Boris Johnson pleased the film industry today by highlighting new powers for councils to close roads for up to 24 hours to better enable filmmaking around the capital. Recognising the power of the silver screen in promoting London as a tourist destination (or fancying himself as Hugh Grant in Notting Hill) Boris bigged up the local industry, committed more funding to grass roots development of young film-making talent and threw his weight behind an......

The Cobra London Film Festival ticket giveaway closes this evening at 5pm so it's your last chance to enter the competition. On offer is a pair of red carpet tickets for the Mayor of London Gala Premiere of Genova starring Mr Darcy Colin Firth. Click here to enter.......

Colin Firth in Genova A couple of days ago, we told you how to get along to the screenings at the forthcoming London Film Festival. However, if you're too glamorous or lazy to hang around for returns to red carpet events, here's a giveaway you have to enter. Cobra is the official beer of the festival and they've generously given us a pair of tickets to the sold out Mayor of London Gala, Genova to......

Ladies and Gents, set your status to "moist anticipation," cultivate those stomach-fluttery butterflies, and start thinking of some health hiccups you can turn into sickies; there's seven, just SEVEN days to go until the amazing Times BFI 52nd London Film Festival kicks off! Unlike Cannes, and Venice, and those other high profile film festivals you hear about, the beauty of the London Film Festival is that it's a public film festival. So you, yes,......

Almost time for the London Film Festival again! This year the event is opened by David Cronenberg's London-set Eastern Promises - Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen following up A History of Violence with this violent tale of Russian organised crime, penned by Steve Dirty Pretty Things Knight. One to watch for sure. Closing the festival is the new Wes Anderson movie, The Darjeeling Limited. In between there are some 180+ feature films and 133 shorts,......

Funnily enough we rewatched the 1936 adaptation of HG Wells' The Shape of Things To Come over the weekend and were looking fior a way to mention it on Londonist because of the striking similarities between Everytown and here. Then we got an email informing us that a digitally restored version of the film is to open the Sci-Fi London Film Festival in May. The new version of the film is also the longest......

We saw this movie back in 2005 at the London Film Festival and have been desperate to see it again and drag everyone we know along. Now it's finally got a brief release in London we've dusted off our review... Hands up if you saw Noi The Albino. It didn't get a huge release here, but was a cracking little film (probably find it in Fopp for a tenner). Dark Horse is by the......

Shown previously as part of the 2006 London Film Festival in October, there is a special screening of Nick Broomfield's new film Ghosts at 6.30pm tonight at the Renoir, prior to the film's general release this Friday. Ghosts is Broomfield's second fictional film that draws on his strengths as a documentary maker but exerts a different and more intriguing power than a straightforward documentary. The film follows an impoverished Chinese mother who pays an......

There's a chill in the air and the nights are getting longer but though it is tempting to stay indoors, with pipe and slippers (perhaps a slumbering medium-sized dog and roaring log fire too), to wait patiently until spring brings back some colour to the trees... you really mustn't. No, really: don't. Put on a sensible coat and start crawling with us... Today and tomorrow The Radox Experience the Elements event in Russell Square......

Due to a particularly vindictive university timetable scheduler, today and henceforth Friday Film News is upping sticks and moving to the so far uncharted territory of the weekend! This week's housewarming will include a look at the reviews of Marie-Antoinette, The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael and Gypo and if you are lucky, a look at what's worth going to see this week at the London Film Festival. I hope you'll join us, bring......

While the London Film Festival was having its gala opening in Leicester Square, a decidedly less glitzy and less James McAvoy-related film gathering was taking place down at BAFTA headquarters over on Piccadilly. Just Watch Me: Award Winning Canadian Short Films brought together some classic National Film Board cartoons with newer shorts by David Cronenberg, Guy Maddin and Chris Landreth (who won the Oscar in 2005 for his animated film Ryan). Also, there was......

Note: 'Fingerfucked by the Prime Minister' is now our favourite song. Of course the Times London Film Festival is yet to start and there's a kabillion and one screenings ahead of us but Joachim Trier's Reprise is going to be hard to top for sheer freshness and warmth. Simply put it's a brilliant piece of film making. A group of friends whose lives revolve around literature and music unravel a charming punkrock story through......

A quick heads up from the LFF press office: Public Booking for The Times BFI 50th London Film Festival opens TOMORROW, Friday 29th September. Phone and online booking opens at 0930. Tickets will also be available to buy in person at the NFT box office from 1130. With almost half the screenings and events at 2005’s Festival selling-out, this year’s 50th cinematic celebrations look set to break box office records, so film fans need......

