The 65th BFI London Film Festival will close with the European Premiere of The Tragedy of Macbeth starring Frances McDormand and Denzel Washington on Sunday October 17 at LFF Gala venue the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.
Written and directed by Joel Coen and produced by Joel Coen, Frances McDormand and Robert Graf, a bold and fierce adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic, a tale of murder, madness, ambition, and wrathful cunning.
Writer, director and producer of The Tragedy of Macbeth, Joel Coen, said: “Shakespeare belongs to the world but comes from Britain. Having borrowed your cultural patrimony, and having had the great good luck to work with a few of your most brilliant actors, I’m honored to bring this movie to the London Film Festival for its European premiere.”
Tricia Tuttle, BFI London Film Festival Director said: “We fell in love with Joel Coen’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s Scottish Play. Poised in a magical space between theatre and cinema, this is a stunning production. Bruno Delbonnel’s silvery monochrome photography captures the moody almost expressionist sets from designer Stefan Dechant and Carter Burwell has written a spell-casting score. And while the ensemble cast – including many UK talents – is thoroughly excellent, Frances McDormand and Denzel Washington mesmerize as the couple whose political ambition proved their fatal downfall. So many of us missed the big screen experience last year, and this a perfect celebration of this art form that’s built on ancient traditions of storytelling but with truly magical powers to convey intimacy and awesome scale and spectacle. It’s such a privilege to be Closing the LFF with a film of this extraordinary calibre and welcoming Joel Coen and his collaborators to the Festival.”
The BFI London Film Festival will open with the World Premiere of Jeymes Samuel’s The Harder They Fall starring Jonathan Majors, Zazie Beetz, Delroy Lindo, LaKeith Stanfield, Danielle Deadwyler, Edi Gathegi, R.J. Cyler, Damon Wayans Jr. and Deon Cole with Regina King and Idris Elba. The LFF’s American Express Headline Gala will be Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons and Kodi Smit-McPhee.
The 65th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express takes place from Wednesday 6 October – Sunday 17 October, 2021.