This year's BFI London Film Festival will open with the world premiere of Steve McQueen's latest movie Blitz.
The Apple Original movie stars newcomer Elliott Heffernan as 9-year-old George who is sent to safety in the English countryside during World War II by his mother Rita (Saoirse Ronan).
However, when George decides to return home to Rita and his grandfather Gerald (Paul Weller) in East London, he finds himself in immense peril and a distraught Rita has to search for her missing son.
To mark the exciting news of Blitz's world premiere, Apple has released the first-look images of the movie, which you can check out below:
Blitz will hold its world premiere on October 9 at the 68th BFI London Film Festival at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall. As with other LFF premieres, there will also be screenings around the UK at the same time.
The movie will then be released in select cinemas from November 1, before streaming globally on Apple TV+ from November 22.
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Blitz also stars Stephen Graham, Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clementine, Kathy Burke, Leigh Gill, Mica Ricketts, CJ Beckford, Alex Jennings, Joshua McGuire, Hayley Squires, Erin Kellyman and Sally Messham.
The movie marks the third time that Steve McQueen has opened the BFI London Film Festival, following Widows in 2018 and Mangrove in 2020. The festival has also screened the likes of Shame, Hunger and 12 Years A Slave, among other McQueen movies.
"Blitz is a movie about Londoners. It honours the spirit of what and how Londoners endured during the blitz, but also explores the true representation of people in London, while at its core is the story of a working-class family desperate to be reunited during times of war," McQueen said.
"I could not be more thrilled that the BFI London Film Festival have invited us to open this year's festival, and to celebrate the World Premiere of Blitz in my hometown."
This year's BFI London Film Festival runs from October 9 to October 20.
Blitz will open this year's BFI London Film Festival before being released in select cinemas on November 1. It will then stream globally on Apple TV+ on November 22.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
