Programme changes

Updated: 24 April

April Programme

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

We're pleased to add this 25th Anniversary Digital 4K restoration to the BFI Southbank programme:
Ratcatcher
Screenings: Wed 24 Apr 12:15 Studio; Sun 28 Apr 14:40 Studio; Tue 30 Apr 20:55 Studio; Thu 2 May 17:45 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.

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: Wed 24 Apr 18:20 Studio; Thu 25 Apr 17:45 Studio; Fri 26 Apr 18:20 Studio; Sat 27 Apr 20:50 Studio; Sun 28 Apr 17:00 Studio; Mon 29 Apr 18:20 Studio; Wed 1 May 12:10 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.

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.

We’re pleased to add these films to the BFI Southbank programme:
The Sweet East
Screenings: Wed 24 Apr 20:40 Studio; Thu 25 Apr 14:40 Studio; Fri 26 Apr 20:45 Studio; Sat 27 Apr 13:20 Studio; Mon 29 Apr 20:40 Studio; Tue 30 Apr 14:50 Studio; Wed 1 May 20:40 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.
Content warning: Contains graphic violence, distressing scenes.

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.

Close Your Eyes
Sat 27 Apr 17:40 Studio; Mon 29 Apr 17:35 NFT2; Tue 30 Apr 17:45 Studio; Wed 1 May 14:15 Studio; Thu 2 May 19:45 Studio p13
Following it sell-out run we're pleased to add these additional screenings.

Where the Sidewalk Ends
Sat 27 Apr 15:40 Studio p23
Please note this additional screening.

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

Leave Her to Heaven
Sun 28 Apr 12:15 Studio p21
Please note this additional screening.

The Leopard
Sun 28 Apr 19:25 Studio p48
Please note this additional screening.

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

Rope
Wed 1 May 18:20 Studio p54
Please note this additional chance to see the film on this day. This screening will not be introduced.

Cabaret
Thu 2 May 12:10 Studio p52
Please note this additional screening.

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 Joseph Quinn and Hayley Squires.
Unfortunately, due to a change in her schedule, Saura Lightfoot Leon is no longer able to attend this Q&A. We apologise for any disappointment caused.

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.

A Streetcar Named Desire
Sat 4 May 12:30 Studio p53
Please note this additional screening.

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.

Outing Anderson
Wed 8 May 20:00 BFI Reuben Library p44
Please note, this event will now take place in the Blue Room.

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.

We are pleased to announce the latest Member Mondays screenings:

Member Mondays: Mulholland Drive
Mon 13 May 18:00 BFI Stephen Street Screening Room 1 and 20:00 Screening Room 2
USA 2001. Director David Lynch. With Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux, Robert Forster. 147min. Digital. 15.
Beautiful blonde Betty (Naomi Watts) arrives in Hollywood with ambitions to become the next big movie star. She meets a mysterious brunette (Laura Harring) who has amnesia, having recently emerged from a car crash. David Lynch's most enigmatic feature is rich with references to The Wizard of Oz, leading many audiences to believe the 1939 classic to be key to unlocking the secrets of Mulholland Drive.
Tickets on sale exclusively to BFI Members from Thu 25 Apr from 12:00 noon.

Member Mondays: La Règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game)
Mon 13 May 17:50 BFI Stephen Street Screening Room 2 and 20:45 Screening Room 1
France 1939. Director Jean Renoir. With Marcel Dalio, Nora Gregor, Paulette Dubost. 106min. Digital. EST. PG.
Renoir's masterpiece presents a critique of the declining French upper-middle classes using the frameworks of French comedy theatre. On the brink of the Second World War, the guests at a weekend shooting party are oblivious to the horrors soon to unfold. Banned by the French government for being demoralising, Renoir's critique is subtle but biting, while retaining his humanism encapsulated in the iconic line, 'Everyone has their reasons.'
Tickets on sale exclusively to BFI Members from Thu 25 Apr from 12:00 noon

Member Mondays: Tokyo Story (Tōkyō monogatari)
Mon 20 May 18:00 BFI Stephen Street Screening Room 2
Japan 1953. Director Yasujirō Ozu. With Chishū Ryū, Chieko Higashiyama, Setsuko Hara, Kyōko Kagawa, Haruko Sugimura. 136min. Digital. EST. U.
Retired couple Shōkichi and Tomi Hirayama, who live with their youngest daughter Kyōko, decide to travel east to visit their eldest son and daughter in Tokyo. Both soon make it clear they are too busy to spend time with their parents, leaving daughter-in-law Noriko to show them around. It's through her kindness that Ozu explores this family's dynamic. In its contemplation of tradition and modernity, and its portrait of family as a microcosm of a changing society, Ozu's most acclaimed film is of a piece with the magnificent work he produced in his final decade. With it, he refined his style to a beguilingly simple degree, emphasising gesture over action, and with each moment building towards a quietly devastating denouement.
Tickets on sale exclusively to BFI Members from Thu 25 Apr from 12:00 noon.

