Emerald Fennell Will Open London 2023

Barry Keoghan plays Oliver Quick, a student who can’t seem to find a social footing at Oxford until he meets Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), a charming and rich lad who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate. The BFI calls Saltburn, which is set in the mid-2000s, “a beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire.” The cast also includes Carey Mulligan, who played the clever but traumatized lead in Promising Young Woman, as well as Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, and Archie Madekwe. The producers behind Promising Young Woman—Fennell and Barbie coproducers Margot Robbie and Josey McNamara—have reunited for Saltburn.

London 2023, running through October 15, will be the first edition overseen by the new BFI Festivals director, Kristy Matheson, who says that the moment the credits rolled on Saltburn, she and her team knew they’d just seen their opening night film. “With its exceptional performances, delicious plot twists, and a soundtrack of early twenty-first century pop bangers,” she says, “this hugely ambitious film immediately stole our hearts.” The BFI notes that the October 4 screening will be the international premiere, which suggests, since Saltburn is not heading to Venice and is so far not part of Toronto’s lineup, that the world premiere will be at Telluride.