BFI Southbank Programme Notes

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

While on first glance it might seem the quintessential Spielberg film, discrepancies place Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) slightly apart. When considered in relation to Spielberg’s later...

February 23, 2022 | MEMBER PICKS

The Representation of Women in Truffaut’s Films

The role of women in Truffaut’s life and their representation in his films constitute one of the most complex areas of his work. Truffaut’s films evidently favour female characters and offers star...

February 18, 2022 | FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT
FOR THE LOVE OF FILMS

Mädchen in Uniform

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. While Mädchen in Uniform and its sympathetic depiction of lesbian love now enjoy an unassailable place in the history of queer cinem...

February 18, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Flee

I’ve heard it argued, even by some in the animation industry, that animation is the art of embellished movement, wild transformations and fantastical scenarios, and that any film that doesn’t chann...

February 18, 2022 | NEW RELEASES

The Proposition

+ Q&A with director John Hillcoat, actors Emily Watson, Danny Huston, Guy Pearce and Ray Winstone, and producers Cat Villiers and Chiara Menage. John Hillcoat, Danny Huston, Guy Pearce and Ray ...

February 16, 2022 | IN PERSON & PREVIEWS

Ballet Black

Followed by a discussion of the making of the film and its legacy by two of its stars, Jaqueline Boatswain ( Shameless, Cuckoo ) and Colin Charles ( Cats – original production, English National Ope...

February 15, 2022 | EXPERIMENTA FOCUS - STEPHEN DWOSKIN

Rafiki

The first Kenyan film to be selected for Cannes, Rafiki was banned in its home country last year – not for its lesbian content per se, but for its tone of hopefulness. The censors, director Wanuri ...

February 14, 2022 | SEEN & HEARD

T A P E x Invisible Women Present - Touched

+ pre-recorded Q&A Celebrate the diversity and fluidity of desire with Touched, an alternative Valentine’s Day screening showcasing sensuous shorts by female and non-binary filmmakers. Co-cura...

February 13, 2022 | WOMAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA
POWERED BY JAGUAR

A Fantastic Woman

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. The viewer first encounters Marina Vidal (Daniela Vega), the defiant, enigmatic protagonist of Sebastián Lelio’s fifth feature, as s...

February 13, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Study Day + Acting Out - Stephen Dwoskin film screening

An introduction to Dwoskin through talks, a keynote presentation by Adrian Martin plus a screening of Acting Out: Stephen Dwoskin, a film by artist Philomène Hoël. Dwoskin’s career, not only a...

February 12, 2022 | EXPERIMENTA FOCUS - STEPHEN DWOSKIN

My Beautiful Laundrette

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Originally shot for television in six weeks on a low budget, My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) was directed by Stephen Frears, from aut...

February 12, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy

‘Excuse me, can you go back the same way?’ The taxi turns around. This is the first manoeuvre in a film whose English title anticipates its narrative twists. Except this isn’t the same way, this is...

February 11, 2022 | NEW RELEASES

Mustang

Deniz Gamze Ergüven on ‘Mustang’ Five years ago you were at the Cinéfondation workshop for young filmmakers at Cannes, struggling to develop Kings, a script about the Los Angeles riots. Then your c...

February 11, 2022 | SEEN & HEARD

Desert Hearts

Although it has become a cult classic due to its explicit lesbian sex, Desert Hearts is a wonderfully well-made film with a host of appealing attributes. Steeped in moody, classic country and weste...

February 11, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Victim

John Coldstream on ‘Victim’ Artistic endeavour too often attracts exaggerated claims. In my research, I attempted to identify films that had genuinely made an impact not merely on the minds of tho...

February 10, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Rope

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. At the very end of Truffaut’s interview book, Hitchcock comes up with a ‘dream’ project: 24 hours in the life of a city. ‘It starts ...

February 10, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Philosophical Screens
Jules et Jim

François Truffaut’s lyrical and melancholic journey through the lives of the participants in a love triangle makes for one of his most adored films; Jules et Jim offers a profound and complicated p...

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

Fish Tank

Andrea Arnold on ‘Fish Tank’ ‘The thing about the film industry is that it’s incredibly middle-class, isn’t it?’ she says. ‘All the people who look at it and study it and talk about it – write abou...

February 10, 2022 | SEEN & HEARD

The Story of Adele H.

François Truffaut on ‘The Story of Adele H.’ It was in 1969 that I first felt I wanted to make a film whose heroine would be Adèle Hugo. I had just read in the collection ‘Bibliothèque Introuvable’...

February 9, 2022 | FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT
FOR THE LOVE OF FILMS

Go Fish

This is a fish story about not the one that got away, but the one that got caught and won the trophy. Caught big time, in other words. But it’s also a cautionary tale, one about marketing, identity...

February 9, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS