The BFI London Film Festival is back from 5 to 16 October! Hundreds of screenings are planned in many cinemas around London. Among them, some new French films: 

Heal the Living (Réparer les vivants), by Katell Quillévéré (2015)

Katell Quillévéré directs a superb ensemble cast in this gripping, complex ensemble drama about lives connected by an organ transplant case. 

• Ciné Lumière, Thursday 6 October at 6.15pm
• Vue West End Screen 7, Friday 7 October at midday
• Prince Charles Cinema, Friday 14 October at 6.30pm

Adieu Bonaparte, by Youssef Chahine (1985)

Youssef Chahine is simultaneously a historian and prophet in this unforgettable and beautifully-restored film set during the French occupation of Egypt. 

• BFI Southbank 2, Friday 7 October at 8.45pm

A Journey Through French Cinema (Voyage à travers le cinéma français), by Bertrand Tavernier (2015)

Bertrand Tavernier presents a treasure trove of a documentary and a masterful exploration of some of the directors, actors and composers who graces French cinema. 

• BFI Southbank NFT3, Thursday 6 October at 2pm
• Curzon Mayfair, Friday 7 October at 5pm
• Vue 5, Tuesday 11 October at 11.30am

Fanny's Journey (Le voyage de Fanny), by Lola Doillon (2016)

Fanny and her sisters attempt to escape nazi-occupied France but many dangers lie ahead of them. 

• Ciné Lumière, Saturday 8 October at 12.30pm
• BFI Southbank NFT 2, Sunday 16 October at 3.30pm

My Life as a Courgette (Ma vie de Courgette), by Claude Barras (2016)

Funny and engaging animated first feature about an orphan named Courgette, written by Celinee Sciamma, for kids, teens and adults alike. 

• Ciné Lumière, Saturday 8 October at 6pm
• Vue 5, Sunday 9 October at 3.30pm

Souvenir, by Bavo Defurne (2015)

Isabelle Huppert plays a chanteuse who once tasted Eurovision success, who meets a hunky young boxer while working in a pâté factory. 

• Vue 7, Sunday 9 October at 2.45pm
• BFI Southbank, Monday 10 0ctober at 6.15pm

A Woman's Life (Une vie), by Stéphane Brizé (2016)

Judith Chemla offers an unmissable performance in this compelling adaptation of the Maupassant novel about a woman's travails in nineteent-century Normandy. 

• Ciné Lumière, Friday 7 October at 6pm
• BFI Southbank NFT1, Monday 10 October at 3.15pm

Le Ciel Flamand, by Peter Monsaert (2016)

A prostitute with a legal brothel in Flemish-speaking Belgium makes a terrible mistake when circumstances force her to take her little girl to work. 

• Ciné Lumière, Friday 7 October at 8.45pm
• Curzon Soho, Sunday 9 October at 12.30pm
• Vue 7, Monday 10 October at midday

Frantz, by François Ozon (2016)

François Ozon makes a welcome return to the Festival with this sweeping love story set in the aftermath of World War I. 

• Embankment Garden Cinema, Friday 7 October at 8.40pm & Saturday 8 October at 2pm

Elle, by Paul Verhoeven (2015)

Isabelle Huppert gives an unforgettable performance in Paul Verhoeven's provocative thriller about one woman's unusual response to a violent attack. 

• Embankment Garden Cinema, Saturday 8 October at 8.40pm & Tuesday 11 October at 11.30am

The Graduation (Le concours), by Claire Simon (2016)

A plunge into one of today's most prestigious school of cinema, La Fémis in Paris. Essential viewing for anyone interested in what lies beneath French cinema. 

• Prince Charles Cinema, Monday 10 0ctober at 6pm
• Vue 7, Wednesday 12 October at 11.45am

The Death of Louis XIV (La Mort de Louis XIV), by Albert Serra (2016)

The last days of Sun King, evoked with sombre beauty. The legendary Jean-Pierre Léaud brings ineffable presence to the title role. 

• Ciné Lumière, Monday 10 October at 8.45pm

The Unknown Girl (La fille inconnue), by the Dardenne brothers (2016)

Compelling, complex realist drama about a doctor investigating the mysterious circumstances of an unseen caller's death. 

• Curzon Mayfair, Sunday 9 October at 3.15pm
• Curzon Soho, Tuesday 11 October at 6pm

Planetarium, by Recebba Zlotowski (2016)

Natalie Portman and bright newcomer Lily-Rose Depp star as two psychic sisters in this visually dazzling and stylistically bold drama set in 1930s Paris. 

• Haymarket Cinema, Wednesday 12 October at 6.15pm
• Vue 7, Thursday 13 October at 2.45pm
• Ciné Lumière, Friday 14 October at 6.15pm

Lost in Paris, by Fiona Gordon and Dominique Abel (2013)

Beanpole comedy duo Gordon and Abel return in this ingeniously entertaining story of a librarian searching for her aunt. Misunderstandings and delicious sight gags abound. 

• Curzon Mayfair, Wednesday 12 October at 9pm
• Ciné Lumière, Saturday 15 October at 6.30pm

On Call (La Permanence), by Alice Diop (2015)

Filmed in a walk-in service for asylum seekers in an hospital near Paris. This timely documentary captures with great humanity dozens of personal stories. 

• ICA, Wednesday 12 October at 6.30pm

Another emotionally rich and visually sumptuous melodrama from Xavier Dolan, which picked up the Grand Prix at this year's Cannes. 

• Odeon Leicester Square, Friday 14 October at 9.15pm

Pregnant nuns, shattered faith and female solidarity: a classy and compelling French drama about a young doctor becoming the sole hope for an isolated convent. 

• Picturehouse Central, Friday 14 October at 6.15pm
• Hackney Picturehouse, Sunday 16 October at 12.45pm

After Love (L'économie du couple), by Joachim Lafosse (2016)

Bérénice Bejo and Cédric Kahn are a couple negotiating the difficult final delays of a marriage in this terrific drama from the director of Our Children. 

• Curzon Mayfair, Thursday 13 October at 6.30pm
• Ciné Lumière, Friday 14 October at 8.45pm

The Son of Joseph (Le Fils de Joseph), by Eugène Green (2016)

French writer-director Eugène Green brings his unique vision to his entrancing mix of coming-of-age tale and social satire, as a young man seeks his father. 

• Ciné Lumière, Thursday 13 October at 6.15pm
• ICA, Friday 14 October at 3.15pm

Nocturama, by Bertrand Bonello (2015)

Bertrand Bonella imagines Paris in a state of apocalypse, in a provocative, troubling response to the contemporary age of terror. 

• Embankment Garden Cinema, Saturday 15 October at 8.30pm & Sunday 16 October at 3pm

Staying Vertical (Rester vertical), by Alain Guiraudie (2016)

Provocateur Alain Guiraudie (Stranger by the Lake) returns with this surprising tale of fathers, father-figures; shepherds, wolves and sexuality. 

• Curzon Soho, Saturday 15 October at 6.15pm
• Ciné Lumière, Sunday 16 October at 1pm

The Lives of Thérèse (Les vies de Thérèse), by Sébastien Lifshitz (2016)

After appearing in Sébastien Lifshitz's memorable documentary Les Invisibles, Thérèse Clerc, fierce French feminist and activist breaks the last taboo: death. 

• Ciné Lumière, Saturday 15 October at 8.45pm
• BFI Southbank NFT2, Sunday 16 October at 8.45pm