BFI Southbank announces 2019 highlights

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

The BFI announce highlights for 2019 at BFI Southbank, with major seasons dedicated to some of the most important actors and directors in cinema history including Stanley Kubrick, Barbara Stanwyck, Michelangelo Antonioni, Cary Grant and Laurel and Hardy. Our Women with a Movie Camera Summit will return for a second edition in June and we will present a season, currently in development, which explores the anti-heroine on screen. Celebratory moments will include a two month Weimar Cinema season, marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Weimar Republic, remarkable restorations of films from the Victorian era to mark the 200th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s birth, a summer season celebrating the indie cinema explosion of the Nineties, and two innovative seasons, Born Digital and No Direct Flight, showing the relationship between the internet and contemporary cinema on the 30th birthday of the World Wide Web.

Following in the footsteps of BFI Blockbuster seasons such as Black Star, Sci-Fi and Comedy Genius, 2019 will culminate in the greatest song and dance season to ever grace UK cinema screens, with the BFI’s annual UK-wide blockbuster season being dedicated to Musicals.

BFI Southbank is the UK’s national cinematheque and one of the few surviving cinemas regularly showing film on 35mm and 70mm celluloid between its four auditoria. BFI Southbank is also home to the BFI Reuben Library, the biggest film library in the world, the BFI Shop, and BFI Mediatheque which offers free access to 1000’s of film and TV titles, many from the BFI National Archive. With a unique programme of seasons, talks, premieres, festivals and one-off events, BFI Southbank has the world’s biggest names in film in venue and on stage every month. It is also one of the most buzzing venues on the South Bank with a newly developed Riverfront bar and restaurant and Benugo Bar and Kitchen, where film and culture lovers come together in their mutual love of cinema.

January – March 2019

Laurel and Hardy – Jan 2019

The BFI’s blockbuster season Comedy Genius draws to a close with a rare opportunity to focus on arguably the greatest comedy duo of all time, Laurel and Hardy. The extensive season also coincides with the UK-wide release of Jon S Baird’s Stan and Ollie (2018) which will be played on extended run from Friday 18 January.

Antonioni: Confronting the Modern World with Style – Jan/Feb 2019

Arriving in London after a world tour produced by Luce Cinecittà, the BFI will host a major season dedicated to the groundbreaking director Michelangelo Antonioni. It will include a BFI re-release of Antonioni’s last English-language film, The Passenger (1975) starring Jack Nicholson and Maria Schneider, back in cinemas from Friday 4 January.

The Golden age of Alexander Korda: Britain’s Movie Mogul – Jan 2019

A season honouring Alexander Korda, the maverick producer-director whose vision and ambition transformed British cinema, including screenings of the new BFI 4K restoration of The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). Also screening will be the UK Premiere of Churchill and the Movie Mogul (John Fleet, 2018), a new documentary exploring the little-known relationship between Korda and Winston Churchill, plus a complementary exhibition in the Mezzanine Gallery, of stills, posters and press books drawn from the BFI National Archive.

Bergman – A Year in a Life – BFI Distribution from Friday 25 January 2019

BFI will release Jane Magnusson’s Bergman – A Year in a Life (2018) in selected cinemas UK-wide from Friday 25 January. The film centres on 1957, a year in which Bergman directed two feature films and four plays. It explores his work, his personality and his turbulent private life.

Early Korean Cinema – Feb 2019

Early Korean Cinema, in partnership with the Korean Cultural Centre UK, will include screenings of early Korean films which have been long-thought lost. The season will open with a live music and film screening of The Crossroad of Youth (Ahn Jong-hwa, 1934), the first fiction feature in Korean.

Forgotten Black Drama on TV – Feb 2019

Forgotten Black Drama on TV will be a month-long season of ground-breaking black British television dramas. The season showcases the work of some of the most outstanding African and Caribbean writers of their generation, such as Barry Reckord (Club Havana, BBC 1975) and Trix Worrell (Just Like Mohicans, Channel 4/Holmes Associates, 1985), and features pioneering black British actors including Norman Beaton (Nice, Channel 4/Central TV, 1984) and Carmen Munro (The Hope and the Glory, BBC, 1984).

Valentine’s Day – 14 February 2019

BFI Southbank’s annual Valentine’s Day programme will this year include a preview of the BFI re-release of The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941), as well as screenings of Beautiful Thing (Hettie Macdonald, 1996) and Bound (The Wachowskis, 1996).

BFI Future Film Festival – 20-24 February 2019

The BFI Future Film Festival, the UK’s most important film industry festival for young, emerging filmmakers will return to BFI Southbank from 20-24 February 2019 with another jam-packed line up of events.

Barbara Stanwyck – Feb/Mar 2019

In February and March we’ll celebrate Barbara Stanwyck, whose career spanned over 60 years, with a season of more than 20 of her best-loved films. The season will include a BFI UK-wide re-release of The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941) from Friday 15 February, as well as classics such as Stella Dallas (King Vidor, 1937), Clash by Night (Fritz Lang, 1952) and Ball of Fire (Howard Hawks, 1941)

Advertising – BFI Player collection available 13 March 2019

From 13 March there will be a new collection on BFI Player featuring a century of British advertising on film from 1898, with examples of cinema and TV adverts from some of our best-loved brands, reflecting the aspirational ideals and social concerns of the 20th century. The collection, which will include work by Ridley and Tony Scott, Alan Parker, and Hugh Hudson, will be digitally remastered in 4K. The collection will also manifest with events in-venue at BFI Southbank, including screenings of the re-release of the Theatrical Cut on Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) from 1 March.

