BFI Southbank Programme Notes

Eric Ravilious
Drawn to War

A true story, Eric Ravilious is as compelling and enigmatic as his art. Set against the dramatic wartime locations that inspired him, Kinmonth’s film brings to life this brilliant but still grossly...

September 5, 2022 | NEW RELEASES

The Bride Wore Black

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Penelope Houston on Hitchcock’s influence on Truffaut In the introduction to his Hitchcock interview book, François Truffaut lists 2...

September 5, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

In a Lonely Place

Introduced by Geoff Andrew, Programmer at Large (Wednesday 14 September only) SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away the film’s ending. ‘I was infatuated with her, but I didn’t like her ve...

September 4, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

The Enigma of
Kaspar Hauser

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser is a story with a beginning and an end; or at least, being based on a historical case, it feels as if it...

September 4, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Wild Strawberries

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away the film’s ending. An elderly scientist (Sjöström, superb) drives with his daughter-in-law from Stockholm to Lund to receive an honorary award; distur...

September 3, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Sambizanga

+ pre-recorded intro and Q&A with host and curator Mosa Mpetha and special guest Annouchka De Andrade (daughter of Sarah Maldoror). Anti-colonial struggle is vividly captured in this realistic...

September 3, 2022 | AFRICAN ODYSSEYS

Jawbone

+ Q&A with writer-actor Johnny Harris, actors Michael Smiley and Ray Winstone and director Thomas Napper Marking the arrival of a new photobook Jawbone: The Autobiography of a Film, Johnny Har...

September 3, 2022 | EVENTS

Bodies Bodies Bodies

A group of rich twentysomething friends gather together to wait out a hurricane at a party in a remote family mansion. The air is already hostile, with old fallouts and unspoken grievances rising t...

September 3, 2022 | PREVIEWS

Wildhood

Two-spirit Mi’kmaw teenager Link (Lewitski) is just discovering – and asserting – his sexuality when his already volatile home life goes off the rails. His abusive father explodes after the cops bu...

September 2, 2022 | NEW RELEASES

Do the Right Thing

Introduced by freelance writer and producer Kaleem Aftab (Wednesday 28 September only) During 24 sweltering hours in Brooklyn, tensions mount between various individuals in the multiracial communi...

September 2, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Music and Youth

Panellists: Producer/director Jonnie Turpie; Original Channel 4 Commissioner Youth/Music, Mike Bolland; Current Head of Youth and Digital Channel 4 Karl Warner; Producer The Tube, Malcolm Gerrie. ...

September 2, 2022 | CHANNEL 4
40 YEARS OF REVOLUTION

Sorcerer

After the global successes of The French Connection (1971) and The Exorcist (1973), director William Friedkin mounted the riskiest film of his career – an adaptation of Henri Georges Clouzot’s 1953...

September 1, 2022 | MEMBER EXCLUSIVES

An Enemy of the People

Introduced by Ashvin Devasundaram (Tuesday 30 August only) A late masterpiece, produced while Ray was ill, this biting drama sees a doctor fighting religious bigotry when he discovers that temple ...

August 28, 2022 | SATYAJIT RAY
THE LANGUAGE OF FILM

Deliverance

Made for national television in Hindi, Premchand’s searing story about caste exploitation in rural India resulted in Ray’s bleakest film. Low caste untouchable Dukhi is ordered by an upper caste Br...

August 27, 2022 | SATYAJIT RAY
THE LANGUAGE OF FILM

Queen of Glory

Queen of Glory begins with a montage. Cross-cut with close-ups of brightly patterned fabrics and a soundtrack of echoing voices and pulsing percussion, Sarah Obeng (Nana Mensah) packs a suitcase an...

August 26, 2022 | NEW RELEASES

Official Competition

After securing financial backing from an ailing business mogul, independent cinema darling and Cannes Palme d’Or-winning filmmaker Lola Cuevas (Penélope Cruz) sets out to make an experimental adapt...

August 26, 2022 | NEW RELEASES

Kes

+ intro and discussion. 15-year-old Billy Casper struggles every day. Not conforming to anyone’s expectations he is repeatedly humiliated at school and home. Discovering falconry transforms his ...

August 22, 2022 | RELAXED SCREENING

The Home and the World

In the chaotic aftermath of the disastrous 1905 partition of Bengal into Muslim and Hindu states, progressive landlord Nikhilesh finds his wife Bimala’s attentions stolen by his more passionate and...

August 21, 2022 | SATYAJIT RAY
THE LANGUAGE OF FILM

Reggae Futures

A defining factor of reggae over the decades has been how, as the music perpetually shifts, the sound system culture remains constant; what began as Jamaican has adapted to new audiences and enviro...

August 20, 2022 | FROM JAMAICA TO THE WORLD
REGGAE ON FILM

Where Is Anne Frank

Director Ari Folman on ‘Where Is Anne Frank’ Why did you decide to use animation as a medium for your film? As a way to reach young audiences. And it is exactly for that reason that the Anne Fran...

August 19, 2022 | NEW RELEASES

Eric RaviliousDrawn to War