BFI London Film Festival Unveils Competition Jury Heads
Sam Pollard, Amir El-Masry, Sandhya Suri and Helen Simmons will lead the festival's four competition juries, organizers announced.
The BFI London Film Festival has named the presidents and full juries for its four competitions, with Sam Pollard leading the official competition, Amir El-Masry heading the first feature competition, Sandhya Suri taking the documentary competition and Helen Simmons chairing the short film jury.
Pollard, a documentary filmmaker, brings a long list of directing credits to the role. His recent work includes Tutu, which won the Peace Film Prize at this year's Berlinale, along with I Was Born This Way (2025), The League (2023), South to Black Power (2023), Citizen Ashe (2021) and MLK/FBI (2020).
El-Masry, who leads the jury for the Sutherland Award, won a Scottish BAFTA for his performance in Limbo and was named a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit in 2020.
Suri, heading the Grierson Award jury for documentary, saw her narrative fiction debut Santosh shortlisted for the Oscars and win the BIFA for best screenplay.
Simmons, who oversees the short film competition jury, has producing credits that include the BAFTA-nominated Hoard, the 2025 LFF closer 100 Nights of Hero and Berlinale Crystal Bear winner Last Swim.
The festival also announced the full slate of jury members for each of the four competitions, as reported by hollywoodreporter.com.
Quick answers
Who is leading the BFI London Film Festival official competition jury?
Sam Pollard was announced as president of the official competition jury.
Who heads the first feature competition jury?
Amir El-Masry was announced as head of the first feature competition (Sutherland Award) jury.
Who leads the documentary and short film juries?
Sandhya Suri heads the documentary competition jury for the Grierson Award, and Helen Simmons heads the short film competition jury.