BFI Southbank Programme Notes

Opening Night

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. An attempt to grapple with the mystery of John Cassavetes might usefully begin by noting that, at least during the director’s lifeti...

May 17, 2026 | Big Screen Classics

Hellboy

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Few comic-book franchises have been brought to the screen by a creator as committed to honouring the original material as Mike Migno...

May 16, 2026 | Guillermo del Toro

The Flying Scot

An unusually unsympathetic pair of protagonists is only one of the distinguishing marks of this tense thriller set largely on an overnight train from Edinburgh to London. A tantalising opening sequ...

May 16, 2026 | Great Expectations
British Postwar Cinema 1945-1960

Cinema Novo

Director’s note In the words of Walter Benjamin, ‘There is a secret agreement between past generations and the present one. Our coming was expected on Earth. Like every generation that preceded us,...

May 16, 2026 | Brazil on Film

Mars One

Director’s statement: Gabriel Martins In the first scene of my sophomore film Mars One, Deivid, the young boy from the Martins family, is sitting in his backyard looking at the stars. He wonders, ‘...

May 15, 2026 | Brazil on Film

Lower City

Flickering flames and strumming guitars play over the opening credits of Lower City, a sure sign of the fevered passions that will be unleashed over the next 98 minutes. And with the first shot of ...

May 11, 2026 | Brazil on Film

Pan's Labyrinth

The screening on Sunday 10 May will include a Q&A with Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth proves beyond doubt what fans of his previous films, such as Hellboy (2004) and B...

May 10, 2026 | Guillermo del Toro

Neighbouring Sounds

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Is it harder to direct a movie if you’re also a professional film critic? Kleber Mendonça Filho has thought a lot about this. His vi...

May 10, 2026 | Brazil on Film

Man Marked for Death, 20 Years Later

In 1962, fresh-faced Brazilian filmmaker Eduardo Coutinho stumbled upon the story of an assassinated peasant leader in the rural north-east of the country that truly inspired him. It would take him...

May 10, 2026 | Brazil on Film

Frankenstein

The IMAX screening on Sunday 10 May will be introduced by Guillermo del Toro Few filmmakers manifestly relish holding forth about their work as much as Guillermo del Toro famously does; sitting i...

May 10, 2026 | Guillermo del Toro

Being John Malkovich

Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman on ‘Being John Malkovich’ Watching Being John Malkovich was one of the most restorative experiences I’ve had for a long time. Not only is it a more audacious and gen...

May 10, 2026 | Big Screen Classics

The Shape of Water

The screening on Saturday 9 May will be introduced by Guillermo del Toro SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. The Hollywood rumour mill has it that Universal Pictures c...

May 9, 2026 | Guillermo del Toro

Pacific Rim

The IMAX screening on Saturday 9 May will include a Q&A with Guillermo del Toro ‘When I was a kid, whenever I’d feel small or lonely, I’d look up at the stars and wonder if there was life up ...

May 9, 2026 | Guillermo del Toro

Crimson Peak

The screening on Saturday 19 May will include a Q&A with Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro on ‘Crimson Peak’ You wrote the story for Crimson Peak back in 2006 with Matthew Robbins. Why d...

May 9, 2026 | Guillermo del Toro

Bye Bye Brazil

Carlos Diegues on ‘Bye Bye Brazil’ Bye Bye Brazil is a film about one country in decline and another that is taking its place. I cannot specify exactly what is ending and what is beginning, all I c...

May 9, 2026 | Brazil on Film

The Margin

A rowing boat drifts towards the margin of São Paulo’s Tietê river. People on shore stare as it passes by; we might imagine that we are its passengers. This impression remains even after the boat m...

May 8, 2026 | Brazil on Film

Cronos

+ intro by Guillermo del Toro Fresh and bracing, del Toro’s feature debut announced the arrival of a strikingly original cinematic voice. Antiques dealer Jesús Gris discovers an ancient mechanical...

May 8, 2026 | Guillermo del Toro

Hollywood Shuffle

In a recent survey conducted by the Black American magazine Ebony, film historians and representative filmmakers were asked to list their personal selection of the ten best Black films of all time....

May 6, 2026 | Big Screen Classics

Blade II

The legendary superhero Blade was first introduced in the pages of Marvel comics and brought to life in the 1998 hit film, Blade. Producer Peter Frankfurt and screenwriter David S. Goyer’s working ...

May 4, 2026 | Guillermo del Toro

The Devil's Backbone

The Devil’s Backbone, director Guillermo del Toro’s masterly supernatural thriller set in an orphanage haunted by the ghost of a young boy, is the latest in a distinguished line of features explori...

May 2, 2026 | Guillermo del Toro

Opening Night

Hellboy

The Flying Scot

Cinema Novo

Mars One

Lower City

Pan's Labyrinth

Neighbouring Sounds

Man Marked for Death, 20 Years Later

Frankenstein

Being John Malkovich

The Shape of Water

Pacific Rim

Crimson Peak

Bye Bye Brazil

The Margin

Cronos

Hollywood Shuffle

Blade II

The Devil's Backbone

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