Member Mondays: An Autumn Afternoon (Sanma no aji)
Mon 20 May 20:45 BFI Stephen Street Screening Room 2
Japan 1962. Director Yasujirō Ozu. With Shima Iwashita, Chishū Ryū, Keiji Sada, Mariko Okada. 113min. Digital. EST. PG.
In Ozu's final film, Chishū Ryū is outstanding as a father concerned for his daughter's future. It's a theme the filmmaker explored many times, without ever repeating himself. The drama here is played out through the most subtle of gestures between family members. With each post-war film, Ozu's interest in the machinations of plot or conventions of narrative construction waned. It reaches its apotheosis here, as the filmmaker homes in on the minutiae of his protagonists' daily lives.
Tickets on sale exclusively to BFI Members from Thu 25 Apr from 12:00 noon.

Member Mondays: The Godfather
Mon 27 May 15:30 BFI Stephen Street Screening Room 2
USA 1972. Director Francis Ford Coppola. With Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton. 175min. Digital. 15.
The Godfather must surely rank as one of the greatest films of all time. Putting its Oscar-winning credentials, critical acclaim and huge box-office success to one side, it still feels as epic and compelling as it did when it was first released. Spanning a decade, the film explores the world of organised crime in a way that Hollywood had never seen before: instead of glamour and wisecracks, Coppola provided an authentic air of the everyday merged with the cold brutality of the family business. With Pacino at the top of his game and Brando embodying power and corruption as the ageing Don, this is nearly three hours of pure cinematic gold.
Tickets on sale exclusively to BFI Members from Thu 25 Apr from 12:00 noon.

Member Mondays: The Godfather Part II
Mon 27 May 19:15 BFI Stephen Street Screening Room 2
USA 1974. Director Francis Ford Coppola. With Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, John Cazale, Diane Keaton. 202min. Digital. Some EST. 15.
Coppola's sequel to his original film of Mario Puzo's Mafia bestseller extends the timeframe both backwards (to Vito Corleone's arrival in New York in the early 20th century) and forwards (to his son Michael's ruthless consolidation of his own power in the postwar years). The narrative's epic sweep, the ubiquitously polished craftsmanship and the fine performances make for consistently engrossing viewing.
Tickets on sale exclusively to BFI Members from Thu 25 Apr from 12:00 noon.

Member Mondays: Once Upon a Time in the West (C'era una volta il West)
Mon 3 Jun 17:30 BFI Stephen Street Screening Room 1 and 19:45 Screening Room 2
USA 1968. Director Sergio Leone. With Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards. 165min. Digital. 15.
Conflict over a parcel of land with a vital water source, resulting in a standoff between three characters (played by Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards and Charles Bronson) and the interests of a rapacious railroad company, is the focus of this epic that helped redefine notions about the West. Working from a story co-written with Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento, Leone drew inspiration from many key Westerns to construct his masterpiece. It works as an homage to what came before, a deconstruction of capitalism at its most aggressive and a riveting addition to the genre. It also features another mesmerising score by the great Ennio Morricone.
Tickets on sale exclusively to BFI Members from Thu 25 Apr from 12:00 noon.

Member Mondays: Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu)
Mon 3 Jun 17:20 BFI Stephen Street Screening Room 2 and 20:35 Screening Room 1
France 2019. Director Céline Sciamma. With Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Valeria Golino, Luàna Bajrami. 119min. Digital. EST. 15.
In 18th-century France, a female artist is commissioned to paint the portrait of Lady Héloïse so it can be sent to her suitor. However, the subject does not want to be painted, or married. Céline Sciamma's exquisite and deftly observed romance, beautifully played out by Merlant and Haenel, burns with passion and is bewitchingly crafted; each frame resembles an immaculate painting in this hypnotic story of forbidden love.
Tickets on sale exclusively to BFI Members from Thu 25 Apr from 12:00 noon.

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