Big Screen Classics: and the Award Nearly Went to… – Feb/Mar 2019

Our daily classics series – Big Screen Classics – will, throughout February and March, showcase the best films that didn’t win an Oscar. Coinciding with the 91st Academy Awards, the season will remind audiences of some of the films which didn’t take home the biggest prize of the year: from Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) and Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980) to The Color Purple (Steven Spielberg, 1985).

BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival – 21-31 March 2019

BFI Flare: London LGBTQ+ Film Festival returns to BFI Southbank from 21-29 March 2019, showcasing the best new and classic LGBTQ+ films from around the world.

April – June 2019

Born Digital – April 2019

Born Digital, which coincides with the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web, will explore how the internet and digital culture have infiltrated moving image through a programme of films and events, to be presented online and at the BFI Southbank. Screenings will include Team Hurricane (Annika Berg, 2017), #Horror (Tara Subkoff, 2015) and A Self-Induced Hallucination (Dan Schoenbrun, 2018).

Kubrick – April/May 2019

Throughout April and May the BFI will present, in partnership with The Design Museum, a definitive Stanley Kubrick season at BFI Southbank. The season will offer audiences the opportunity to experience masterpieces such as 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Barry Lyndon (1975) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999) on the big screen as Kubrick intended, with screenings being presented on celluloid wherever possible. Running alongside Kubrick will be a season of films inspired by his work, with titles to be announced soon.

Room at the Top (1959) – 60th Anniversary Dual Format Edition release, 20 May 2019

The first of the British New Wave films, Room at the Top (1959), directed by Jack Clayton, stars Laurence Harvey and Simone Signoret in an adaptation of John Braine’s novel that boldly takes on the class system. This World Premiere Blu-ray release marks the film’s 60th anniversary.

Victorians – BFI Player collection available in May 2019

We mark the 200th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s birth with the launch of a free online collection of 700+ incredibly rare surviving film fragments from the Victorian period, preserved and digitised by the BFI National Archive, as well as a special events programme at BFI Southbank during May 2019.

Weimar Cinema: Beyond Your Wildest Dreams – May/June 2019

Marking 100 years since the founding of the Weimar Republic, BFI Southbank will host a two-month season looking at Weimar Cinema from 1919-1933, including films such as The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920) and Emil and the Detectives (Gerhard Lamprecht, 1931). This major season will include must-see classics, rare discoveries, special events with live musical accompaniment and the UK Blu-ray premiere of People on Sunday (Robert Siodmak, Edgar G Ulmer, 1929).

Hirokazu Kore-eda – May 2019

During May, BFI Southbank will host a focus on the work of Hirokazu Kore-eda, coinciding with the BFI UK-wide release of Maborosi (1995) and a BFI box set release of Maborosi (1995), After Life (1998), Nobody Knows (2004) and Still Walking (2008) in July.

Sight & Sound Deep Focus: Golden Age of Mexican Cinema 1934-60 – June 2019

In June Sight & Sound’s regular Deep Focus season will look at the great Golden Age of Mexican Cinema from the 1930s-1950s, when Mexico’s industry was one of the most successful and productive in the world, with a star system to rival Hollywood’s. From action epics and intense melodramas to film noirs and homegrown horror, the season will include work by acclaimed directors such as Emilio Fernández, Roberto Gavaldón and Luis Buñuel.

Woman With a Move Camera Summit – Saturday 22 June 2019

Following a sold out inaugural event in 2018, the Woman With a Movie Camera Summit returns to BFI Southbank on Saturday 22 June with a day of keynotes, panel discussions and illustrated talks.

July – September 2019

Nineties (1989-1999) – July/Aug 2019

The Nineties were an extraordinary period for cinema, an explosion of black, queer and feminist voices that were a collision of the arthouse and the mainstream. This season will screen films that celebrate British pioneers such as Danny Boyle and Isaac Julien, new female voices such as Alison Anders and the American disruptors like Spike Lee, David Lynch and The Wachowskis, with events, discussions and parties to get audiences into the 90s spirit.

No Direct Flight – Aug 2019

This innovative season in partnership with the British Council explores how the internet has created a platform for filmmakers across the African diaspora to connect, collaborate and create a new aesthetic. Showing work from contemporary filmmaking talent in the UK, the US and Africa including talents such as Jenn Nkiru (UK), The Nest Collective (Kenya), and Terence Nance (US) alongside past pan-African masters, the season centrepiece will be an IRL and Virtual meet-up between filmmakers on three continents.

Cary Grant – Aug/Sept 2019

We’ll close out summer 2019 with a two-month season celebrating Cary Grant, the Bristol-born actor who went on to become one of Hollywood’s best-loved leading-men. It will showcase Grant’s incredible versatility, from early roles in dramas such as Blonde Venus (Josef von Sternberg, 1932) to screwball classics like Bringing Up Baby (Howard Hawks, 1938) and His Girl Friday (Howard Hawks, 1940) and his ongoing collaboration with Hitchcock in films such as To Catch a Thief (1955) and North by Northwest (1959).

October – December 2019

Musicals! – The Greatest Show on Film

Following in the footsteps of BFI Blockbuster seasons such as Black Star, Sci-Fi and this year’s Comedy Genius, 2019 will culminate in the greatest song and dance season to ever grace UK cinema screens, with the BFI’s annual UK-wide blockbuster season being dedicated to Musicals.