Londonist attended the London Film Festival press launch this morning - we're suckers for a free breakfast. This year is the festivals 50th birthday and by all accounts all the stops have been pulled out to make this years line up a little bit special. Of particular interest to us was the news that Trafalgar Square will play host to A Portrait of London - director Mike Figgis is overseeing a specially commissioned event......

The London Film Festival is looming once more like a giant whale spewing cinematic treats from its blowhole. We'll be going along to every preview screening we can manage to let you know what's worth digging deep for this year. The full line up will only be announced on Thursday the 15th of September, but the opening movie is going to be The Last King of Scotland: Based on the award-winning novel by Giles......

With all the depressing Wembely news going round at the moment, maybe it's time to concentrate on a more uplifting development story. The Independent reports today that, after a year of delays, the BFI is to resume work on turning the redundant Museum of the Moving Image into a revamped home for the National Film Theatre which will include "a 'mediatheque' where visitors can view archive material, a digital cinema for up to 36......

All we wanted from the broadsheet reviews this week was to be told that Flightplan is a great film. To be honest, we're going to see it over the weekend whatever the critics say, because even though we know the plot will be ludicrous and it will boil down to Panic Roon on a Plane, we just fancy a bit of high-concept nonsense. But question is: will it be good high-concept nonsense? Well you'd......

We haven't quite finished feasting on the carcass of the London Film Festival and along comes dessert in the form a mini French Film Festival. Only the four films on offer make it less of a festival and more of a long weekend, but after the slim French pickings at this year's LFF we quite fancy a bit of subtitled culture. This event is actually an appetiser for the full festival which has moved......

The London Film Festival is almost upon us. If you were in Trafalgar Square last night you will have seen highlights of the festival on a giant screen and there's two more nights of that before things kick off properly with The Constant Gardener. The Screen on Trafalgar Square events are free and tonight there's a special presentation of three newly restored Charlie Chaplin short films, The Keystone Silents, with live musical accompaniment by......

Seven days to go until the London Film Festival opens its doors. Here's another two of the films on offer. It turned a few heads when it was announced that Bent Hamer (Kitchen Stories) was going to direct the film adaptation of Charles Bukowski's Factotum, but any misgivings can be more or less laid to rest - perhaps because if anyone knows a thing or two about drinking it's the Norwegians. Not that Buk's......

With something like 20 screenings per day at this year's London Film Festival we figured we'd offer a little help this week in deciding which films you should underline and circle in the programme. First up is Lodge Kerrigan's Keane, already a hit at the Telluride, Toronto, New York and Cannes Film Fests, it's sure to be a critics favourite and while less showy than a lot of the other films on offer it......

Just got back from the press launch of the 49th London Film Festival and it looks like there's even more on offer this year than ever. Amanda Nevill, the director of the British Film Institute (which last year alone screened an astonishing 3000+ films in the UK) kicked things off with a promise that she was "hell bent on bringing you one of the best festivals of world cinema" - no idle threat judging......

The London Film Festival has just announced its opening and closing movies. The Opening Night Gala will celebrate the UK Premiere of Fernando Meirelles' THE CONSTANT GARDENER starring Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz. Based on the best-selling novel by John le Carré, THE CONSTANT GARDENER tells the story of one man's journey to uncover the truth behind a personal loss and a global conspiracy. The strong supporting cast includes Danny Huston and Bill Nighy.......

We've already started receiving bits and pieces regarding the London Film Festival later in the year, but between this weekend's FrightFest and October there are a couple of Festivals you'd be mad to miss. First up is one of our favourites: Raindance. Last year we had such a blast watching premieres of Dead Man's Shoes and Old Boy alongside the gay 'comedy' of Paul Hogan, The Onion's spam-tastic Chevy Chase starring unreleased, unloved but......

Anyone who went to last year's Raindance Festival in October had a hell of a fun time. The eclectic line up, including premieres of instant classic movies such as Old Boy, Dead Man's Shoes and Coffee & Cigarettes, put shame to the more pedestrian London Film Festival that followed. We're already looking forward to Raindance 13 but in the meantime we are heading east... The Raindance East Film Festival fosters local talent by providing......

Vinnie Jones has finally met his match. After years of tear inducing tackling as a footballer, shotgun wielding as a movie hardman and bottle juggling in some sweaty advert he finally gets to bang heads with a hobbit. Well Sean Astin anyway. The unlikely pair have teamed up in Slipstream - a sci fi time travel heist movie, and you can never have too many of those. No prizes for guessing who plays the......