BFI Southbank Programme Notes

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

My Old School

Director’s Statement My Old School is a documentary which finally reveals the truth behind one of the most incredible stories of the past 30 years. Featuring interviews with my old classmates and t...

August 19, 2022 | NEW RELEASES

The Feast

In a modern, luxurious house situated in remote Welsh mountains, a wealthy family prepare for an extravagant dinner party. They are on a mission to impress their neighbour and broker a business dea...

August 19, 2022 | NEW RELEASES

Burning an Illusion

Reigniting the flame: Menelik Shabazz’s Burning an Illusion, 40 years on When Menelik Shabazz died on 28 June 2021, aged 67, he left behind a body of work that stands as a pioneering contribution t...

August 19, 2022 | RE-RELEASES

12 Views of Kensal House

With pre-recorded introduction by Steven Foxon, BFI Curator (Non-Fiction) In 1936 Kensal House, situated in the west of London, was opened by the Gas Light and Coke Company as a model estate. Des...

August 18, 2022 | ART IN THE MAKING

Days and Nights in the Forest

Days and Nights in the Forest… the very title rings with enchantment, and the old Ray magic is soon at work again. This time the spell is a rug spread out in the sun, a picnic by the river, a charm...

August 18, 2022 | SATYAJIT RAY
THE LANGUAGE OF FILM

3 Faces

We are screening this film and There Is No Evil (Sheytan vojud nadarad) in solidarity with Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad. The BFI strongly condemns their prison sentence and...

August 17, 2022 | PREVIEWS & EVENTS

The Frog

Introduced by Vic Pratt, Producer, BFI Video Publishing Edgar Wallace’s 1925 novel The Fellowship of the Frog centres on the investigation by two Scotland Yard policemen, Captain Richard Gordon an...

August 16, 2022 | PROJECTING THE ARCHIVE

There Is No Evil

We are screening this film and 3 Faces (Se rokh) in solidarity with Jafar Panahi, Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad. The BFI strongly condemns their prison sentence and the oppression of artis...

August 14, 2022 | PREVIEWS & EVENTS

Bigger than Life

Nicholas Ray’s Bigger than Life is among the most radical examples of what may be the most radical genre in American cinema: the small-town melodrama. Though long considered unworthy of serious att...

August 12, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Notorious

ALICIA: My car is outside. DEVLIN: Naturally. ALICIA: Wanna go for a ride? DEVLIN: Very much. Seven decades after its premiere in New York on 15 August 1946, it’s impossible to shake the feeling t...

August 11, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

The White Ribbon

Michael Haneke on ‘The White Ribbon” Did you always envisage having a narrator? Right from the start. As in my other films, I wanted to nourish a certain sense of distrust regarding the veracity ...

August 9, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Sorcerer

An Enemy of the People

Deliverance

Queen of Glory

Official Competition

Kes

The Home and the World

Reggae Futures

Where Is Anne Frank

My Old School

The Feast

Burning an Illusion

12 Views of Kensal House

Days and Nights in the Forest

3 Faces

The Frog

There Is No Evil

Bigger than Life

Notorious

The White Ribbon

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