Steve McQueen’s female-fronted heist movie, Widows, will be the opening film of the BFI London film festival, it has been announced.

McQueen’s first feature since his 2013 best-picture Oscar winner 12 Years a Slave is an adaptation of the early 1980s British TV series written by Lynda LaPlante, about a group of women who embark on a robbery after their their husbands are killed. McQueen’s version has been relocated to Chicago and stars Viola Davis and Michelle Rodriguez. British outfit Film4 is among its backers, as well as The King’s Speech producers Iain Canning and Emile Sherman.

The London film festival screening of Widows is billed as its international premiere, which means it is a near-certainty to be given a high-profile slot at a North American festival for its world bow – most likely at Telluride and Toronto at the start of the autumn festival season.

The London film festival runs from 10 to 21 October.