- Home
- Previews and events
Previews and events
Join us for previews, talks and special screenings.
BFI Film on Film Festival 2025
For events in the BFI Film on Film Festival please see the festival website.
Find out moreMay
Mark Kermode Live in 3D at the BFI
The critic presents the latest episode of his live discussion, on stage in NFT1.
New Writings: The Quatermass Experiment with Toby Hadoke
A discussion of the perennially popular, classic British sci-fi series.
Sleeping Car + intro by Michael Williams, author of Ivor Novello: Screen Idol
Sophisticated British comedy starring matinee idol Ivor Novello as a railway Romeo.
Collateral + intro by Ian Haydn Smith, writer and curator
Cruise’s contract killer is not someone you want to cross paths with as he and Jamie Foxx’s unwitting taxi driver share a long night of the soul in Los Angeles.
UK Premiere: Test Pattern
Shatara Michelle Ford’s debut feature was undistributed in the UK.
Special Preview of new 4K Restoration: Compensation + pre-recorded intro by director Zeinabu irene Davis
A fresh restoration of an underseen masterpiece by Zeinabu irene Davis.
Vanilla Sky + intro by Kimberley Sheehan, Season Programmer
Romance, mystery and sci-fi all intertwine in this vivid and exhilarating marvel from Cruise’s filmography.
Scrubbers + intro by producer Don Boyd
A startling and uncompromising portrait of life behind bars at a borstal for young women.
Nicky Hamlyn: Cycles of Time + Nicky Hamlyn in conversation with BFI National Archive curator William Fowler
A work from every decade of Nicky Hamlyn’s extensive output is included in a career-spanning programme about cyclical patterns and the radical, experimental use of different moving-image technologies.
Black Debutantes Shorts Programme: Performance Pains
Three shorts by acclaimed filmmakers Julie Dash, Ngozi Onwurah and Mati Diop.
June
Meet Anne and Georges: An Introduction to the Worlds of Michael Haneke
This season introduction explores Haneke’s films through the enigmatic bourgeois families who often form the core of his films.
The White Ribbon + intro by season curator Jelena Milosavljevic
Michael Haneke’s Cannes-prize-winning drama, set in a German village prior to the outbreak of the First World War, explores the oppressively strict social conditions that gave rise to Nazism.
New Writings: Shadow of a Doubt with Diane Negra
A discussion about the importance of Hitchcock’s smalltown thriller, which he cited as one of his favourite films.
Wanda + extended season intro by Elena Gorfinkel
Barbara Loden’s tough, austere portrait of an alienated woman adrift in Rust Belt America.
UK Premiere of 4K Restoration: The Gates of Heaven
Reality overcomes fiction in the story behind the making of this film, presented on the anniversary of the eve of the Liberation of Rome by the allies.
Woman with a Movie Camera Preview: Lollipop + Q&A with director Daisy-May Hudson and actors Posy Sterling, Idil Ahmed and TerriAnn Cousins
Daisy-May Hudson’s debut is a raw and urgent drama about one desperate mother’s relentless fight for justice against a broken system.
The Feminist Moment: Non-fiction and Experimental Shorts + intro
Inaugurating feminism’s second wave, these non-fiction and experimental films critique women’s shared social oppressions.
Barbara Loden Symposium
A discussion, with screenings, of Barbara Loden’s career and influence.
Wanda + intro by Jo Molyneux, BFI Archive Access Researcher
Barbara Loden’s tough, austere portrait of an alienated woman adrift in Rust Belt America.
Mark Kermode Live in 3D at the BFI
The critic presents the latest episode of his live discussion, on stage in NFT1.
Sentimental Educations: Barbara Loden’s Classroom Films + intro by season curator Elena Gorfinkel
Barbara Loden’s (and filmmaking contemporary Joan Micklin Silver’s) little-screened 1970s short educational films.
Fade In + intro by season curator Elena Gorfinkel
A shelved deep cut of late 1960s Hollywood, never screened in cinemas, features Loden’s first leading role, playing a film editor against Reynolds’ brawny rancher.
The Rebellion + intro by Ruby McGuigan, season curator
Haneke’s adaptation of Joseph Roth’s novel challenges the moral authority of the state, as a war veteran is broken by a series of indignities.
Hidden + intro by Professor Catherine Wheatley, King’s College London
Haneke’s Cannes award-winning masterpiece is both an enthralling thriller and a piercing analysis of colonial guilt.
Philosophical Screens: Hidden
Join our film philosophers for a discussion about Haneke’s 2005 masterpiece.
UK Premiere: Valley of the Shadow of Death
Anthony Wong excels as a man of the cloth whose feelings of vengeance threaten to consume his faith.
UK Premiere: Possession Street
A spirited and inventive revitalisation of the zombie genre.
Refugee Week: Bread and Roses + intro and discussion
A powerful look at the seismic impact on women’s rights and livelihoods faced by women in Kabul following the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.
The Chelsea Girls (unconfirmed) + intro by season curator Elena Gorfinkel
A singular work of 1960s expanded cinema – Andy Warhol’s alluring record of the New York underground scene.
UK Premiere: The Black Tavern
A thrilling action drama that set a high benchmark for the wuxia genre.
UK Premiere of 4K Restoration: Hong Kong 1941
Chow Yun-Fat established his status with his breakthrough performance in this wartime drama.
Marry Me + intro by Miles Jupp and James Kettle
Love conquers all in this lively British comedy about a reporter who goes under cover for a story on the matchmaking business.
Time of the Wolf + intro by Geoff Andrew, Film Critic, Lecturer and Programmer
A post-apocalyptic film like no other, and under-appreciated in Haneke’s oeuvre.
CODE: DAMP Experimenta Mixtape – Curated by Sophie Sleigh-Johnson + Q&A with Sophie Sleigh-Johnson, hosted by comedian and writer Stewart Lee
A fascinating, singular delve into the world of the TV sitcom.
New Writings: Radical Children’s Film and Television
A discussion of what is possible in children’s television.
BFI Member exclusives
BFI Members enjoy special events, previews and screenings at BFI Southbank all year round.
Our main passenger lift at BFI Southbank is out of order - see the access page for information
For information on May closure dates for BFI Bar and BFI Riverfront see the food and drink page.
BFI Membership
Become a BFI Member from £39 to enjoy priority booking as well as other great benefits all year round.
Join today
