London Film Festival Best Picture Shortlist

This year’s shortlist is:

360
The Artist
The Deep Blue Sea
The Descendants
Faust
The Kid With A Bike
Shame
Trishna
We Need To Talk About Kevin 

The shortlist for Best British Newcomer is:

Nick Murphy, Director, The Awakening
Tinge Krishnan, Director, Junkhearts
Candese Reid, Actress, Junkhearts
Nirpal Bhogal, Writer/Director, Sket
Aimee Kelly, Actress, Sket
Tom Cullen, Actor, Weekend
Chris New, Actor, Weekend  
D.R. Hood, Writer/Director, Wreckers

Thanks to reader Peter who then asks the question, “could a win like this do the same for a crowdpleaser like The Artist what the Toronto Audience Award did for The King’s Speech ? Is it even a possibility that they go American (The Descendants) ? And if they do give it to a stunning film that is probably not the Academy’s cup of tea – Shame, We need to talk about Kevin – could it help its chances when it comes to Oscar’s bp category?”

It could be the start of The Artist’s Slumdog-like sweep, yes.  Would do well for any of the movies up for the award, any of them.