EXCLUSIVE: Here is the plan for the Leeds International Film Festival (LIFF) 2024.
The 38th edition of the festival will take place from November 1 to 17 at venues across the British city, with screenings at Everyman Leeds, Vue Leeds in the Light, Hyde Park Picture House and Howard Assembly Room.
A full program will be announced in October when tickets and passes become available. Film submissions will be accepted until July 31st. In addition, 20 programmers have been added to the team, all of whom were created based on open applications and with a view to championing new talent and supporting early-stage talent.
The fest plays more than 250 feature films and shorts each year, with annual entries of more than 5,000 from more than 120 countries.
This year the spotlight will shine on the late Indian actress Smita Patil and Stuart Croft, the Leeds-based artist-filmmaker who passed away in 2015.
In ‘Celebrating Smita Patil: A Film Retrospective’, LIFF celebrates the work of Patil, who was only 31 when she passed away in 1986. She made her film debut in 1975 and spent the next eleven years working with many of film’s top stars. filmmakers of her generation. She became the face of Parallel Cinema, India’s first post-colonial art filmmakers, and the LIFF retrospective will spotlight her films, activism and stardom.
Croft’s work crossed the boundaries of art galleries and film, and his exhibitions were seen everywhere from New York to Beijing. A special season of films that inspired his vision is combined with his own moving images. The retrospective complements an immersive exhibition at Leeds Art Gallery starting in November.
LIFF director Chris Fell said: “With the dates and locations for LIFF 2024 now confirmed, we are delighted to introduce our fantastic new and expanded programming team as we look to bring an even more diverse and broader range of film discoveries from around the world to Leeds to bring. Britain and the rest of the world.
“We are also delighted to announce two unique spotlights for LIFF 2024: the first UK retrospective of films by Indian film icon Smita Patil, and a focus on Leeds artist-filmmaker Stuart Croft, exploring his special relationship with cinema.”
