At the close of the 70th BFI London Film Festival, Sergei Loznitsa’s Imperium was handed the Best Film Award in Official Competition, while Asmahan Bkerat’s Concrete Land picking up the Grierson Award in Documentary Competition. Theo Rollason received a Special Mention for Queer Edward II in Doc Competition.
In Imperium, Sergei Loznitsa reframes Soviet history once again via the revealing gaze of Italian cameramen who captured life there in the early 1970s.
The Official Competition jury said: “We, as a jury, have chosen Serge Loznitsa’s Imperium as the BFI London Film Festival’s Best Film for 2026. Imperium is an extraordinary film that explores the Soviet Union in the early 1970’s from a rich archive with a wide-ranging perspective that looks at life in a country with an extraordinary social and cultural landscape that has rarely been seen. The film is richly evocative and emotionally engaging on all levels giving us a visually arresting perspective of life before the Soviet Union was broken apart. Our jury is immensely proud to honour such a powerful and singular piece of work.”
The Official Competition jury consisted of President Sam Pollard (Director, Tutu, MLK/FBI, Citizen Ashe), Mariano Llinás (Filmmaker and writer, Life of Jorge Luis Borges, The Flower) and Julie La Bassiere (Chief Strategy Officer, DDA).
Winner of the Grierson Award in Documentary Competition, Ashman Bkerat’s feature directorial debutConcrete Land is an intimate, multi-generational portrait of a mixed-raced family fighting displacement and hostility in Jordan.
The Documentary Competition jury commented: “This was a beautifully observed portrait filmed with mastery and confidence. In image creation, sound design, scene building and most importantly the deep and trusting relationship with the films’ characters the filmmaker proved themselves a worthy recipient of the Grierson award. It takes a tremendous cinematic skill and maturity to bring the audience to feel so close to each and every character of this remarkable family, across generations and in a very different part of the world yet the warmth we feel for each is profound. In a noisy and often polemical world it was refreshing, humbling and deeply relevant to see the quiet resilience and dignity of this family in the face of the erasure of their culture and traditions. This is filmmaking which never gets in the way of itself and will surely take its place in the annals of observational greats.”
A Special Mention was given to Theo Rollason for Queer Edward II, which takes us behind the scenes of Derek Jarman’s Edward II, set against the backdrop of the anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation of 1980s Britain.
The Documentary Competition Jury commented: “This was a spirited and tightly constructed portrait of Jarman as both an artist and an activist. Along with the luscious making-of footage, the integration of wider political archive was skilfully and heart-fully done, making it a fitting and timely tribute to Jarman in its defiant call for tolerance and against prejudice.”
The Documentary Competition (Grierson Award) jury comprised President Sandhya Suri (Director, Santosh, I for India), Kate Fitzpatrick (Senior Programmer, Melbourne International Film Festival) and Andee Ryder (BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning film producer).
