First Look at Florian Zeller’s Bunker Ahead of London Film Festival Gala and UK Release
Film & TVFilm & TV20 September 2026
AuthorFraya Parker
Photos©Studiocanal
First-look images from Florian Zeller’s Bunker, starring Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz, have been unveiled ahead of its London Film Festival gala and UK cinema release.
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TUDIOCANAL has unveiled first look images and the UK release date for the upcoming film Bunker, written and directed by Florian Zeller, who previously won two Oscars for his directorial debut, The Father, starring Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman.
The psychological thriller will be shown at the BFI’s London Film Festival on October 10th, as one of the 21 gala screenings on the festival’s programme, before it is released in UK and Irish cinemas on February 19th, 2027.
Unlike Zeller’s previous films, The Father and The Son, which were both adapted from his own stage plays, Bunker is his first film to be written directly for the screen, and with its two lead actors in mind.
Real-life couple Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz will star as Miguel and Sofia, a husband and wife whose 17-year marriage is tested when Miguel accepts a morally ambiguous architectural project: building a survivalist bunker for a tech billionaire.
According to the official press release, Bunker promises to explore “the fears, doubts, and ethical dilemmas that define our time”. The BFI notes that the film is “set against a backdrop of widening class divisions”, with Zeller using this broader social context to expand upon the intimate family dynamics of his past works.
Although a trailer for the film has not yet been released, first-look images provide a glimpse into the tense relationship between the couple.
Joining Bardem and Cruz on the screen are Stephen Graham (Adolescence, This Is England), Paul Dano (Prisoners, Little Miss Sunshine) and Patrick Schwarzenegger (The White Lotus, The Staircase).
Bunker made its world premiere at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival in September 2026, and is one of the most anticipated films on the festival circuit this year.
