London Film Festival closes with ‘Kitchen’ premiere and staff protests – The Hollywood Reporter

Cain Robinson and Jedediah Bannerman in “The Kitchen”

Netflix

The 2023 BFI London Film Festival concluded on Sunday night with a world premiere screening in the British capital. kitchenNetflix’s dystopian thriller, co-directed by Kibwe Taveras and Daniel Kaluuya, marks the actor’s feature debut behind the camera.

The film is set in a dilapidated housing project in near-future London, incorporates themes of gentrification and inequality, and follows Izzi (top boy star Cain Robinson) attempts to escape from the mansion, but ends up getting caught up with teenage Benji (newcomer Jedediah Bannerman) and loses his life.

“I realized that in order to be universal, it had to be very specific,” Kaluuya said while introducing the film. “So this film is very London, very British, and very global. I believe with all my heart that we have a right to work on understandable and universal themes, stories and evolutions. kitchenis about. ”

Similar to the opening night of the film festival on 4 October, the event at London’s Royal Festival Hall was attended by a small group of British film staff to discuss the impact of the actors’ strike on the British film industry. I protested. Organized by the anonymous team behind the popular Instagram account @britcrewstories, the demonstration, titled ‘Crew Call for Change’, highlighted the plight of lower-ranking workers amid the devastating work stoppage. It was held to About the UK’s film and television sector, which is heavily dependent on Hollywood.

“While we fully support SAG/AFTRA’s resolution of the labor dispute and support their demands for this dispute to be resolved in a fair and satisfactory manner, workers in the country “Almost all of them have been affected by significant conflict: loss of income and persistent uncertainty,” the group said in a statement. “We want our employers to know we are here and suffering.”

Earlier in the day, the winners of the London Film Festival’s various competitions were announced and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Venice Bow was unveiled. no evil comes out Won the best work award in the official competition.Mike Gustafson’s paradise is burning Won the Sutherland Prize in the first feature competition. Bye-bye, Tiberias Lina Soualem’s work won the Grierson Prize in the Documentary Competition, while Simisola-Oluwa Akande’s work won the Archives: Queer Nigerians It won the short film award.

Hamaguchi said, “I’m really happy and surprised to hear the news of this award.” “Thank you very much. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone involved, especially the cast and staff for their hard work behind the scenes. Their outstanding work has always been a source of inspiration for me, and I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone involved. I am sincerely grateful.”