Captain Phillips To Open London Film Fest

The British Film Institute (BFI) has announced that its 57th annual London Film Festival will open on Wednesday 9 October at the Odeon Leicester Square with the European Premiere of Sony Pictures' Captain Phillips.
Captain Phillips is director Paul Greengrass's multi-layered examination of the 2009 hijacking of the US container ship Maersk Alabama by a crew of Somali pirates. It stars two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, Philadelphia).
The film focuses on the relationship between the Alabama's commanding officer, Captain Richard Phillips (Hanks), and his Somali counterpart, Muse (Barkhad Abdi).
The film is directed by Academy Award nominee Paul Greengrass, from a screenplay by Billy Ray based upon the book, A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALs, and Dangerous Days at Sea, by Richard Phillips with Stephan Talty. The film is produced by Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, and Michael De Luca.
Clare Stewart, BFI Head of Exhibition and Festival Director comments: "We are thrilled to be opening the BFI London Film Festival by welcoming Paul Greengrass – one of the great supporters of the BFI and British film – back to London for the European premiere of Captain Phillips. Our Festival audiences will be captivated by Greengrass's virtuoso filmmaking; Captain Phillips is an intense, high-stakes drama, focusing on two men forced onto a collision course by global political forces much larger than themselves. Featuring spellbinding performances by Tom Hanks and four Somali-American actors (Barkhad Abdi, Faysal Ahmed, Barkhad Abdirahman and Mahat M. Ali), we are excited to be presenting this film as our Opening Night Gala."
The 57th BFI London Film Festival runs from Wednesday 9 October to Sunday 20 October. The full programme for the Festival will be announced on Wednesday 4 September.
www.bfi.org.uk
(IT/JP)