WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN WINNER AT LONDON FEST

Lynne Ramsay’s We Need to Talk about Kevin, has been named best picture at the BFI London Film Festival. The film, which received much praise when it debuted at Cannes in May, was described by BFI jury chairman John Madden as “a sublime, uncompromising tale of the torment that can stand in the place of love.” The film features Tilda Swinton as the mother of a teenage boy who engages in a shooting massacre at his high school. It was only the third time that the 55-year-old London festival had staged a competition for best film, an apparent effort to compete for industry recognition with other film festivals that do so. Nine films were among the finalists, including Aleksandr Sokurov’s Faust, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival this year, and director Steve McQueen’s soon-to-be-released NC-17 drama Shame.