BFI Southbank Programme Notes

Early Spring

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. After the domestic critical and box office success of Tokyo Story in late 1953, Ozu found himself taking an uncharacteristic break ...

October 19, 2021 | JAPAN 2021
100 YEARS OF JAPANESE CINEMA

Dutchman

This screening will be introduced by curator and writer Karen Alexander, who’ll be joined by academic Dr Clive Nwonka for a post-screening discussion chaired by Voice4Change Director Kunle Olulode....

October 19, 2021 | PROJECTING THE ARCHIVE

Denis Villeneuve in Conversation

As Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve welcomes audiences to his version of the planet Arrakis – the setting for his adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel Dune (previously adapted for the screen...

October 19, 2021 | IN PERSON & PREVIEWS

Tokyo Story

Ozu described Tokyo Story as his ‘most melodramatic’ movie, an observation taken by most western commentators, dazzled by the director’s minimalist style and resolutely quotidian material, as ironi...

October 18, 2021 | JAPAN 2021
100 YEARS OF JAPANESE CINEMA

Passport to Shame

One of those rare B-movies that manages to live up to or even exceed the lurid promise of its title and poster. It finds an (American) London cabbie on a dangerous mission to rescue an innocent Fre...

October 18, 2021 | EDGAR WRIGHT’S LONDON AFTER DARK

The Flavour of Green Tea over Rice

Well into the master’s post-war golden age, this often overlooked shoshimin-eiga (contemporary domestic drama) explores once again the generational divide Ozu was so interested in. A typically prec...

October 18, 2021 | JAPAN 2021
100 YEARS OF JAPANESE CINEMA

Chinatown

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Roman Polanski on ‘Chinatown’ Despite the fact that you began filmmaking at the time of the Nouvelle Vague, you always seemed to ha...

October 18, 2021 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Bleak Moments

There is nothing quite like English suburbia, and a solid tradition of literary commentators, from Arnold Bennett to William Cooper, has ventured down the tree-lined avenues to unmask the mysteries...

October 18, 2021 | MIKE LEIGH

Devil in a Blue Dress

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Even as Carl Franklin’s Devil in a Blue Dress opens in Britain, its presence in the United States has all but evaporated – the criti...

October 12, 2021 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Dune

+ pre-recorded Q&A with Denis Villeneuve Set thousands of years in the future, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a young man propelled by fate into an intergalactic power struggle. The so...

October 5, 2021 | PREVIEWS

Rocks

+ Q&A with director Sarah Gavron ‘Real queens fix each other’s crowns’ reads a sticker tacked to 16-year-old Shola’s bedroom wall. Shola (Bukky Bakray), better known as Rocks, might be the bes...

October 2, 2021 | NFTS AT 50

Surge

+ Q&A with director Aneil Karia Most people have thought about jumping the barriers at a train station, but the decision to act is what makes all the difference. Aneil Karia’s debut feature Su...

September 28, 2021 | NFTS AT 50

Seeing the Unseen

Before the film, series curator Benjamin Brown will introduce the programme and a short pre-recorded interview with co-director Bjarney Lúðvíksdóttir. The Kristy Forbes poem ‘We Are Proud Autistic...

September 28, 2021 | RELAXED SCREENING

Old Pals

BAFTA-recognised festival LOCO aka The London Comedy Film Festival is back to share the best comedy short films rescued from the madness of 2020 in this Comedy Shorts Weekender, in partnership with...

September 26, 2021 | LOCO SHORTS WEEKENDER
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH MINDSEYE

BAFTA-recognised Best of 2020

BAFTA-recognised festival LOCO aka The London Comedy Film Festival is back to share the best comedy short films rescued from the madness of 2020 in this Comedy Shorts Weekender, in partnership with...

September 26, 2021 | LOCO SHORTS WEEKENDER
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH MINDSEYE

Abou Leila

Algeria, 1994. S. and Lotfi, two childhood friends, cross the desert in search of Abou Leila, a dangerous terrorist. The quest seems absurd in the immensity of the Sahara. But S., whose mental heal...

September 26, 2021 | THE TIME IS NEW

Intimate Details

BAFTA-recognised festival LOCO aka The London Comedy Film Festival is back to share the best comedy short films rescued from the madness of 2020 in this Comedy Shorts Weekender, in partnership with...

September 25, 2021 | LOCO SHORTS WEEKENDER
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH MINDSEYE

Dark Turns

BAFTA-recognised festival LOCO aka The London Comedy Film Festival is back to share the best comedy short films rescued from the madness of 2020 in this Comedy Shorts Weekender, in partnership with...

September 25, 2021 | LOCO SHORTS WEEKENDER
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH MINDSEYE

Chicken Run

What’s it about? A group of chickens living on an egg farm find themselves in hot water when the farmer decides that a new line of chicken pies might be good for business. Before long, an escape pl...

September 25, 2021 | BFI FAMILIES

Adam

Director’s Statement Adam is the story of two lonely souls who come to appreciate one another through confrontation, then understanding and support; two women each trapped by their own destiny, who...

September 25, 2021 | THE TIME IS NEW

Early Spring

Dutchman

Denis Villeneuve in Conversation

Tokyo Story

Passport to Shame

The Flavour of Green Tea over Rice

Chinatown

Bleak Moments

Devil in a Blue Dress

Dune

Rocks

Surge

Seeing the Unseen

Old Pals

BAFTA-recognised Best of 2020

Abou Leila

Intimate Details

Dark Turns

Chicken Run

Adam

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