UK Premiere at the 70th BFI London Film Festival

Gripping political drama Heysel 85 will have its UK premiere at the 70th BFI London Film Festival on 15 October, ahead of its UK theatrical release on 20 November 2026.

Selected for the festival’s Thrill strand, Heysel 85 revisits one of football’s darkest and most devastating nights: the 1985 Heysel Stadium disaster, when Liverpool and Juventus met in the European Cup Final in Brussels.

The film previously screened as a Special Gala at the Berlin International Film Festival and combines drama and documentary-style storytelling to explore the human and political forces surrounding the tragedy.

Violet Braeckman, named a 2026 European Film Promotion Shooting Star, stars alongside Matteo Simoni, with the cast also including Josse De Pauw, Fabrizio Rongione, Paolo Calabresi, Bobby Schofield and Ben Seger.

Set against the growing tension inside Heysel Stadium, the story follows the daughter of the Mayor of Brussels and an Italian journalist as violence erupts around them. Caught between professional duty, family loyalty and moral responsibility, they find themselves at the heart of an unfolding catastrophe.

Directed by Teodora Ana Mihai, Heysel 85 offers an intense and immersive look at a moment football history has never forgotten.

Heysel 85 will have its UK premiere at the 70th BFI London Film Festival on 15 October, ahead of its UK theatrical release on 20 November 2026.

Trailer:

Distributor: Icon Film Distribution