The London Film Festival (LFF) promises to launch the big award-winning films for 2013, as the British Film Institute (BFI) reveals an impressive line up to be showcased in October.
Toronto, Cannes and Venice have been celebrated as the festivals which springboard films into the Oscars and Baftas, but London is increasingly becoming a magnet for the best in world cinema.
It selected many of the big award winners in recent years including The Artist, Argo, The King's Speech and Slumdog Millionaire.
This October, Tom Hanks, Daniel Radcliffe, Sandra Bullock and Dame Judi Dench are among the stars expected to walk the red carpet in London's Leicester Square as they premiere their films.
The star-studded celebration of cinema, lasting almost two weeks, will host more than 180 feature films and 130 short films from around 50 countries.
Tom Hanks will open the festival on October 9 with his film Captain Phillips.
From Brit Director Paul Greengrass, who made Bourne and Green Zone, it tells the true story of the 2009 Somali pirate hijacking of the unarmed US MV Maersk Alabama cargo ship.
There is already talk of an Oscar for Hanks for his role as the commanding officer in what promises to be a gripping drama.
Another Hanks film will also close the LFF on October 20. Saving Mr Banks is a charming Disney film in which Hanks plays Walt Disney, opposite Emma Thompson as Mary Poppins author PL Travers.
Under The Skin is one of four British films in competition this year. It is the highly anticipated first film in nine years from British director Jonathan Glazer, starring Scarlett Johansson as a man-eating alien.
Mainly shot in Glasgow, the film has already received rave five star reviews from the Venice Film Festival.
Among the other cinematic treats announced at the LFF launch in the Leicester Square Odeon, is Philomena, a Stephen Frears film starring Dame Judi Dench, which co-stars and was written by Steve Coogan. It tells the true story of the character's journey from Ireland to America to search for her adopted son.
Another already Oscar tipped, important, high impact film to be screened at the LFF is 12 Years A Slave, by another acclaimed British director Steve McQueen.
Alfonso Cuaron's sci-fi space thriller Gravity will bring George Clooney and Sandra Bullock to the festival.
