BFI Southbank Programme Notes

The Iron Claw

The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. Through tragedy and triumph, under the shadow...

February 8, 2024 | PREVIEW

Dorothy Arzner
Pioneer, Queer, Feminist

Dive into the work of Dorothy Arzner with the UK premiere of this documentary, which traces the filmmaker’s groundbreaking Hollywood career. Following the screening, film historian Pamela Hutchins...

February 7, 2024 | A LEAGUE OF HER OWN
THE CINEMA OF DOROTHY ARZNER

Allonsanfan

Returning to the chaos of 19th-century Italy, the Tavianis tell the story of a once-renowned aristocratic activist (a superb Marcello Mastroianni), who is sick of all the violence and conflict, who...

February 7, 2024 | MAGICAL REALISM
THE FILM FABLES OF THE TAVIANI BROTHERS

Spies, Swingers
and Shadows
The Films and Scores of
John Barry

Join our special guests, including season curator Bob Stanley, composer Nainita Desai and writer and musician Neil Brand for a richly illustrated discussion about the distinctive sounds of John Bar...

February 6, 2024 | JOHN BARRY
SOUNDTRACKING BOND AND BEYOND

Love Unto Waste

In Stanley Kwan’s lovingly crafted, multi-layered masterpiece, romance and murder mystery underpin a poignant and haunting look at modern life. Against the hedonistic backdrop of 1980s Hong Kong, a...

February 6, 2024 | FOCUS ON HONG KONG

Babette's Feast

Towards the end of Isak Dinesen’s story, when the two Puritan sisters realise that the magnificent meal they have just been seduced into enjoying has cost the unheard of sum of 10,000 francs, that ...

February 6, 2024 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Loving

Mildred and Richard Loving didn’t begin their married life as outspoken civil rights activists and their story didn’t unfold on the frontlines of any marches, but their relationship would ultimatel...

February 5, 2024 | SENIORS

Four in the Morning

‘Four in the Morning’: a contemporary review Until now Anthony Simmons was a little known director of short films and documentaries. With Four in the Morning, written and directed by him and produc...

February 5, 2024 | JOHN BARRY
SOUNDTRACKING BOND AND BEYOND

Doctor Who - Horror of Fang Rock

+ Q&A with Louise Jameson, John Abbott and Annette Woollett The making of ‘Doctor Who: Horror of Fang Rock’ Even before it began, Season 15 was causing headaches for the Doctor Who production ...

February 4, 2024 | EVENTS

Petulia

John Barry wrote an unsettling, anxious score for Richard Lester’s time capsule of late sixties, psychedelia-era San Francisco. The film also includes cameos from the Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin...

February 3, 2024 | JOHN BARRY
SOUNDTRACKING BOND AND BEYOND

American Fiction

Author and activist James Baldwin once said, ‘If I love you, I have to make you conscious of the things you don’t see.’ This quote then begs the question: What does it mean to be seen as Black? Who...

February 3, 2024 | NEW RELEASES

The Zone of Interest

This chilling drama from the director of Under the Skin is an extraordinary and unsettling work that won’t easily be forgotten. Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss lives with his family in a comfortab...

February 2, 2024 | NEW RELEASES

A Man for Burning

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Following a series of acclaimed shorts and a documentary, the Taviani Brothers’ narrative feature debut was co-directed with early c...

February 2, 2024 | MAGICAL REALISM
THE FILM FABLES OF THE TAVIANI BROTHERS

Days of Heaven

A contemporary review At the risk of being accused of repeating himself, Terrence Malick has here virtually re-orchestrated (though with incomparably greater richness) the principal features of Bad...

February 2, 2024 | RE-RELEASES

Adaptation.

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. One of the best jokes in Being John Malkovich, the previous film by writer Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze, was the flashba...

February 2, 2024 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Le Mépris

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Though visually dazzling, Le Mépris is among the darkest and most serious of Godard’s early films – and one of his greatest. When Pa...

February 1, 2024 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser

+ intro & discussion In common with many key figures in Werner Herzog’s films, Kaspar Hauser is at odds with his surroundings. Having been isolated through childhood, he is then abandoned in...

January 29, 2024 | RELAXED SCREENING

Shooting the Past
25th Anniversary

+ Q&A with writer-director Stephen Poliakoff and actors Lindsay Duncan and Timothy Spall Often cited as Stephen Poliakoff’s masterpiece, this story of an American corporation’s proposed takeov...

January 28, 2024 | EVENT

Your Fat Friend

+ Q&A with director Jeanie Finlay and Aubrey Gordon Award-winning documentary filmmaker Jeanie Finlay (Seahorse, Sound It Out) follows the journey of writer and activist Aubrey Gordon, who wen...

January 27, 2024 | WOMAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA PREVIEW

A Trick of the Light

Perception is of course subjective, but the collective viewing experience can conjure a magic all of its own. Images swirl and distort in our memories, and films we’ve seen can swim to the surface ...

January 27, 2024 | LONDON SHORT FILM FESTIVAL