BFI Southbank Programme Notes

Company Limited

Satyajit Ray on ‘Company Limited’ Did you consciously set out with the idea that Days and Nights in the Forest , The Adversary and Company Limited would form a new trilogy? I didn’t think of it d...

July 13, 2022 | SATYAJIT RAY
THE LANGUAGE OF FILM

The Romantic Englishwoman

Joseph Losey on ‘The Romantic Englishwoman’ You made some changes from Thomas Wiseman’s novel. What interested me most about it were the various points of view – the fantasy of the husband about ...

July 10, 2022 | GLENDA JACKSON

The Railway Children Return

+Q&A with writer Danny Brocklehurst, director Morgan Matthews, producer Jemma Rodgers and actors Jenny Agutter, KJ Aikens, John Bradley, Beau Gadsden, Eden Hamilton, Austin Haynes and Zac Cudby...

July 10, 2022 | FAMILIES

The World of Apu

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. In general, Satyajit Ray’s films embarrass the critics. Admirers go impressionistic, talk airily of Human Values, and look offended ...

July 9, 2022 | SATYAJIT RAY
THE LANGUAGE OF FILM

The Unvanquished

In the second part of the Apu trilogy, Ray captures the pulsating spirit of the ancient city of Varanasi where Apu grows from child to adolescent. After his father’s death, Apu leaves to study in C...

July 9, 2022 | SATYAJIT RAY
THE LANGUAGE OF FILM

Laurent Garnier
Off the Record

+ Q&A with Laurent Garnier Whenever a new musical trend emerges, it rubs up against misunderstanding and disdain from institutions and the ‘mainstream’ of the time. Blues, Jazz, Folk, Rock, Re...

July 9, 2022 | SONIC CINEMA

Matewan

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Ever since he made his directing debut with Return of the Secaucus Seven in 1979, John Sayles’s reputation has rested largely on bot...

July 8, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Brian and Charles

Director’s Statement Brian and Charles is about a lot of things. I wouldn’t want to dictate to anyone who watches it what interpretation they should have. Primarily, it’s about loneliness and the p...

July 8, 2022 | NEW RELEASES

Brian and Charles + Q&A

+ Q&A with director Jim Archer, and writer-actors David Earl and Chris Hayward A winning new ‘odd couple’ comedy based on a successful short film. Comedian David Earl (Derek, Extras, After Lif...

July 8, 2022 | NEW RELEASES

Two Daughters

Introduced by Aparna Sen Ray adapted Tagore’s short stories to mark the latter’s centenary year. In The Postmaster, a young lad from the city is sent to a remote village where a young orphan girl...

July 7, 2022 | SATYAJIT RAY
THE LANGUAGE OF FILM

Day of Wrath

Though set in 17th-century Denmark, Dreyer’s masterpiece feels strangely modern in its interest in the plight of women in patriarchal society. Cursed by a woman he sent to the stake for witchcraft,...

July 7, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Clock

+ Q&A Screening on the opening night of the I Will Tell International Festival is this coming-of-age romantic drama, set against the underground drum ‘n’ bass, acid and house music scene of ’9...

July 7, 2022 | PREVIEW

Blue Velvet

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. In terms of David Lynch’s work, Blue Velvet marks a huge leap forward, almost magically establishing him as the most provocative an...

July 7, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Atlantics

Mati Diop on ‘Atlantics’ This film is inspired by your short film Atlantiques , about a group of Senegalese men who set sail for Europe. At what point did the focus change from the men who left to...

July 7, 2022 | IN THE BLACK FANTASTIC

To Sleep with Anger

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away the film’s ending. Charles Burnett’s intriguing mix of melodrama and allegorical fable has a seemingly happy middle-class African-American family livi...

July 6, 2022 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

The Middleman

Over the years, there has been a delicate but perceptible shift in Satyajit Ray’s attitudes to his subjects. The characteristic Ray protagonist remains a young man, educated to higher expectations ...

July 6, 2022 | SATYAJIT RAY
THE LANGUAGE OF FILM

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Daring and controversial at the time of release, this film grapples with the emotional fallout from a polyamorous relationship between young artist Bob (Murray Head), lonely doctor Daniel (Peter Fi...

July 5, 2022 | GLENDA JACKSON

Reel Stories
An Oral History of London’s Projectionists

+ Q&A Enjoy this premiere of a film exploring the unseen work behind the cinema screen. In this revealing documentary the filmmakers consider the types of people who become projectionists, the...

July 5, 2022 | SENIORS

Glenda Jackson
in Conversation

From the Oscar®-winning successes of Women in Love (1969) and A Touch of Class (1973) to the Emmy-winning TV role Elizabeth R (1971), Glenda Jackson’s talent and intensity have burned through big a...

July 5, 2022 | EVENTS

Yeelen

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. It was, if memory serves, the young and impertinently iconoclastic journalist François Truffaut who walked out of the Cannes festiva...

July 3, 2022 | IN THE BLACK FANTASTIC