The Programme Notes are compiled by the Programme Notes Editors in the BFI’s Sight and Sound department.
Historically the notes were printed and made available in BFI Southbank - and that paper version will still be available in venue.
The notes use content from the BFI’s Sight and Sound magazine - and its predecessor Monthly Film Bulletin - as well as production notes from filmmakers.
Each digital note includes a downloadable PDF to view offline.
You can search by title, director, date (for example if you search for 196 you’ll see all notes for films in the 1960s), season and country.
The aim is to provide a note for every screening in the cinemas at BFI Southbank, but occasionally there is a screening where no suitable content can be found.
Sometimes the notes contain spoilers that give away important information about the film’s narrative, and in those cases you’ll see a SPOILER warning at the start of the text.
You can contact the Programme Notes team by email.