BFI Southbank Programme Notes

The Wild Child

As part of our François Truffaut season we offer you an opportunity to see a landmark film about difference and social acceptance. Based on real events from 1798, informed by research, L’ Enfant ...

January 31, 2022 | RELAXED SCREENING

François Truffaut's Cinematic and Literary Influences

One could trace a long list of influences, both literary and cinematic, that made an important mark on Truffaut’s cinema. This afternoon of talks and discussions will focus on exploring how key fig...

January 29, 2022 | FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT
FOR THE LOVE OF FILMS

The Epic of Everest
+ live score by Simon Fisher Turner

The Epic of Everest is the official film record, shot by Captain John Noel, of the third British expedition to attempt to reach the summit of the world’s highest peak. We begin with the large conti...

January 29, 2022 | TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

South

January 2022 is the centenary of the death of Sir Ernest Shackleton, which traditionally marks the end of the ‘heroic age’ of Antarctic exploration. A record of one of the greatest survival stories...

January 28, 2022 | RE-RELEASES

Parallel Mothers

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Pedro Almodóvar on ‘Parallel Mothers’ Two women, Janis and Ana, coincide in a hospital room where they are going to give birth. Both...

January 28, 2022 | NEW RELEASES

The Surviving films of
Franciszka and Stefan Themerson

Polish avant-gardists the Themersons were multi-disciplinary artists who infused their work with a tactile sense of irreverence and wit. Their legendary anti-fascist film Europa (1931), looted by t...

January 27, 2022 | EXPERIMENTA

South + Live Score

In 2022 we mark the centenary of the death of Sir Ernest Shackleton, which traditionally signalled the end of the ‘heroic age’ of Antarctic exploration. A record of one of the greatest survival sto...

January 27, 2022 | SILENT CINEMA PRESENTS

My Little Eye

+ intro by producer Jon Finn and Mike Muncer, host of The Evolution of Horror podcast SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Though it would be a mistake to underestimate...

January 27, 2022 | TERROR VISION

Antarctic Crossings – Postwar Shorts

Introduced by BFI curator Patrick Russell The resumption of Antarctic exploration in the 1950s was captured in dazzling colour by some of Britain’s finest documentary filmmakers. Don’t miss a rare...

January 25, 2022 | TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

Amulet

+ Q&A with writer-director Romola Garai Amulet, written and directed by Romola Garai, explores the story of Tomaz, an ex-soldier from an unnamed foreign conflict, living in strained circumstan...

January 21, 2022 | WOMAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA

The Killing Fields

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away the film’s ending. ‘An important piece of history, which should be kept alive’. Michael Divver, BFI Member Roland Joffé’s remarkable depiction of the...

January 19, 2022 | MEMBER PICKS

Intrepid Women

Six foot in her socks, the glamorous Aloha Wanderwell bestrides the world in jodhpurs: one of the highly visible female adventurers of the early 20th century and the inspiration for later generatio...

January 16, 2022 | TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

Fresh Meat 10th Anniversary

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of this iconic and award-winning Channel 4 comedy we’re delighted to welcome cast Jack Whitehall, Zawe Ashton, Joe Thomas, Kimberley Nixon, Greg McHugh and Charlot...

January 15, 2022 | IN PERSON & PREVIEWS

Encounters at the End of the World

Werner Herzog on ‘Encounters at the End of the World’ Always the most intrepid of filmmakers, Werner Herzog visits Antarctica in his documentary Encounters at the End of the World. At the start of...

January 15, 2022 | TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Even as his rock fame blossomed in the mid-70s, Bowie periodically challenged audiences with his avant-garde film tastes. The 1976 Isolar tour, which introduced the singer’s glacially aloof ‘Thin W...

January 15, 2022 | HOOKED TO THE SILVER SCREEN
BOWIE AT THE MOVIES

Natural Born Killers

Natural Born Killers follows married couple Mickey (Harrelson) and Mallory (Lewis) across the desert of New Mexico as they embark on an endless killing spree, and in the process become media stars....

January 14, 2022 | PREVIEWS & EVENTS

Memoria

Apichatpong’s Cannes prize-winner Memoria, shot entirely in Colombia, is a splendid renewal of his cinema. In form, it’s a real ‘journey to the interior’, with all the Joseph Conrad resonances that...

January 14, 2022 | NEW RELEASES

Licorice Pizza

To call Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film, Licorice Pizza, meandering could be considered an understatement. On one hand, it feels like a river running lazy and low beneath the golden light of the...

January 13, 2022 | NEW RELEASES

Hoffman

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. + intro by director Alvin Rakoff A young secretary (Cusack) is blackmailed into spending a week at the flat of one of her bosses, wh...

January 13, 2022 | PROJECTING THE ARCHIVE

YES & NO Salon
Exploration Now

What does it mean to be an explorer? This, and other burning questions about the nature of exploration today will be examined by a panel of explorers and climate scientists in an informal conversat...

January 12, 2022 | TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH