The 68th BFI London Film Festival (LFF) is concluding Sunday night with Piece by Piece, an animated LEGO biopic of Pharrell Williams, directed by Morgan Neville (Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, 20 Feet From Stardom).
This comes after the announcement of this year’s competition winners, led by Adam Elliot’s claymation feature Memoir of a Snail.
Set in 1970s Australia, Memoir of a Snail stars Succession’s Sarah Snook as Grace Pudel, a shy girl born with a cleft palate, who grows up with her rebellious and sometimes pyromaniac twin brother Gilbert, voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee.
Grace eventually becomes a solitary collector of ornamental snails, with her only companion being a wild elderly woman named Pinky, played by Jacki Weaver.
The film also features voice work by Eric Bana, Dominique Pinon, and Nick Cave. Already a winner at the Annecy Film Festival, Memoir of a Snail will be released in the U.S. by IFC Films on October 25.
The LFF jury praised Memoir of a Snail as “a singular achievement in filmmaking,” commending its emotionally resonant exploration of themes like bullying, loneliness, and grief, addressing them in a way that only animation can.
A special jury mention went to the Zambian family drama On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, directed by Rungano Nyoni, which had premiered earlier at Cannes.
In the LFF documentary competition, the LFF Grierson Award was won by Mother Vera, directed by Cécile Embleton and Alys Tomlinson.
This documentary follows a young Orthodox nun as she grapples with her past, desires, and an uncertain future.
Eloise King’s The Shadow Scholars earned a special mention for its investigation into the global underworld of academic essay writing, where overqualified but underemployed young Kenyans ghostwrite for students worldwide.
The Sutherland Award for best first feature went to On Falling, directed by Laura Carreira. The film portrays a young Portuguese warehouse worker in Scotland.
Olivia & The Clouds, directed by Tomás Pichardo Espaillat, received a special mention in the same category for its creative exploration of memory and reality through various animation styles.
In the short film competition, the best short film award went to Vibrations From Gaza, a documentary by Rehab Nazzal about Palestinian Deaf children in Gaza.
Lisa Ott’s stop-motion animation *Dragfox*, about a child grappling with their identity and a charismatic fox learning to accept their differences, received a special mention.
Last year’s LFF winners included Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist for best film, Mike Gustafson’s Paradise Is Burning for the Sutherland Award, Lina Soualem’s Bye Bye Tiberias for the Grierson Award, and Simisolaoluwa Akande’s The Archive: Queer Nigerians for best short film.
The LFF faced some challenges over the weekend, including the last-minute removal of *Undercover: Exposing the Far Right*, a documentary by Havana Marking, from the program due to concerns for the safety of staff, security, and audience members.
Later in October, the LFF Audience Awards will be announced, with the public able to vote for their favorite films in the categories of best narrative feature, documentary feature, and short film.
This year’s festival screened over 250 titles, featuring highlights from the festival circuit such as Sean Baker’s Anora, Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez, Pablo Larraín’s Maria, Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch, Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice, and Edward Berger’s Conclave, along with about 40 world premieres.
The Expanded program also introduced video games alongside immersive installations and experiences.
