Kibwe Tavares & Daniel Kaluuya’s The Kitchen will world premiere as the Closing Night Gala film of the 67th BFI London Film Festival. Starring in the film are Kane Robinson, Jedaiah Bannerman, Hope Ikpoku Jr, Teija Kabs, Demmy Ladipo, Cristale and BackRoad Gee.
Exploring themes of community, inequality, family, resilience, defiance, and care in a dystopian London, The Kitchen is directed by British filmmakers Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya, the latter of whom also screenwrites with Joe Murtagh.
Set in a dystopian London, the gap between rich and poor has been stretched to its limits. All forms of social housing have been eradicated and only The Kitchen remains. A community that refuses to move out of the place they call home. This is where we meet a solitary Izi (Kane Robinson), living here by necessity and desperately trying to find a way out, and a 12-year-old Benji (Jedaiah Bannerman), who has lost his mother and is searching for a family. We follow our unlikely pair as they struggle to forge a relationship in a system that is stacked against them.
Directors of The Kitchen, Kibwe Tavares & Daniel Kaluuya, said: “We both grew up in London, and The Kitchen is a love letter to our city, so it’s a true honour to premiere it here, in our hometown, on the closing night of BFI’s London Film Festival. Starting a decade ago as a workshop in a local Barbershop, the film’s journey from script to screen has been a continued collaboration between us, and the community of cast and crew that came to make up our “Kitchen,” including our two amazing leads Kane Robinson and Jedaiah Bannerman whose performances anchor the heart of our story. Together we have aimed to make something fresh, thoughtful and cinematic – an allegory and homage to the residents of ‘The Kitchen’ in every city in the world.”
Kristy Matheson, BFI London Film Festival Director, said: “Kibwe Tavares & Daniel Kaluuya have made a film that totally explodes our expectations of contemporary UK cinema. The Kitchen offers such scope for audiences – the essential social politics and high-octane energy gel perfectly to create an electrifying big screen experience. We could not be more excited to close the festival with this inventive film set in a near future London that showcases this incredibly talented team who call this city home.”
The 67th BFI London Film Festival takes place from Wednesday October 4 – Sunday October 15, 2023.