The British Film Festival Has Announced Its First 2022 Titles Including a Big 'Bond' Retrospective

If you like your cinema experiences shaken, not stirred, then the 2022 British Film Festival has just the thing for you. Taking its array of Brit flicks around the country between Tuesday, October 18–Wednesday, November 16, this year's fest is turning itself into a big 60th birthday party — not for the Australia-wide cinema showcase itself, which only dates back around a decade, but for all things Bond, James Bond.

2022 marks six decades since Dr No, the first movie in the 007 franchise, first graced cinemas — and yes, it'll be the British Film Festival's screens to commemorate the occasion. Also hitting picture palaces in Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth and Byron Bay: You Only Live Twice, because two Sean Connery-starring Bond films are better than one; On Your Majesty's Secret Service with Australia's Bond George Lazenby; and Daniel Craig doing his brooding Bond in Skyfall.

They're just some of the titles among the fest's first lineup announcement, with the full British Film Festival program set to drop on Thursday, September 29. Can't wait till then? A handful of other flicks have already been announced — and, as always at this cinema showcase, they're filled with familiar faces.

Arriving Down Under after wowing the global festival circuit, The Banshees of Inisherin marks the reunion of In Bruges writer/director Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) and his stars Colin Farrell (After Yang) and Brendan Gleeson (The Tragedy of Macbeth). This time around, the latter pair star in a story about two lifelong friends who go for a pint everyday until a dispute gets in the way, with their feud also impacting the entire village.

Also on the bill: an Emily Brontë biopic, aptly named Emily, directed by Australia actor-turned-filmmaker Frances O'Connor (The End); more sea shanties in song-filled sequel Fisherman's Friends 2: One and All; the Bill Nighy (The Man Who Fell to Earth)-starring Living, about a terminally ill man in the 1950s; and The Lost King, which takes inspiration from the IRL discovery of King Richard III's remains beneath a Leicester car park.

And, opening the fest is Mrs Harris Goes to Paris, set in the world of French fashion, with Oscar-nominated Phantom Thread actor Lesley Manville in the titular role.

BRITISH FILM FESTIVAL 2022 DATES:

Tuesday, October 18–Wednesday, November 16 — Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas and Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas, Adelaide
Wednesday, October 19–Wednesday, November 16 — Palace Norton, Palace Verona, Palace Central and Chauvel Cinema, Sydney
Wednesday, October 19–Wednesday, November 16 — Palace Electric, Canberra
Wednesday, October 19–Wednesday, November 16 — Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, The Kino, Pentridge Cinema and The Astor, Melbourne
Wednesday, October 19–Wednesday, November 16 — Palace James Street and Palace Centro, Brisbane
Wednesday, October 19–Wednesday, November 16— Palace Raine Square, Luna Leederville, Luna on SX and Windsor Cinema, Perth
Wednesday, October 19–Wednesday, November 16 — Palace Byron Bay, Byron Bay

The 2022 British Film Festival tours Australia between Tuesday, October 18–Wednesday, November 16. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the festival website. We'll update you with the full program on Thursday, September 29.