I’ve been stomping London’s streets and settling into its cinema seats for the BFI London Film Festival, armed with an ambitious wish list of films and navigating a few travel and scheduling headaches along the way. The encouraging discovery? Many of those same titles feature in the Cheltenham Film Festival 2026 programme, presented by FilmChelt just twelve days after London’s festival closes.

From Andrew Scott in Elsinore to Danny Boyle’s Ink, Cheltenham’s programme gives film lovers plenty to look forward to, alongside classics, discoveries and some particularly tempting visual worlds to explore.

There is plenty to love about the London Film Festival: the buzz, discovering films early, hearing from their makers, huge screens and big sound, chatting to fellow film lovers in queues and glimpsing stars on red carpets through crowds of screaming fans. For Film and Furniture, it is also a chance to find the stories, spaces and design details we will be exploring over the coming months.

Attending from outside London does take planning, with screenings, travel and accommodation to coordinate. At times I could have done with a film producer of my own. So it is particularly welcome to find so much of my watch list coming closer to home, thanks to FilmChelt’s ambitious programme and volunteer team.

Look what’s coming to Cheltenham

FilmChelt runs from 30 October to 8 November 2026, with a programme spanning major new releases, international discoveries and much-loved classics. Here are some of my picks.

Among the headline draws is Simon Stone’s Elsinore, LFF’s opening film and one of its most talked-about titles, screening at FilmChelt on 6 and 7 November. Andrew Scott plays actor Ian Charleson as he prepares to perform Hamlet while confronting his own mortality. Its late-1980s theatrical world holds particular interest for those of us drawn to the spaces behind the performances.

London’s closing film, Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut, opens FilmChelt on 30 October, with a second screening on 1 November. Julianne Moore plays a shy housewife discovering an unexpected appetite for community theatre.

Danny Boyle’s Ink takes us into the Fleet Street world of Rupert Murdoch and editor Larry Lamb, played by Guy Pearce and Jack O’Connell. For anyone interested in how production design reconstructs a working environment and an era, a newspaper office is fertile territory.

Then there is Anton Corbijn’s A Talent for Murder, with Helen Mirren as Patricia Highsmith and a young publisher discovering the hazards of persuading the creator of Tom Ripley to write another book. This comes with a personal connection: my partner Paul West and I had the great pleasure of working with Anton on the design of Depeche Mode album campaigns. Having seen his visual approach at close quarters, I am particularly curious to see his treatment of Highsmith’s world.

Also on my list is the UK premiere of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Violette, a twisty mystery arriving 25 years after Amélie. For anyone who loves Jeunet’s distinctive use of colour, objects and detail, that is an enticing prospect.

The Spotlight selections include Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord, a morally complex family drama starring Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan, and La Bola Negra, directed by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo. The latter connects three lives across different eras, with locations, interiors and period detail offering a particularly rich avenue into its personal and national histories.

Arie and Chuko Esiri’s Clarissa transports Mrs Dalloway to contemporary Lagos, with Sophie Okonedo as a society hostess. A story built around preparing a home for a party naturally invites our attention. Other London crossovers include Mike Leigh’s Tender Loving Care, along with Minotaur, Rose, Coward, All of a Sudden and The Fox.

That is a substantial amount of shared programming. Hats off to FilmChelt’s volunteer team.

More for the watch list

FilmChelt’s AI strand gives us another opportunity to enjoy Spike Jonze’s Her, whose warm colours and beautifully considered interiors remain a compelling vision of the near future. Alongside a panel discussion, Joseph Sargent’s Colossus: The Forbin Project, introduced by Kevin Howlett, offers a less comforting prospect: a supercomputer taking control of the nuclear arsenal. Made in 1970, it should prompt some interesting comparisons with our current technological anxieties.

From Eastern Promise, Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s Gabbeh is firmly on my list. Its story is woven around the Persian carpets of a nomadic community in Iran, with extraordinary colour and a textile at the heart of the storytelling. Naturally, we approve.

The Cult programme offers further visual pleasures. John Frankenheimer’s Seconds, celebrating its 60th anniversary, stars Rock Hudson as a dissatisfied banker who buys a new identity, with unsettling wide-angle camerawork to match.

David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive offers another journey through Los Angeles homes, dreams and unease, while Christopher Nolan’s Following, presented by actor Jeremy Theobald, invites a closer look at the possessions and private spaces through which we reveal ourselves.

Also on the list are Jūzō Itami’s Tampopo and the 75th-anniversary screening of Robert Wise’s The Day the Earth Stood Still. For Halloween, Night of the Demon supplies shadowy streets, country-house menace and an ancient curse.

Family screenings include The Wild Robot and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, both offering richly imagined worlds for younger viewers and plenty of craft for adults to admire.

It’s not all quiet on the western front

Having moved from London to the West Country, I’m delighted to find such an ambitious film programme on my doorstep. FilmChelt is a reminder of how much regional festivals contribute to our film culture, bringing new releases, international cinema and much-loved classics to audiences beyond the capital.

London Film Festival has given me some treasured moments: Sofia Coppola in conversation with Edith Bowman, Making Marie Antoinette, the powerful Woman Unknown and the immersive Water Body. Seeing LAIKA’s epic stop-motion Wildwood at its world premiere, then attending the Design Museum exhibition preview, interviewing production designer Nelson Lowry and chatting with cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, has been a particular highlight.

Those experiences are worth travelling for (despite the GWR headaches), and FilmChelt gives us plenty more to look forward to closer to home. Whether you have been following the London festival or are simply looking for your next cinema outing, Cheltenham’s programme deserves a browse. Every ticket also supports the volunteer team bringing these films to town.

Explore the FilmChelt programme and book tickets.

The BFI London Film Festival continues until 18 October 2026. Explore the programme and book remaining tickets here.