BFI Southbank Programme Notes

The Killing Fields

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away the film’s ending. ‘An important piece of history, which should be kept alive’. Michael Divver, BFI Member Roland Joffé’s remarkable depiction of the...

January 19, 2022 | MEMBER PICKS

The Souvenir Part II

+ Q&A with writer-director Joanna Hogg How do you follow a film like The Souvenir (2019)? Joanna Hogg’s unsparing portrait of the relationship between a student filmmaker, Julie (Honor Swinton...

January 17, 2022 | PREVIEWS & EVENTS

Intrepid Women

Six foot in her socks, the glamorous Aloha Wanderwell bestrides the world in jodhpurs: one of the highly visible female adventurers of the early 20th century and the inspiration for later generatio...

January 16, 2022 | TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

Fresh Meat 10th Anniversary

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of this iconic and award-winning Channel 4 comedy we’re delighted to welcome cast Jack Whitehall, Zawe Ashton, Joe Thomas, Kimberley Nixon, Greg McHugh and Charlot...

January 15, 2022 | IN PERSON & PREVIEWS

Encounters at the End of the World

Werner Herzog on ‘Encounters at the End of the World’ Always the most intrepid of filmmakers, Werner Herzog visits Antarctica in his documentary Encounters at the End of the World. At the start of...

January 15, 2022 | TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Even as his rock fame blossomed in the mid-70s, Bowie periodically challenged audiences with his avant-garde film tastes. The 1976 Isolar tour, which introduced the singer’s glacially aloof ‘Thin W...

January 15, 2022 | HOOKED TO THE SILVER SCREEN
BOWIE AT THE MOVIES

Natural Born Killers

Natural Born Killers follows married couple Mickey (Harrelson) and Mallory (Lewis) across the desert of New Mexico as they embark on an endless killing spree, and in the process become media stars....

January 14, 2022 | PREVIEWS & EVENTS

Memoria

Apichatpong’s Cannes prize-winner Memoria, shot entirely in Colombia, is a splendid renewal of his cinema. In form, it’s a real ‘journey to the interior’, with all the Joseph Conrad resonances that...

January 14, 2022 | NEW RELEASES

Licorice Pizza

To call Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film, Licorice Pizza, meandering could be considered an understatement. On one hand, it feels like a river running lazy and low beneath the golden light of the...

January 13, 2022 | NEW RELEASES

Hoffman

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. + intro by director Alvin Rakoff A young secretary (Cusack) is blackmailed into spending a week at the flat of one of her bosses, wh...

January 13, 2022 | PROJECTING THE ARCHIVE

YES & NO Salon
Exploration Now

What does it mean to be an explorer? This, and other burning questions about the nature of exploration today will be examined by a panel of explorers and climate scientists in an informal conversat...

January 12, 2022 | TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

The Hunger

Often lambasted as an exercise in style over content, Tony Scott’s take on the vampire genre is indeed a little showy, though given Scott’s background in TV commercials it’s perhaps not surprising....

January 10, 2022 | BOWIE
STARMAN AND THE SILVER SCREEN

For the Love of People... The Films of François Truffaut

Good evening. First, thank you for coming to this talk on the films of François Truffaut. I hope you will find it interesting. I am no expert on Truffaut, but I greatly enjoyed revisiting his work ...

January 10, 2022 | FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT
FOR THE LOVE OF FILMS

Bigger than Life

A favourite of Truffaut, Godard and Rohmer, Ray repeatedly examined the failings of the American Dream; this searing account of a mild-mannered teacher (Mason) turning egomaniacal after becoming ad...

January 10, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Smiles of a Summer Night

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Ingmar Bergman’s first international success, this brings together a number of couples, would-be couples and ex-couples for a weeken...

January 9, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Ordet

Carl Theodor Dreyer’s austere yet magnificent adaptation of Kaj Munk’s play is an examination of the tensions and allegiances within a family, the former arising from differences in temperament and...

January 9, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Labyrinth

What’s it about? Jim Henson’s cult fantasy fairy tale features David Bowie’s menacing Goblin King, who has taken young Sophie’s baby brother and placed him in the centre of a fiendishly challengin...

January 9, 2022 | BFI FAMILIES

The Man Who Fell to Earth

Bowie’s first starring role came in Nicolas Roeg’s visionary sci-fi film The Man Who Fell to Earth, the story of an alien’s surreal experiences after its spaceship crash lands on Earth. Bowie advan...

January 8, 2022 | BOWIE
STARMAN AND THE SILVER SCREEN

The Last Metro

A contemporary review It is not surprising that The Last Metro has proved François Truffaut’s most popular film to date both in France and the United States. It boasts two of France’s most popular ...

January 8, 2022 | FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT
FOR THE LOVE OF FILMS

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Howard Hawks’ marvellous musical comedy, based on Anita Loos’ novel about a pair of gold-digging cabaret artists raising the temperatures of various lamentable males on a transatlantic liner, boast...

January 8, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS