London Film Festival: Sam Pollard To Lead Official Competition Jury

Legendary documentary filmmaker Sam Pollard will lead the Official Competition jury at this year’s London Film Festival.

Pollard will be joined by Argentine filmmaker and writer Mariano Llinás (The Life of Jorge Luis Borges) and Julie La Bassiere, Chief Strategy Officer at DDA Global. The ten films in Competition at LFF this year are:

• 7 Miles Out — Carol Morley

• Act 3 — Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor

• Glaxo — Benjamín Naishtat

• Imperium — Sergei Loznitsa

• Ketticè — Giovanni Tortorici

• Look Back — Hirokazu Koreeda

• My Notes on Mars — Lili Horvát

• The Difficult Bride — Rubaiyat Hossain

• The Idiot(s) — Małgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englert

• Woman Unknown — May el-Toukhy

The First Feature Competition (Sutherland Award) jury will be led by British Egyptian actor and producer Amir El-Masry. El-Masry won a Scottish BAFTA for his performance in Limbo and was named a 2020 BAFTA Breakthrough Brit. His recent screen work includes the Naseem Hamed biopic Giant and 100 Nights of Hero.

Sandhya Suri will lead the Documentary Competition jury. Suri’s Hindi-language narrative fiction debut, Santosh, premiered at Cannes in 2024, won the BIFA for Best Screenplay, was nominated for an Outstanding British Debut BAFTA, and was shortlisted for the Oscars. Suri, who originally made her debut with the 2005 documentary I For India, is now working with BBC Film on a JG Ballard adaptation. T

The Short Film Competition jury is led by producer, writer and Erebus Pictures co-founder Helen Simmons. Her producing credits include the BAFTA-nominated Hoard, the 2025 LFF Closing Gala film 100 Nights of Hero, and Berlinale Crystal Bear winner Last Swim. She also co-wrote and co-directed the Méliès Award-winning short Measure.

The 2026 London Film Festival runs from October 7 to October 18.