London film festival adds 'Jojo Rabbit.' 'The King,' 'The Lighthouse'

Having already announced its curtain raiser in the form of The Personal History of David Copperfield and closing film in The Irishman, as well as unveiled the 10-strong selection of films in its official competition, the BFI London Film Festival on Thursday fleshed out the rest of the schedule for its 2019 edition, the Hollywood Reporter says.

Jostling for position in the lineup are star-heavy features such as Taika Waititi's Hitler satire Jojo Rabbit, Netflix's The King and Robert Eggers' acclaimed Cannes-bowing The Lighthouse, plus other hotly anticipated titles, including The Aeronauts, Marriage Story and A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood, many of which are getting their European premieres in London. 

Of 229 feature films in London's entire festival selection, 40 percent have been directed or co-directed by women. 

"While there are many talking points emerging from this year’s program, a few really leap out: the strong instinct from filmmakers to explore urgent social and political issues through narrative and often through the use of genre; the striking emergence of a a new generation of filmmakers exploding onto the international stage with startlingly bold, original and ambitious debuts; the continuing and welcome trend of increased gender balance in directing talent behind short film, first and second features," said festival director Tricia Tuttle. "And while we’re so delighted to see work from 78 countries in the festival, we also love welcoming a particularly exceptional new wave of U.K.-based filmmakers with cracking first and second feature films in LFF."