WORLD PREMIERE OF APPLE ORIGINAL FILMS ‘BLITZ’ TO OPEN THE 68TH BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL!
1st July 2024
Directed, produced and written by Academy Award and BAFTA winning UK filmmaker Sir Steve McQueen
BLITZ follows the epic journey of George (Elliott Heffernan), a 9-year-old boy in World War II London whose mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan) sends him to safety in the English countryside. George, defiant and determined to return home to Rita and his grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller) in East London, ensues on an adventure, only to find himself in immense peril, while a distraught Rita searches for her missing son.
The film stars Academy and BAFTA Award-nominee Saoirse Ronan and newcomer Elliott Heffernan, with Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clementine, Kathy Burke, Paul Weller, Stephen Graham, Leigh Gill, Mica Ricketts, CJ Beckford, Alex Jennings, Joshua McGuire, Hayley Squires, Erin Kellyman, and Sally Messhamrounding out the cast.
McQueen’s Lammas Park produces alongside Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of Working Title Films, Arnon Milchan, Yariv Milchan and Michael Schaefer for New Regency, with producers Anita Overland and Adam Somner.
The World Premiere of BLITZ marks a return to the LFF by the London-borndirector, who has opened the Festival twice before with WIDOWS in 2018 and MANGROVE in 2020, and has a long-standing relationship with the LFF, alsopremiering HUNGER, 12 YEARS A SLAVE, SHAME, LOVERS ROCK and OCCUPIED CITY at the Festival. McQueen was awarded the BFI’s highest honour, the BFI Fellowship, at the BFI London Film Festival in 2016 for his outstanding contribution to film and moving image culture.
LFF Opening Night Gala hosted at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall with screenings around the UK.
Director/Producer/Writer of BLITZ, Steve McQueen, said: “BLITZ is a movie about Londoners. It honours the spirit of what and how Londoners endured during the blitz, but also explores the true representation of people in London, while at its core is the story of a working-class family desperate to be reunited during times of war,” said McQueen. “I could not be more thrilled that the BFI London Film Festival have invited us to open this year’s festival, and to celebrate the World Premiere of ‘Blitz’ in my hometown.”
