BFI Southbank Programme Notes

On the Come Up

On the Come Up is based on the New York Times #1 best-selling novel by Angie Thomas (The Hate U Give) and is the feature directorial debut of Emmy-nominated actress Sanaa Lathan. On the Come Up wi...

September 16, 2022 | S.O.U.L. FEST

Moonage Daydream

How do you encapsulate the life of David Bowie in a way that mirrors the ingenuity, invention and creative brilliance of the man himself? Across seven feature documentaries, Brett Morgen has refine...

September 16, 2022 | SOUND AND VISION

The Life of Oharu

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. The tragic fate of women, mistreated by family, lovers and society, is a recurrent topic in Kenji Mizoguchi’s filmography, and The L...

September 15, 2022 | KINUYO TANAKA - A LIFE IN FILM

Out and Proud

These screenings will be introduced by original Channel 4 Commissioner Caroline Spry Channel 4’s groundbreaking commissioning of programmes catering to the interests of gay men and lesbians was a...

September 15, 2022 | CHANNEL 4
40 YEARS OF REVOLUTION

Cléo from 5 to 7

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Agnès Varda came up the hard way. Starting as official photographer for the Théâtre National Populaire, she somehow managed to finan...

September 13, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

All In!

+ intro by film historian Mark Newell The Aldwych farce was born 100 years ago, sparking a hugely successful series of British stage comedies and, with the advent of sound, launching the film care...

September 13, 2022 | PROJECTING THE ARCHIVE

Diversity

Panellists: Filmmaker John Akomfrah; Channel 4 Head of Creative Diversity Naomi Sesay; Commissioner Sue Woodford-Hollick; Shyama Perera (chair). Channel 4 has always connected with those communit...

September 12, 2022 | CHANNEL 4
40 YEARS OF REVOLUTION

A Very British Coup

Introduced by author Chris Mullin Although set in the near future, Channel 4’s series A Very British Coup carries echoes of the Wilson/Callaghan era. It is based on the novel by Labour MP Chris Mu...

September 11, 2022 | CHANNEL 4
40 YEARS OF REVOLUTION

Channel 4's TV Drama Revolution

Panellists: actors Robert Lindsay and Lindsay Duncan, original Drama Commissioners Peter Ansorge and Karin Bamborough, and current Channel 4 Drama Commissioning Editor Gwawr Lloyd. On 2 November...

September 11, 2022 | CHANNEL 4
40 YEARS OF REVOLUTION

Videodrome

In pursuit of sensational television programming that will push boundaries, a station CEO (James Woods) stumbles across a disturbing snuff-broadcast, which seemingly starts to melt into his own rea...

September 10, 2022 | RE-RELEASES

The Motorcycle Diaries

In December 1951, 23-year-old medical student Ernesto Guevara, who in the future would become the iconic revolutionary leader ‘Che’, took a long motorcycle trip with his friend Alberto Granado on a...

September 10, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence

Jeremy Thomas on David Bowie and ‘Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence’ After Oshima saw Bowie in The Elephant Man on Broadway, in 1980, he asked him to be part of his next film. How did you get involved?...

September 10, 2022 | SOUND AND VISION

Letter from an Unknown Woman

Introduced by Geoff Andrew, Programmer at Large (Wednesday 21 September only) Producer John Houseman on ‘Letter from an Unknown Woman’ Letter from an Unknown Woman is bittersweet Viennese. It is t...

September 10, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

A Hen in the Wind

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Little circulated and rarely shown, A Hen in the Wind is one of Ozu’s least-discussed postwar films. This may also be traceable to a...

September 10, 2022 | KINUYO TANAKA - A LIFE IN FILM

Jackie Brown

The Friday 9 September screening will include a pre-recorded intro by Pam Grier. Please be advised that this film contains racist language throughout. ‘Quentin said: “You know what? What you did...

September 9, 2022 | RE-RELEASES

Crimes of the Future

Director’s Statement Crimes of the Future is a meditation on human evolution. Specifically – the ways in which we have had to take control of the process because we have created such powerful env...

September 9, 2022 | NEW RELEASES

The Score

+ Q&A with director Malachi Smyth and actor Johnny Flynn Two mismatched small time crooks Mike and Troy (Johnny Flynn and Will Poulter) stop at a roadside cafe ahead of a rendezvous with a big...

September 7, 2022 | PREVIEWS

Cobain - Montage of Heck

Pop time runs differently to clock time; it’s elastic, stretching like blown bubble gum and imploding to nothing. It hardly seems possible that Nirvana was in the wider public consciousness for bar...

September 6, 2022 | SOUND AND VISION

Comedy

Panellists: Channel 4 Head of Comedy Commissioning Charlie Perkins; Trix Worrell (writer, Desmond’s); Original Senior Commissioning Editor Comedy and Entertainment, Mike Bolland; Peter Richardson (...

September 6, 2022 | CHANNEL 4
40 YEARS OF REVOLUTION

Accident

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. The working partnership between American director Joseph Losey and British writer Harold Pinter produced the finest work on screen t...

September 6, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS