- Films and events
- Journey
- Passing
Passing
In Rebecca Hall’s exquisite directorial debut, two childhood friends are reunited as adults in 1920s New York, with one of them now passing as white.
-
Director-Screenwriter
Rebecca Hall
-
Producers
Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker, Margot Hand, Rebecca Hall
-
With
Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, André Holland
-
USA 2021. 98min
-
UK Distribution
Netflix
-
Language
English
When Irene (Tessa Thompson), a pillar of the Harlem community, spots Clare (Ruth Negga) across a hotel lobby, she can’t stop staring. Although they now live on opposite sides of the racial divide, the two women are magnetically drawn to each other, with fateful consequences. Demonstrating the same cool intelligence we’ve seen in her performances, Hall delivers an elegant film full of longing and restraint, and with a distinctly feminine sensibility. Shot in gorgeous black and white by Eduard Grau (A Single Man) and adapted from Nella Larsen’s acclaimed novel, it’s also a deeply personal film, with Hall mining her family’s own history of passing to deliver a richly layered examination of race, class and sexuality, and the lives we choose – or choose not – to lead.
Rowan Woods
Access information
The screening on Tuesday 12 October will be presented with an audio-description soundtrack for customers who are blind or partially-sighted. Headphones are available on request. It will also be presented with closed captions for customers who are D/deaf or hard of hearing.
You may also enjoy

The Lost Daughter
Maggie Gyllenhaal adapts Elena Ferrante in this astonishingly assured directorial debut starring Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson, Ed Harris, Peter Sarsgaard and Paul Mescal.

ear for eye
At times furious, joyous and moving, debbie tucker green’s adaptation of her acclaimed play on racial injustice in the UK and USA is nothing short of mesmerising.

As in Heaven
Anchored by an award-worthy performance from its young lead, Tea Lindeburg’s feature debut is a fresh, visceral and defiantly female vision of the past.

Journey
Whether it’s the voyage or the destination, these films transport you and shift your perspective.
Find out more
BFI Membership
Become a BFI Member from £37 to enjoy priority Festival booking as well as other great benefits all year round.
Join today

Trailers and clips
A taste of what’s to come in the 65th BFI London Film Festival.
Watch clips and trailers