London Film Festival 2026: Dates, Galas and Home Windows

The 70th BFI London Film Festival runs from Wednesday 7 October to Sunday 18 October 2026. The dates below come from BFI posts: the opening-night note of 29 July 2026, the closing-night note of 4 August 2026, the full programme announcement of 2 September 2026, and the festival what’s-on page. Those posts name cinema dates for the opening and closing films. They do not name a home-video date, and this page does not put either film in a WorldIPTV library.

When the festival runs

The BFI what’s-on page titles the run “7 to 18 October 2026”. On 5 October 2026 that page still listed one booking line: extra tickets released at 10am on 1 October. The 29 July and 4 August gala posts, written before the festival, say the full programme would be revealed on Wednesday 2 September 2026, with tickets on general sale from 17 September and earlier booking for BFI Members. A seat that is still free is the one the booking page shows today.

The two galas and the cinema dates after them

The 29 July 2026 post says the Opening Night Gala is the European premiere of Simon Stone’s Elsinore, at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on 7 October 2026, with cast expected to attend. The same post says STUDIOCANAL will release the film in cinemas UK-wide on 29 January 2027, and that Focus Features has acquired it for select US theatres on 20 November 2026. The 2 September programme announcement repeats the European-premiere label for that opening gala.

The 4 August 2026 post says the Closing Night Gala is the UK premiere of Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut, at the Royal Festival Hall on 18 October 2026. Eisenberg returns after A Real Pain at the festival in 2024 and is expected to attend with the cast. Lionsgate will release The Debut for UK cinemas on 15 January 2027. The 2 September announcement repeats that closing-night label.

Neither post states a digital-rental date or a subscription date. This article does not add one. A later studio note can move a cinema date. The date to book against is the distributor’s own listing.

The 2 September announcement also names the UK premiere of Danny Boyle’s Ink as the Mayor of London’s Gala. That paragraph does not attach a UK-wide cinema date, so none is printed here.

How the programme is counted and sorted

The 2 September announcement says the festival presents 251 features, shorts, series and immersive works from 88 countries. It includes 109 works made by female filmmakers, which the BFI states as 43% of the programme. The premiere count in that post is 33 world premieres (9 features, 2 series, 2 mid-length works, 19 shorts and 1 immersive work), 16 international premieres (9 features and 7 shorts) and 20 European premieres (13 features and 7 shorts). The same post says every feature and series will screen to audiences in the UK for the first time.

Features are sorted into strands: Love, Debate, Laugh, Dare, Thrill, Cult, Journey, Create, Experimenta, Family and Shorts. Series and the immersive LFF Expanded works sit inside those strands. The announcement says LFF Expanded is in its sixth year, with a new venue at St Martin-in-the-Fields led by the installation Water Body.

Those figures are the BFI’s programme count. They are not a count of titles on a home shelf.

Where the screenings are

The 29 July and 4 August posts print the same venue list.

London galas use the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. BFI Southbank holds the competition programme, Screen Talks and LFF for Free events. BFI IMAX hosts festival screenings. Four West End partners are named: Curzon Soho, the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Prince Charles Cinema and Vue West End. Press and industry screenings, and the LFF Industry Forum, are at Picturehouse Central.

Ten venues beyond that central London list are named: Broadway Cinema in Nottingham, Chapter in Cardiff, Glasgow Film Theatre, HOME in Manchester, MAC in Birmingham, Queen’s Film Theatre in Belfast, Showroom Cinema in Sheffield, Tyneside Cinema in Newcastle, Filmhouse in Edinburgh and Watershed in Bristol.

The 2 September announcement adds that a curated selection of features and a Screen Talk play at 10 partner venues across the UK. The city names above are the ones printed in the July and August gala posts. If a later booking page drops or adds a city, the booking page is the list to use.

What a home search can and cannot confirm

A festival screening is a ticketed cinema showing. The 2 September line — every feature and series is a first UK screening — is the practical point for a living room on 5 October 2026. The posts cited here describe these 2026 festival titles as cinema events, with UK cinema dates in January 2027 for the two galas. They do not describe those titles as already on a subscription shelf.

The July and August posts both name a separate at-home route: a special collection of LFF programmes, past and present, on BFI Player. Which titles are in that collection is a question for BFI Player. This article does not copy that catalogue.

An IPTV app is another shelf. With an Xtream Codes login, a player such as IPTV Smarters Pro keeps live channels apart from a Movies section. An M3U playlist is a flatter list. M3U vs Xtream Codes and What is IPTV? explain that split. Search Movies for a title when a distributor has published a home date you can read. A missing row means that title is absent from the library you are logged into. A similar name still needs the year checked before you press play. This page does not say Elsinore, The Debut, Ink or any other 2026 festival title is available from WorldIPTV.

Plan length and screen count are on pricing. How the plans compare is on compare. A 24-hour look on your own television starts from the free trial. The UK country page is the UK setup page. Subscribers are responsible for complying with local laws. WorldIPTV distributes content under its own service terms. The country-by-country overview is general information, not legal advice.

Festival dates stay on the BFI pages named above. For a device question about searching films at home, message +44 7307 410512 on WhatsApp: wa.me/447307410512?text=Hello%2C%20I%20am%20on%20worldiptv1.com.%20Page%3A%20London%20Film%20Festival%202026%3A%20Dates%2C%20Galas%20and%20Home%20Windows..