Saltburn, writer-director Emerald Fennell’s follow-up to Promising Young Woman, has been selected as the opening film for the 2023 edition of the London film festival in October, it has been announced.

Starring Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi and Rosamund Pike, Saltburn is described as “a tale of privilege and desire”. Its published plot synopsis says: “Student Oliver Quick (Keoghan) is struggling to find his place at Oxford University and finds himself drawn into the world of the charming and aristocratic Felix Catton (Elordi), who invites him to Saltburn, his eccentric family’s sprawling estate, for a summer never to be forgotten.”

The London film festival screening is billed as the film’s “international premiere”, which means that the film’s world premiere will be elsewhere, most likely at the small-scale but prestigious Telluride film festival in Colorado, which takes place over the Labor Day weekend (31 Aug-4 Sep).

Fennell won the Oscar for best original screenplay for Promising Young Woman in 2021, having combined an acting career (including playing Camilla Shand in The Crown) with writing, as head writer on TV series Killing Eve. Fennell also wrote the book for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella musical.

The Saltburn screening will take place on 4 October at the Royal Festival Hall in London, with simultaneous events taking place at cinemas across the UK.