While the actors and writers of Hollywood continue to engage in ongoing strikes against the studios, the film festivals are still taking place ahead of yet another exciting awards season.

This year’s BFI London Film Festival features a mouthwatering line-up of productions that include a gala premiere of Martin Scorsese’s much-anticipated western epic Killers of the Moon.

Adapted from a non-fiction bestseller, the film focuses on the systematic killing of oil-rich Osage Indians in Oklahoma, and earned glowing reviews at the Cannes Film Festival. Oscar-winning star Leonardo DiCaprio leads a starry ensemble that also includes two-time Oscar winner Robert DeNiro, Lily Gladstone and Jesse Plemons.

Other major films competing as Headline Galas at the festival include;

• All of Us Strangers – The romantic fantasy centres on a screenwriter (Andrew Scott) who encounters his mysterious neighbour (Paul Mescal) and returns to his childhood home to find that his long-dead parents (Jamie Bell and Claire Foy) are actually alive.
• The Bikeriders – The period drama from Jeff Nichols follows the rise of a Midwestern motorcycle club through the lives of its members (including Austin Butler, Jodie Comer and Tom Hardy).
• The Book of Clarence – The biblical comedy centres on a down-on-his-luck man (LaKeith Stanfield) who embarks on a misguided attempt to capitalise on the rise of celebrity and the influence of the Messiah for his own personal gain.
• Chicken Run: The Dawn of Nugget – The long-awaited Aardman animated sequel sees Ginger (voiced by Thandiwe Newton), Rocky (voiced by Zachary Levi) and the rest of the former Tweedy’s farm chickens face a new and terrible threat.
• The Holdovers – The comedic drama from Alexander Payne centres on a curmudgeonly teacher (Paul Giamatti) who slowly bonds with a rebellious student (Dominic Sessa) and a grieving cook (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) during Christmas break.
• The Killer – The crime thriller from David Fincher follows a cold-blood assassin (Michael Fassbender) as he battles his employers, and himself, on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.
• Maestro – The factual drama from Bradley Cooper explores the relationship between celebrated composer Leonard Bernstein (Cooper) and his wife Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan).
• May December – The romantic drama from Todd Haynes follows an actress (Natalie Portman) who travels to Georgia to meet and study the life of the woman (Julianne Moore) she is set to play in a film.
• Nyad – The fact-based sports drama focuses on how veteran marathon swimmer Diane Nyad (Annette Bening) attempted to become the first person ever to swim from Cuba to Florida.
• Poor Things – The sci-fi fantasy from Yorgos Lanthimos centres on a recently-resurrected Victorian woman (Emma Stone) who embarks on a surrealistic odyssey for self-discovery and liberation

There will also be a special gala premiere of One Life, a factual drama that focuses on how British humanitarian Nicholas Winton (Johnny Flynn and Sir Anthony Hopkins) helped save hundreds of children from the Nazis on the eve of World War II.

Additionally, other intriguing flicks to look out for include Hayao Miyazaki’s final film The Boy and the Heron, Sofia Coppola’s factual drama Priscilla, Jonathan Glazer’s war-based drama The Zone of Interest and the Jodie Comer-starring survival thriller The End We Start From.

The festival takes place across a twelve-day period and will kick off on 4 October with the world premiere of Saltburn; the intriguing follow-up to Emerald Fennell’s debut feature Promising Young Woman (2020).

The festival will then close on 16 October with The Kitchen, the directorial debut of Oscar-nominated British actor Daniel Kaluuya, set in a near-future London where the poor are forced to live in outlying slums.