Programme changes

Updated: 19 April

April Programme

Close Your Eyes
From Fri 12 Apr p13
This film has been given a 12A certificate.

We’re pleased to add these films to the BFI Southbank programme:
The Sweet East
Screenings: Fri 19 Apr 12:30 Studio; Sun 21 Apr 17:45 Studio; Wed 24 Apr 20:40 Studio; Thu 25 Apr 14:40 Studio
USA 2023. Director Sean Price Williams. With Talia Ryder, Earl Cave, Simon Rex. 104mins. Digital. 18. A Utopia Distribution Release
Cinematographer Sean Price Williams’ feature directorial debut emulates the scuzzy vitality of his DOP work for the Safdie brothers (Good Time) and Alex Ross Perry (Her Smell). A walk on the wild side of Americana, it’s a sly, self-conscious, state-of-the-nation address, whose bizarre tangents and impasses are expertly channelled through the insouciant disaffection of Talia Ryder’s protagonist.
Leigh Singer, London Film Festival
Tickets on sale - Sat 6 April to BFI Members from 12:00 and on general sale from 16:00.
Content warning: Contains graphic violence, distressing scenes.

We are pleased to announce a run of this taut classroom thriller which received an Academy Award® nomination for Best International Feature:
The Teachers' Lounge (Das Lehrerzimmer)
Screenings: Fri 19 Apr 14:50 and 20:50 Studio; Sat 20 Apr 12:50 and 17:30 Studio; Sun 21 Apr 12:10 and 20:15 Studio; Mon 22 Apr 20:50 Studio; Tue 23 Apr 14:45 Studio; Wed 24 Apr 18:20 Studio; Thu 25 Apr 17:45 Studio
Germany 2023. Director İlker Çatak. With Leonie Benesch, Eva Löbau. 99min. EST. Digital. 12A. A Curzon Release.
A series of thefts occur at a German secondary school and suspicion falls on various students. When teacher Carla Nowak attempts a novel way to catch the culprit, the result of her investigation sees her caught between her pupils and colleagues, and her ideals and the school system. Part a brilliantly observed drama and part a suspenseful, heart-racing thriller, The Teacher's Lounge is a smart modern parable, interrogating social class and race dynamics. Leonie Benesch (The White Ribbon, The Crown) is enthralling as Carla, while also being supported by some remarkable performances from the film's young cast.
Tickets on sale Tue 16 Apr to BFI Patrons and Members from 12:00 and on general sale from 16:00.

Night and the City
Sat 20 Apr 15:15 Studio p23
Please note this additional screening.

Saving Face + into
Sun 21 Apr 15:20 NFT2 p56
We are pleased to announce that this screening will have a recorded introduction from Jinghua Qian, writer and critic.
We will also now be presenting the film on 35mm.

Member Mondays: M (Mörder unter uns)
Mon 22 Apr 18:00 BFI Stephen Street Screening Room 1 and 18:10 Screening Room 2
Germany 1931. Director Fritz Lang. With Peter Lorre, Gustaf Gründgens. 111min. Digital. EST. PG
Banned by the Nazis but considered by Lang to be his greatest cinematic achievement, this serial-killer drama unfolds among Berlin's tenements, slums and city streets. Lorre excels as a pitiless yet psychologically complex child murderer who provokes mob fervour and draws both a stressed police force and an unforgiving underworld into frenzied pursuit. With its shadow-play and moody atmosphere, underpinned by a stunning score, M is an unsettling work of brilliance.
Tickets on sale exclusively to BFI Members

We're pleased to add this 25th Anniversary Digital 4K restoration to the BFI Southbank programme:
Ratcatcher
Screenings: Mon 22 Apr 12:20 Studio; Tue 23 Apr 17:45 Studio; Wed 24 Apr 12:15 Studio
UK 1999. Director Lynne Ramsay. With William Eadie, Tommy Flanagan, Mandy Matthews. 93min. Digital 4K (restoration). 15. A Park Circus re-release
Set in and around a Glasgow tenement block during a dustmen’s strike in the mid-’70s, Ramsay’s marvellous first feature centres on a 12-year-old (Eadie) who, haunted by a secret, retreats into a private world of solitude, strange friendships and consoling dreams. A bold lyricism combines with gritty realism to create an impressive and intriguing character study shot through with tenderness and wit.
Tickets on sale - Sat 6 April to BFI Members from 12:00 and on general sale from 16:00.

Member Mondays: The Lavender Hill Mob
Mon 22 Apr 20:30 BFI Stephen Street Screening Room 1 and 20:40 Screening Room 2
UK 1951. Director Charles Crichton. With Alec Guinness, Stanley Holloway, Sidney James, Alfie Bass, Marjorie Fielding. 81min. Digital. U
One of Ealing's most beloved comedies, The Lavender Hill Mob is the enduringly funny story of a nobody bank employee's ingenious plan to rob the Bank of England of gold bullion and smuggle it to France in the form of Eiffel Tower paperweights. With the help of the motley crew that he assembles to carry out the raid, much bungling and hilarity ensues as their plan threatens to come unstuck thanks to French bureaucracy and some pesky English school girls.
Tickets on sale exclusively to BFI Members

Beau Travail + intro
Wed 24 Apr 18:10 NFT2 p 50
We are delighted to announce that this screening will be introduced by Sam Wigley, BFI News and Features Editor.

Queer East Festival: Abang Adik
Wed 24 Apr 20:30 NFT2 p57
We are pleased to announce that this screening will have a recorded introduction by director Jin Ong.

