BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH, Dame Helen Mirren and Dame Maggie Smith will be among the British stars on the red carpet at this year’s London Film Festival.

    The October event will include the U.K. premiere of crime drama “Black Mass,” starring Johnny Depp and Cumberbatch.

    “The Lady in the Van,” starring Maggie Smith as an elderly woman who lives on writer Alan Bennett’s driveway, will have its European premiere in London.

    Bryan Cranston and Mirren’s film “Trumbo” will have a gala screening.

    “Trumbo,” which also stars Diane Lane, Elle Fanning and John Goodman, tells the story of Dalton Trumbo, the Hollywood screenwriter who was blacklisted after refusing to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1947.

    Ben Wheatley’s “High-Rise,” starring Tom Hiddleston, will also have a gala screening.

    Unveiling the full lineup Tuesday, festival director Clare Stewart declared it “the year of the strong woman.”

    As previously announced, the festival will open with “Suffragette,” starring Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep. It will close with Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs biopic, starring Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet.

    Netflix’s “Beasts of No Nation,” starring Idris Elba as an African warlord, is among the films in official competition.

    The film has already made headlines by becoming the first Netflix production to compete at this week’s Venice Film Festival.

    It will be available to stream on the video-on-demand service in October on the same day it is released in cinemas.

    The festival runs from Oct. 7 to 18.

    (SD-Agencies)