Imperium Wins Best Film at the 70th BFI London Film Festival

Sergei Loznitsa's archival documentary Imperium took the Best Film award at the 70th BFI London Film Festival, whose competition winners were announced on Sunday, October 18, 2026 — headlining a honours list that also celebrated Thai first feature 9 Temples to Heaven, Asmahan Bkerat's documentary Concrete Land, and the short film Aman, as the milestone edition of Britain's biggest film event drew to a close.

Illustration: Illustration of a film festival red carpet premiere outside a London cinema at night

What Happened

The BFI announced the winners of this year's London Film Festival awards on October 18, with four juries selecting the honours across the festival's competition sections, according to the BFI's official announcement. The top prize in the Official Competition went to Imperium, the latest archival work from Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa.

Imperium reframes Soviet history through the eyes of Italian cameramen who captured life across the USSR in the early 1970s, according to the BFI. The film is a co-production between Germany, Italy, France, and Lithuania. The Official Competition jury, led by American director Sam Pollard, said: "We, as a jury, have chosen Sergei Loznitsa's Imperium as the BFI London Film Festival's Best Film for 2026. Imperium is an extraordinary film that explores the Soviet Union in the early 1970's from a rich archive with a wide-ranging perspective that looks at life in a country with an extraordinary social and cultural landscape that has rarely been seen."

The Sutherland Award for first feature went to 9 Temples to Heaven by Thai director Sompot Chidgasornpongse, whose serene fiction debut about family, faith, and the cycles of life had earlier premiered in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes. The film was produced by Kissada Kamyoung and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. The First Feature jury, led by actor Amir El-Masry, called it "an accomplished first feature" that is "visually outstanding, spiritual, and meditative," and gave a special mention to Masc by British filmmaker Bertil Nilsson, which the jury described as "a strikingly original new voice in British cinema."

In the Documentary Competition, the Grierson Award went to Concrete Land by Palestinian-Jordanian director Asmahan Bkerat — her feature directorial debut and an intimate, multi-generational portrait of a mixed-race family fighting displacement and hostility in Jordan, according to Business Doc Europe. A special mention went to Queer Edward II by Theo Rollason, a film about Derek Jarman's 1991 adaptation of Marlowe's play.

The Short Film Award went to Aman by Rahul Roye, with a special mention for Daughters of the Late Colonel by Elizabeth Hobbs. The BFI said Aman is available to watch for free on BFI Player until October 25. Voting for the Audience Awards — for Best Feature Film and Best British Discovery — closes on Wednesday, October 21, with the winners to be announced afterwards.

Background

The BFI London Film Festival, now in its 70th year, is the largest film festival in the United Kingdom and one of the most important dates on the international festival calendar. This year's milestone edition ran across BFI Southbank on the South Bank and partner cinemas around London, closing on October 18 with the UK premiere of Jesse Eisenberg's The Debut at the Royal Festival Hall.

Loznitsa is widely regarded as a master of archival film reconstruction, with a career spent reassembling fragments of the past — from Soviet-era propaganda to trial footage — into formally rigorous, quietly devastating films. Imperium continues that project: by looking at the USSR through Italian newsreel footage rather than official Soviet productions, the film offers a perspective on empire that contrasts sharply with how the state chose to represent itself.

The jury's citation captured that ambition, describing the film as "richly evocative and emotionally engaging on all levels, giving us a visually arresting perspective of life before the Soviet Union was broken apart." The competition jury also included Argentine filmmaker and writer Mariano Llinás and DDA chief strategy officer Julie La Bassiere.

The Sutherland Award winner continues a strong run for Southeast Asian cinema on the festival circuit. Chidgasornpongse's producers include Apichatpong Weerasethakul, himself a Palme d'Or winner and one of the most decorated figures in world cinema, and the film's presence in both Cannes' Directors' Fortnight and London's competition marks its director as a significant new voice.

Concrete Land, meanwhile, has been one of the documentary stories of the year. Bkerat, a young Palestinian-Jordanian filmmaker, told The Hollywood Reporter in a recent interview that the family featured in the film helped her discover her love of documentary filmmaking — a personal connection that runs through the film's intimate portrait of a Bedouin family facing displacement in Jordan.

