth-watering line-up of 242 films over twelve days – across documentaries, Hollywood blockbusters and indie flicks – we’ve done you a favour and picked out the must-see gems from this year’s offering.

Scroll down and take note.

Battle of the Sexes (2017) dir. Valerie Faris, Jonathan Dayton

Two of cinema’s biggest contemporary talents, Oscar winner Emma Stone and Steve Carrell, team up to charm us all in this sporting comedy. Two tennis giants, Billie Jean King (stone) and Bobby Riggs (Carrell) go head to head on the court in the 1970s, with King facing off not only Riggs’ chauvinism but that of the whole professional sporting industry.

If you thought the McGregor vs Mayweather circus-like build-up was OTT, the atmosphere surrounding King and Riggs’ infamous 1973 tennis showdown was times ten. A 55-year-old former champ looking for thrills and a payday at the age, Riggs dreamt up the idea of playing against a top-ranked woman, cue Billie Jean King. And for added spice, King was famous for demanding that women tennis players receive equal pay to the men and served as a representative for feminist ideals and women more generally.

A versatile screenplay by Simon Beaufoy juggles the comic element of the central rivalry, showcasing the determination and strength of King, with her heartfelt struggles off-court.

Breathe (2017) dir. Andy Serkis

The Opening Night Gala of this year’s festival is the directorial debut of Andy Serkis, the award-winning actor who played Golum in the Lord of the Rings franchise and Cesar the ape in the Planet of the Apes trilogy. Considering the director is most well-known for his work with green screens, Breathe is a remarkably human story about the perseverance inspired by love.

The story follows Robin (Andrew Garfield) and Diana (Claire Foy), who face off against the polio epidemic and seemingly insurmountable odds. Props must be given to the sheer weight of British talent in this powerful picture.

The Florida Project (2017) dir. Sean Baker

A story of childhood innocence played out in the shadow of the American Dream, Sean Baker’s glorious follow-up to 2015’s LFF entry Tangerine is the story of two wilful young female characters, mother Halley (Bria Vinaite) and six-year-old daughter Moonee, played by Brooklynn Kimberly Prince. Living in the Magic Castle motel, located tantalisingly close to Disney World, Moonee and her rag-tag friends roam the sunset-pink motel with young optimism whilst her young mum struggles to make ends meet.

Baker does brilliantly well at capturing the cheeky charm of this enchanting girl. Matching vivid cinematography with poignant social commentary, Baker’s new feature is a soon-to-be cult classic. Oh, and Willem Dafoe’s brilliant performance as the reluctant father-figure manager at the motel is yet another reason to watch this film.

The Shape of Water (2017) dir. Guillermo del Toro

Spanish visionary del Toro’s latest film again exemplifies just how adept he is at merging the disciplines of the grotesque and the beautiful. A mute female cleaner forms a strange attachment with a mysterious amphibious creature in a secret US lab. Set in the peak of the Cold War, small minds tormenting the creature are not hard to find, but the film is a champion of the extraordinary, in story and performances alike. Think King Kong meets Amélie.

Last Flag Flying (2017) dir. Richard Linklater

Director Richard Linklater’s preoccupation with the passing of time is evident in his work – seminal 70’s time capsule Dazed and Confused and Oscar-winning Boyhood being among it. His most introspective muse is apparent in this comedic drama starring Laurence Fishburne, Steve Carell and Bryan Cranston, following three Vietnam War veterans regrouping decades after their last encounter.

Following the death of his son, Richard “Doc” Shepherd (Carrell) enlists his friends to accompany him to the funeral before deciding he wants his son to be buried at home, cue a humorous and touching road trip, coffin in tow.

Mudbound (2017) dir. Dee Rees

The significance of this adaptation of Hillary Jordan’s 2009 novel confronting racism will not be lost on contemporary audiences, faced with daily news stories about white supremacists and neo-Nazi groups across the globe. Rees draws together the tales of two families in the Deep South, one black and one white, after an unexpected post WWII friendship ignites racial tension that sets relations between the two ablaze. Shout out to Mary J. Blige also, who gives a sizzling performance in this family affair.

Having been bought by Netflix for a whopping $12.5 million, Mudbound could very well be the first Netflix feature to compete at the Academy Awards.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017) dir. Yorgos Lanthimos

Director, co-producer and co-screenwriter Yorgos Lanthimos returns to BFI London Film Festival with another marvellously surreal offering, following cult flick The Lobster (2015). Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman are doctors, married with the seemingly perfect nuclear family, until domestic bliss is shattered by the actions of unwitting father Steven (Farrell). As their lives begin to contort into horrific proportions, we see each character’s psyche gradually unravel.

A cursory Google search of the Greek myth of Iphigenia would do well to enhance this black tale, and potentially impress a date.

The Final Year (2017) dir. Greg Barker

For many of us, Greg Barker’s astoundingly intimate documentary following the Obama administration as it attempts to secure its legacy will be a hard picture to watch.  Filming may have only been completed this year, but The Final Year is already a historical document, cataloguing the transition from relative comfort at the end of an eight-year term in office to steely determination as it is revealed that the incoming administration may not share their vision of America’s values. Or any president in the history of one of the world’s oldest democracy’s values, in fact.

The Final Year follows four key figures of the administration, including Obama himself, with an unbelievably close and pensive eye as the stormy last twelve months unfolded in front of them. 

Warning: The Final Years will have you pining for the Obama days. Remember them? Those days when you didn’t wake up each morning scared to turn on the news/Twitter for fear of another Trump travesty.

BFI London Film Festival runs from 4th 15th October 2017. See the full programme here.