Omen + Intro and Q&A with director Baloji
Fri 26 Apr 18:00 NFT2 p4
We are pleased to announce that Tomisin will be hosting a post-screening discussion with Baloji. Their conversation will interrogate the film’s textured exploration of grief, cultural identity and familial anguish.
Tomisin Adepeju is a British-Nigerian filmmaker based in London. His award-winning shorts have screened at over 150 film festivals, including Sundance, BFI London Film Festival and London Short Film Festival. He has also written about film for MUBI and several other platforms. He is the founder of the screening and event series DAILIES where he regularly curates shorts and feature film programmes.

Queer East Festival:
Summer Vacation 1999
Fri 26 Apr 20:40 NFT2 p57
We are pleased to announce that this screening will be introduced by writer and film curator Ren Scateni.

Ordet
Sat 27 Apr 13:15 NFT2; Mon 29 Apr 14:40 Studio p52
To confirm, this film will be presented with English subtitles.

Queer East Festival Closing Night:
Bye Bye Love - 50th Anniversary screening
Sun 28 Apr 17:10 NFT2 p57
We are pleased to announce that this screening will have a recorded introduction by director Isao Fujisawa.

Member Mondays at BFI Stephen Street
We are pleased to announce further Member Monday screenings.
Tickets on sale exclusively to BFI Members on Thu 28 March from 13:30. Find out more.

May Programme

Preview: Hoard + Q&A
Fri 3 May 18:00 NFT2 p5
We are pleased to announce that the Q&A will be with director Luna Carmoon and actors Saura Lightfoot Leon, Joseph Quinn and Hayley Squires.

No Film Can Be Too Personal
Thu 2 May 20:20 NFT2 p38
We are sorry to announce that, due to rights clearance reasons, we won’t be able to include Free Cinema and the extract from A Turnip Head’s Guide to British Cinema as previously advertised. We apologise for the inconvenience. We are pleased that we’ll present instead Lucky Man:
Lucky Man UK 1995. Director Ken McMullen. 38min. Digital

BFI Reuben Library
Sat 4 May to Thu 9 May
Please be aware that the BFI Reuben Library will be closed from Sat 4 May - Thu 9 May due to event bookings and ongoing building works. It will re-open on Fri 10 May. We apologise for any inconvenience this closure may cause. Please check back here for further updates. The New Writings Event on Sat 4 May at 11:30 will go ahead in the Library as planned.

New Writings from the UK Asian Film Festival
Sat 4 May 11:30 BFI Reuben Library p58
The book launch event will be chaired by Dr Ashvin Devasundaram (Senior Lecturer in World Cinema, Queen Mary University of London) and will feature a preview launch of the edited collection Urban Violence and Marginalised Communities: Multidisciplinary Investigations forthcoming as an Open Access publication in 2025 from UCL Press. Edited by Dr Ashvin Devasundaram (Queen Mary University of London), Dr Stamatis Zografos (Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL), Dr Marcio Mattos (Higher Academy of Police Sciences, University of Brasilia) and Dr Zoe Holman (Queen Mary University of London), the book unveils new and diverse insights into urban violence, spanning migration and politics, built environment, policing, film, media and performing arts.

Member Mondays: Breathless (À bout de souffle)
Mon 6 May 18:30 BFI Stephen Street Screening Room 1 and 18:40 Screening Room 2
France 1960. Director Jean-Luc Godard. With Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Daniel Boulanger. 90min. Digital. EST. 12A
Exuberantly youthful and innovative, Breathless nods to the past but has its eye on the future. A Bogart-idolising car thief, on the run after killing a cop, turns to his American girlfriend for help but begins to question her loyalties. Godard dispensed with the conventions of cinematic grammar, breaking the rules in some style while adopting a familiar lovers-on-the-run narrative. Six decades on, the film still sparkles with mischievous wit and wondrous invention.
Tickets on sale exclusively to BFI Members

Member Mondays: Ratcatcher
Mon 6 May 20:40 BFI Stephen Street Screening Room 1 and 20:50 Screening Room 2
UK 1999. Dir Lynne Ramsay. With William Eadie, Tommy Flanagan, Mandy Matthews. 93min. Digital (restoration). 15
Set in and around a Glasgow tenement block during a dustmen's strike in the mid-'70s, Ramsay's marvellous first feature centres on a 12-year-old (Eadie) who, haunted by a secret, retreats into a private world of solitude, strange friendships and consoling dreams. A bold lyricism combines with gritty realism to create an impressive and intriguing character study shot through with tenderness and wit.
Tickets on sale exclusively to BFI Members

Journey Through Italian Neorealism
Tue 7 May 18:10 NFT2 p29
We are delighted to announce that film critic Christina Newland and academics Professor Richard Dyer and Professor Stephen Gundle will join season programmer Giulia Saccogna for this event.

Hoard
From Fri 10 May p15
Hoard will now be released in UK cinemas on 17 May so we are delighted to be presenting a week of exclusive preview screenings at BFI Southbank.

Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger
From Fri 10 May p14
We are pleased to announce that Audio Description will now be available at all screenings and the screenings on Sat 11 May 20:20 Studio and Wed 15 May 14:40 Studio will be presented with subtitles, including descriptions of non-dialogue audio.

Stand Up! Stand Up!
Thu 23 May 20:30 NFT2 p39
We are pleased to announce that O Dreamland will be added to the programme:
O Dreamland UK 1953. Director Lindsay Anderson. 13min. 16mm