BFI London Film Festival Taps Pippa Harris and James Wilson to Lead 70th Edition Industry Programme
The BFI London Film Festival has named producers Pippa Harris and James Wilson as the headline figures of its 70th edition industry programme, with both set for spotlight conversations during the festival's industry forum. The announcement was made on 10 August 2026 by the festival, which runs 7–18 October in London. Variety
Festival director Kristy Matheson said the 2026 industry programme puts a spotlight on producers and their role in shepherding artistic visions to the screen. The full forum programme will be announced in mid-September.
Harris is best known for her longstanding partnership with director Sam Mendes, with whom she co-founded Neal Street Productions. Her film credits span 1917, Revolutionary Road, Jarhead and the upcoming Hamnet, and she is currently working on the four-part Beatles biopic series for Mendes. Her television productions include Call the Midwife, Penny Dreadful and Britannia — a producing portfolio that reaches across big-screen war epics, prestige drama and long-running series television.
Wilson's credits are rooted in bold, director-driven cinema. He has an ongoing collaboration with Jonathan Glazer, producing The Zone of Interest and Under the Skin. He also produced Kaouther Ben Hania's Oscar-nominated The Voice of Hind Rajab, Lynne Ramsay's You Were Never Really Here, Aneil Karia's Hamlet and 20,000 Days on Earth, the documentary built around Nick Cave.
In their spotlight conversations, Harris and Wilson will discuss their careers, current projects and the business of navigating the international film and television market — the territory where creative ambition meets financing, distribution deals and release scheduling.
The pairing brings together two producers whose work sits at opposite ends of the scale. Harris operates in the realm of large-budget theatrical productions and long-form television. Wilson's films tend to be smaller in budget but heavyweight in festival presence and critical attention. Both, though, share the same core job: getting a director's vision financed, filmed and onto screens.
For festival-goers and industry attendees, the 70th LFF industry forum offers a chance to hear from two practitioners who rarely sit for extended public conversation. The milestone edition — seven decades of the festival — gives the programme a natural focal point, and the choice of two producers rather than directors or performers signals where the festival sees the conversation heading: toward the people who make the films happen, not just the names above the title.
