Emerald Fennell’s ‘Saltburn’ To Open London Film Festival, First Look Revealed

Zac Ntim
·2 min read
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Saltburn, the latest film from Promising Young Woman filmmaker Emerald Fennell, will open this year’s London Film Festival.

Fennell also wrote and produced the pic, which will receive its International Premiere at LFF on October 4 at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall, with simultaneous screenings across the UK.  The film is an Amazon Studios and MGM production, along with MRC and LuckyChap Entertainment. Amazon and MGM will release the pic in cinemas on November 24. Margot Robbie and Josey McNamara are also producers on the film.

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Starring Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, Archie Madekwe, and Carey Mulligan, the film is billed as a “beautifully wicked tale of privilege and desire.”

Set in the mid-2000s and shot in a variety of locations around the UK, the pic follows student Oliver Quick (Barry Keoghan), who is struggling to find his place at Oxford University and finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.

“I’m honored that our film is able to open this year’s BFI London Film Festival. It is a festival that inspired me so much growing up, one that I followed excitedly from my bedroom on the other side of London,” said Fennell. “It feels extra-special that Saltburn, this very British tale of excess, is able to make its international debut at the wonderful BFI.”

This year marks a new era at LFF, with festival head Kristy Matheson opening her first edition after taking the helm last year following the exit of Tricia Tuttle.

“As soon as the credits rolled on Saltburn it was clear we’d met our Opening Night film. Academy Award winner Emerald Fennell returns with an expertly crafted and exhilarating thrill ride of a film that showcases an enormous depth of UK talents in front of and behind the camera,” Matheson said. “With its exceptional performances, delicious plot twists, and a soundtrack of early 21st-century pop bangers; this hugely ambitious film immediately stole our hearts, and we can’t wait to share it with audiences in London and across the UK this October.”

While LFF has been set as the film’s International Premiere, there’s still no word on where the film will debut this fall. There’s speculation out there that Saltburn is heading to the Telluride Film Festival. Fennell’s previous Mulligan-starring movie, Promising Young Woman, won the filmmaker the Original Screenplay Oscar in 2021 among five noms, overall including Best Picture.

A first-look image from the pic was also released today. Check it out below.

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