Autumn is here, and with it the most exciting time of the year to be a London cinemagoer. BFI London Film Festival always offers screenings of exciting new films from some of cinema’s greatest working filmmakers, and this year is no exception. If you’re a BA (Hons) Filmmaking, MA Filmmaking, or MA Screenwriting student and living in London, follow these quick tips to make the most of the festival while it’s on from now until Sunday, 19 October.
Check for tickets every morning at 10am
For essentially every film and event, additional tickets are released at 10am on the morning of their screening – especially for Royal Southbank Centre premieres, due to its massive capacity. Check back on the BFI’s LFF website everyday at 10am and you could easily find yourself at a screening with some of your favourite actors and filmmakers.
Remember, don’t be discouraged by “sold out” screenings. These screenings almost always have plenty of tickets available from 10am on the day of the screening, additional times throughout the day, and in-person via the standby queue (more on this later).
If you’re eligible, sign up for BFI 25 & Under and get £6 tickets
The BFI is regularly releasing tickets for its BFI 25 & Under scheme, as part of efforts to appeal to younger audiences. If you’re eligible, and haven’t signed up yet, register for the scheme and you can get £6 tickets for all LFF screenings including Gala premieres.
Show up and chance your luck
While it may seem like a hopeless case, there is plenty of fortune to be had in showing up at a film screening beforehand and chancing your arm at getting a last-minute ticket. Standby queues tend to open between 30 and 60 minutes before a film’s start time, depending on the venue. It can’t be emphasised enough how often this can get you into screenings you’d never have expected to end up in.
Catch some big names...
High-profile screenings this year include Rian Johnson’s latest Benoit Blanc whodunnit, Wake Up Dead Man, Luca Guadagnino’s twisty After the Hunt, and Chloe Zhao’s stirring Hamnet. There will be no shortage of famous filmmakers and actors walking the red carpet, and Screen Talk guests include Richard Linklater, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Lynne Ramsay. Many of the larger events are currently “sold out”, but again: there is plenty of opportunities to grab tickets through the above methods.
...but also see some emerging talent
LFF, as with any film festival, poses a great opportunity to expose yourself to films and filmmakers that you’d otherwise never hear of. Each year, plenty of films at LFF end up not being formally released in the UK if they don’t secure theatrical distribution. Take a punt on some more niche screenings and you may wind up with a new favourite filmmaker.
BFI’s LFF 2025 page continuously updates and promotes screenings that still have tickets available.
See anything and everything you can
October is a busy time for London Film Academy students as they settle into their studies and look ahead to their Film Projects and screenplay deadlines. But it’s important to remember to enjoy one of the key strengths of LFA: being at the doorstep of one of the most vibrant film scenes in the world.
There’s no better way to do this than to spend a few evenings over the next couple of weeks in jam-packed screenings at some of London’s nicest cinemas and getting inspired by what’s on offer. Make the most of it, and who knows – in the future, you may be back exhibiting your own film to the next generation of filmmakers.