After the announcement came that 21 worldwide festivals—including the Berlin Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival and Venice Film Festival—had teamed up for We Are One: A Global Film Festival, hype was palpable. The line-up has finally been unveiled, and although it may not be stuffed full of exciting premieres like a physical film festival, it still looks like cinephiles will be in for a (free!) treat.
A series of online talks will unite huge names in the film industry, including Francis Ford Coppola in conversation with Steven Soderbergh, Song Kang-ho (Parasite) with Bong Joon-ho, as well as appearances from Guillermo del Toro, Jane Campion and Claire Denis. Among the titles announced are Shiraz: A Romance of India (1928) with a new original score from Anoushka Shankar; Rudeboy (2019), a film about the love affair between Jamaican and British Youth culture told through the prism of one the most iconic record labels in history; and a short film by Mark Jenkin, the BAFTA-winning director of Bait.
The festival will also host the online premiere of Ricky Powell featuring Natasha Lyonne and LL Cool J, and two new shorts by Dreamworks Animation, Bilby, Marooned and Bird Karma.
In these challenging times, there are many people struggling and We Are One is an opportunity for us to come together through our love of film, art and music to reach out and support each other.”
Tricia Tuttle, BFI London Film Festival Director
Considering the festival’s entirely-digital status, some intriguing VR selections will also be shown, including the Emmy-nominated documentary Traveling While Black and Atlas V, a sci-fi film starring Bill Skarsgard. Other titles will feature legendary names from Oprah Winfrey to Lupita Nyong’o.
Resolutely global and celebrating varied types of film, the festival programming represents work from over 35 countries and ecompasses narrative and documentary features, shorts, archived talks and VR programming. The festival will run exclusively on YouTube May 29 – June 7 at YouTube.com/WeAreOne.
View the full festival schedule here.
Words by Steph Green