Harris Dickinson's URCHIN premieres at BFF!

Actor Harris Dickinson's (Babygirl, The Threesome, Georgie's Fine) directorial debut from the French Riviera won the FIPRESCI award. The title character, played brilliantly by Frank Dillane, is a young Londoner who lives on the streets, struggles with addiction, and fights for survival every day. He spends his days begging for change while looking for a place to sleep, a place where he can hide his meager belongings. When a stranger offers to pay for his meal, Mike decides to seize the opportunity.

Dickinson's character can be as innocent as a fairy-tale orphan, full of the charm we associate with boyish immaturity, only to turn into a predator and manipulator in a second. In the small, slim Mike, the actor has also captured childish anger, youthful carefreeness, an enormous hunger for closeness, but also aggression that erupts at unexpected moments.

URCHIN is a tribute to Mike Leigh's cinema, to the tenderness and humor that go hand in hand with keen observation and sharp criticism of social relations. Dickinson's film, which evokes the atmosphere of those stories, is also thoroughly contemporary. It was made at a time when the homelessness crisis in London had reached alarming proportions.

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The full festival program will be announced on October 28th. Tickets and passes will go on sale on October 30th online and at the cinema box office.