This month (October) the Cinetopia team — Amanda, Robert, Rosie and Emma — dive into the 2025 BFI London Film Festival from both sides of the border, unpacking the highlights, surprises and cinematic trends that defined this year’s programme.Episode breakdown:[00:00] Introduction & Festival OverviewHow this year’s LFF felt from both London and Scotland, what’s new, and how regional audiences are engaging with the festival.[15:00] Frankenstein — dir. Guillermo del ToroA bold and emotional reinterpretation of Mary Shelley’s classic, part-filmed in Scotland, blending gothic spectacle with del Toro’s empathy for the monster within.[28:05] I Was Just an Accident — dir. Jafar PanahiA road-movie-style reflection on guilt and redemption, rich with Panahi’s quiet humour and humanism, blurring the line between fiction and reality.[37:00] Die My Love — dir. Lynne RamsayRamsay returns with a visceral, intimate portrait of motherhood and rage, shot through with her trademark precision in image and sound.[46:45] Hamnet — dir. Chloé ZhaoAn emotional, gorgeous film that reimagines Shakespeare’s family life through the loss of his son, capturing the texture of grief and creative legacy.[01:01:00] Mastermind — dir. Kelly ReichardtAutumnal in tone and quietly comic, Reichardt’s latest turns the art-heist genre inside out, reflecting on the absurdities of creative ambition and failure.[01:10:15] Interview: Jali Collective — Tomiwa Folorunso and Carmen ThompsonAmanda speaks with the co-founders of Jali Collective, a grassroots Edinburgh-based collective widening access to African cinema and celebrating Black, African and diaspora stories through film and culture.Join us for festival reflections, film chat, and a little cross-border cinephile gossip — from London to Edinburgh and beyond.

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