Illustration: Illustration of a vintage film projector showing 1970s archival footage on a big screen

Why It Matters

The 70th edition of the festival arriving with such a politically and historically engaged winners' list says something about the moment. Imperium — a film about how empires see themselves, built from footage of a superpower that collapsed within living memory — lands at a time when questions of empire, memory, and national myth are being fiercely contested across the world. The jury's decision to honour it is as much a statement about cinema's role in examining history as about the film itself.

The Documentary Competition result is equally telling. Concrete Land is a film about displacement, cultural erasure, and resilience — themes the BFI said the winning films explored with "a fascinating breadth." Honouring a first-time Palestinian-Jordanian filmmaker at one of Europe's major festivals is the kind of platforming that can shape a career, and the Grierson Award has a track record of identifying documentary talent early.

For British cinema, the Sutherland special mention for Masc and the Short Film Award for Aman point to a healthy pipeline. The jury presidents across the four competitions — Sam Pollard, Amir El-Masry, Sandhya Suri, and Helen Simmons — represent a deliberate internationalism that reflects London's role as a meeting point for world cinema.

And there is the audience angle. Last year's Audience Award winners were Chloé Zhao's Hamnet and Yemi Bamiro's Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story, and with voting closing on October 21, this year's popular choice could send a different signal from the juries' picks — a useful reminder that festival honours and audience affection are two different, equally valid measures of a film's power.

What Happens Next

The immediate next step is the Audience Awards: voting closes on October 21, and the winners of Best Feature Film and Best British Discovery will be announced shortly afterwards. That result will complete the festival's 2026 honours and give distributors and awards-season watchers one more data point as the race toward the 2027 Academy Awards takes shape.

Imperium's Best Film win puts it firmly in the international awards conversation. Loznitsa's films have historically travelled well on the festival circuit, and the London honour — combined with the jury's effusive citation — will strengthen its position with distributors and curators. Expect it to surface in year-end lists and critics' polls in the coming months.

For 9 Temples to Heaven and Concrete Land, the festival prizes are launch pads. Both are debut features by young directors, and awards of this stature typically translate into festival invitations, distribution deals, and — critically — the financing for a second film. Bkerat's and Chidgasornpongse's next projects will now carry the weight of expectation that only a major festival win can create.

Aman, the short film winner, is free to watch on BFI Player until October 25 — a rare chance for the general public to see the festival's honoured work directly, and a reminder that the London Film Festival's reach extends well beyond the cinemas of the South Bank.

Illustration: Illustration of a documentary filmmaker filming in a Middle Eastern village

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FAQ

What won Best Film at the 70th BFI London Film Festival?

Imperium by Sergei Loznitsa won the Best Film Award in the Official Competition. The archival documentary reframes Soviet history through Italian cameramen's footage of the USSR in the early 1970s, according to the BFI.

Who won the other competition awards?

9 Temples to Heaven by Sompot Chidgasornpongse won the Sutherland Award for first feature; Concrete Land by Asmahan Bkerat won the Grierson Award for documentary; and Aman by Rahul Roye won the Short Film Award.

When are the Audience Awards announced?

Voting for the Audience Awards — for Best Feature Film and Best British Discovery — closes on Wednesday, October 21, with the winners to be announced afterwards. Last year's winners were Chloé Zhao's Hamnet and Black Is Beautiful: The Kwame Brathwaite Story.

What is Imperium about?

It is a non-narrative archival documentary in which Loznitsa reframes Soviet history through the gaze of Italian cameramen who filmed life across the USSR in the early 1970s, offering a wide-ranging perspective on a country with a social and cultural landscape rarely seen in Western cinemas, according to the jury.

How can I watch the winning short film?

The BFI said Aman by Rahul Roye is available to watch for free on BFI Player until October 25, 2026.

Sources

• BFI, "Competition winners announced at 70th BFI London Film Festival" (October 2026) — bfi.org.uk
• British Cinematographer, "70th BFI London Film Festival announces 2026 award winners" (October 19, 2026) — britishcinematographer.co.uk
• Business Doc Europe, "Imperium and Concrete Land named doc winners at 70th BFI London FF" (October 19, 2026) — businessdoceurope.com
• The Hollywood Reporter, via WDC News 6, "BFI LFF 2026 Awards Winners: Imperium, Concrete Land" (October 19, 2026) — wdcnews6.com