The crowds have cleared out of the Royal Festival Hall, the autograph hunters have packed up outside the BFI Southbank, and the early morning rushes to Picturehouse Central have wrapped up. Just like that, the 70th BFI London Film Festival has officially drawn to a close. Even as audiences continue buzzing from standout presentations like Paul Bettany stepping out at the BFI IMAX for VisionQuest, the official competition winners for this milestone edition have finally been unveiled to the public.
Main Competition Winners
Evaluated by jury presidents Sam Pollard for the Official Competition, Amir El-Masry for the First Feature Competition, Sandhya Suri for the Documentary Competition, and Helen Simmons for the Short Film Competition, this year's lineup proved exceptionally competitive. The top prize in the Official Competition went to Sergei Loznitsa's Imperium, a sprawling cinematic excavation exploring the social and cultural fabric of the 1970s Soviet Union. In the First Feature category, Southeast Asian filmmaker Sompot Chidgasornpongse triumphed with 9 Temples to Heaven, a visually striking spiritual Thai pilgrimage movie, while British filmmaker Bertil Nilsson earned a special jury mention for his queer character study Masc.
Documentary and Short Film Victors
The prestigious Grierson Award for best documentary was presented to Concrete Land, directed by Asmahan Bkerat. The film offers an intimate, sensitively handled portrait of a Jordanian family fighting against displacement and erasure in their home country. Meanwhile, the Short Film Award was claimed by Rahul Roye's powerful project Aman. Running for 16 minutes and available to watch for free on the BFI Player, the movie follows a trans man forced to navigate the complex realities of masculinity and impending fatherhood after discovering he is pregnant the night before his gender-affirming surgery.
Audience Awards and Festival Conclusion
This does not mark the complete tally of accolades, as voting for the LFF Audience Awards remains open until Wednesday 21 October, meaning the winners for Best Feature Film and Best British Discovery will be announced shortly. Regardless, the 70th BFI London Film Festival has cemented itself as another vibrant, inspiring celebration of global cinema across all its diverse forms.
