LEICESTER SQUARE tonight hosts the opening gala of the London Film Festival, with Tim Burton in attendance on the red carpet for the premiere of his new film, Frankenweenie.
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The 3-D animation movie about a boy and his dead dog will be screened at the BFI IMAX and 30 other cinemas across Britain at the same time as the big kick off at the Odeon Leicester Square.
Now in its 56th year, the London Film Festival features eleven other premieres among its 225 films over the course of the next ten days.
New director of the festival, Clare Stewart, has brought in a new categorisation system, designed to help individual cinema-goers choose films they are more likely to enjoy. Instead of being grouped by geographical area or age, films are now bundled as Love, Debate, Dare, Laugh, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Sonic and Family.
“We’ve studied reports on what makes people choose to see movies,” Stewart told the Telegraph. “It seems that what a film is about and its genre are more important than its stars, word of mouth and, dare I say it, reviews.”
Among the highlights are Rolling Stones documentary Crossfire Hurricane; Bill Murray as US President Roosevelt in Hyde Park on Hudson; Michael Haneke’s tribute to OAP love, Amour, and, for the gala closing show on 21 October, Great Expectations, starring Burton’s partner, Helena Bonham Carter, as Miss Havisham.
The 56th London Film Festival runs from today, 10 October until 21 October.
