Steve McQueen's 'Blitz' opens the 2024 London Film Festival

LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Oscar-winning director Steve McQueen kicked off the London Film Festival on Wednesday with his gripping World War Two drama "Blitz".

"Where we're standing right now, bombs were dropped," the "12 Years a Slave" and "Hunger" filmmaker said on the red carpet at the capital's Royal Festival Hall. "So, to be in London showing a movie about London in 1940, I mean, where else can I show this picture?"

"Blitz" stars Saoirse Ronan as Rita, a London mother who sends her young son George, played by newcomer Elliott Heffernan, to safety in the countryside during the war. But George is determined to return home despite the many dangers ahead.

Like his character, Heffernan, whose previous acting experience consisted of playing "Aladdin" in a school play, he embarked on a transformative journey with the movie.

"It was a massive adventure, just for one kid who did a school play to being on the red carpet and knowing exactly how a film works. I think I've come a very long way," the 11-year-old said, adding he had not told his friends about his star turn.

"Maybe they'll find out, maybe they won't. I might not tell them. I mean, I want to keep it normal," he said.

Dubbed "the Blitz" by the locals, the intense aerial bombing of the United Kingdom from September 1940 to May 1941 by the German Luftwaffe was officially called Blitzkrieg, or "Lightning War". It saw Londoners huddling together in underground shelters, battling blazes caused by the bombings and rescuing people from the rubble of their homes.

"It (the film) is about a community coming together against all odds and kind of honoring that part of our humanity that needs to find lightness and levity no matter how bad the world is around us," Ronan said.

Written and directed by McQueen, "Blitz" also stars Harris Dickinson, Paul Weller, Stephen Graham, and Benjamin Clementine.

It is one of 255 titles from 80 countries screening at the 68th edition of the London Film Festival.

"Blitz" will be released in select cinemas on November 1 and stream on Apple TV+ from November 22.

(Reporting by Hanna Rantala; Editing by Jamie Freed)