London Film Festival 2026 winners: what small filmmakers can learn

The 70th BFI London Film Festival wrapped up on Sunday 18 October, and the competition winners are out. Best Film went to Imperium by Sergei Loznitsa, a film made from footage that Italian cameramen shot in the Soviet Union in the early 1970s. Debut directors took the first feature and documentary prizes.

I haven't seen any of these yet, so this isn't a review. It's a look at what got rewarded, because I think the pattern has something useful in it for anyone making video on a small budget, whether that's a short film or a product reel for a shop in Hockley.

01Who won at the London Film Festival 2026?

The festival ran from 7 to 18 October with 251 titles, screening in London and at 10 other venues around the UK. Here are the competition winners:

• Best Film (Official Competition): Imperium, Sergei Loznitsa. Jury led by Sam Pollard.
• Sutherland Award (First Feature): 9 Temples to Heaven, Sompot Chidgasornpongse, a fiction debut about family, faith and the cycle of life. Jury led by Amir El-Masry. Special mention for MASC by Bertil Nilsson.
• Grierson Award (Documentary): Concrete Land, Asmahan Bkerat, a feature debut following a family facing displacement in Jordan. Jury led by Sandhya Suri. Special mention for Queer Edward II by Theo Rollason.
• Short Film Award: Aman, Rahul Roye, about a trans man who finds out he's pregnant on the eve of his gender-affirming surgery. Jury led by Helen Simmons. Special mention for Daughters of the Late Colonel by Elizabeth Hobbs.

The audience awards, including Best British Discovery, are still to come. Voting closes on Wednesday 21 October.

02The edit is where the film gets made

The thing that jumped out at me: the top prize went to a film where the director didn't shoot the pictures. Imperium takes footage filmed by other people fifty odd years ago and gives it a new frame. And one of the documentary special mentions, Queer Edward II, is built entirely from archive material about the making of Derek Jarman's Edward II.

That's a big deal for anyone who thinks you need a new shoot to make something good. You often don't. You need a point of view and the patience to find it in what already exists.

The camera collects. The edit decides what it all means.

For a small business, your "archive" is probably sitting on your phone right now. Years of behind the scenes clips, old event footage, the shop fit out, the first ever order going out of the door. Most of it never gets used because it doesn't look polished. Put it in order with a clear story and it can say more than a glossy new advert.

03Sound got a mention, and it always should

The reports on the documentary win point to how Concrete Land uses sound, alongside its images and the way it builds scenes. Juries rarely single that out, and I'm glad it got a nod.

On small shoots, sound is the first thing that gets ignored and the first thing viewers notice. People will forgive a slightly soft shot. They won't sit through wind noise, echoey rooms or a voice that's half the volume of the music. If you're filming interviews or talking heads, a cheap clip-on mic does more for the finished video than a camera upgrade.

04Trust takes time, and it shows on screen

The other thread in the Concrete Land coverage is patience: the filmmaker's close, trusted relationship with the family at the centre of it. You can't fake that in a one hour slot.

I see a small version of this on commercial work all the time. The best moments from founders, staff and customers usually come after the first twenty minutes, once they've forgotten the camera is there. If you only book enough time to grab your shots and leave, you get stiff people saying rehearsed lines. Build in time to chat, have a brew and let things warm up.

05Debuts are winning, which should give you a push

Two of the four competition prizes went to first features. A first film isn't a practice run that nobody takes seriously. It can sit on the same stage as the big names.

If you've got a short or a passion project sitting half finished on a hard drive, this is your reminder to get it done and get it seen. I rounded up some ways to do that locally in where to show your work in Nottingham this autumn.

06What I'm taking from it

1. Go through your old footage before you book a new shoot.
2. Treat sound as half the job, not an afterthought.
3. Give people time on camera. The good stuff comes later.
4. Finish the thing. Debuts win prizes.

I'll be keeping an eye out for Imperium and Concrete Land when they reach cinemas. If you've got a pile of footage and no idea what story is in it, that's exactly the kind of edit I love. Have a look at my work or drop me a line.