Here’s what we’ve got coming for audiences in 2024

Today we announce the upcoming cultural programme highlights for audiences across the UK, focusing on the first six months of 2024, in venue at BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX, in cinemas UK-wide, on BFI Player, BFI Blu-ray and DVD. From highly anticipated premiere events and film festivals on the big screen, to free, newly digitised archive film material in libraries and online collections at home, the BFI’s 2024 cultural programme will help connect audiences everywhere to stories both old and new.

“The BFI’s cultural programme kicks off the new year with seasons dedicated to Werner Herzog and the legendary Scala cinema,” says Jason Wood, BFI director of public programmes and audiences. “In many ways, the curation at the Scala and its consideration of the widest and most diverse audience is emblematic of what lies ahead at the BFI. Culture is worth celebrating, in all its richness, diversity and variety, and that will be very much at the heart of what we present. Everyone is welcome and no one is excluded. There are so many exciting things to come in 2024 as we present new, established and marginalised voices. To quote Hellraiser, ‘we have such sights to show you.’ It’s going to be quite a journey…”

We are also delighted to confirm that in spring 2024 (April to August) work to enhance the big screen experience for audiences at BFI Southbank will commence, including changes made to some cinema screens and public spaces. The venue will not be closing during this work, but certain cinema screens and areas will be temporarily closed for periods during this time.

• Werner Herzog (BFI Distribution/BFI Player/BFI Southbank/UK-wide – Jan) – includes BFI Distribution theatrical release (19 Jan) and BFI Blu-ray release (19 Feb) of Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer, and BFI Distribution theatrical re-release of The Enigma Of Kaspar Hauser
• Scala Cinema (BFI Distribution/BFI IMAX/BFI Player/BFI Southbank/UK-wide – Jan) – season at BFI Southbank and on BFI Player to mark the BFI Distribution theatrical release (5 Jan) and BFI Blu-ray release (22 Jan) of Scala!!! or, The Incredibly Strange Rise and Fall of the World’s Wildest Cinema and How It Influenced a Mixed-Up Generation of Weirdos and Misfits
• Cartoon Saloon at 25 (BFI Southbank – Jan)
• London Short Film Festival (BFI Southbank/BFI Player –19-28 Jan)
• BFI Blu-ray release of The Eternal Daughter (22 Jan)
• Woman with a Movie Camera Summit (BFI Southbank – 27 Jan, plus collection on BFI Player)
• New films produced with the support of the BFI Filmmaking Fund, awarding funds from the National Lottery, in cinemas UK-wide, including The End We Start From (Jan), Out of Darkness (Feb) and Your Fat Friend (Feb)
• The presentation of a BFI Fellowship to Christopher Nolan at the BFI Fellowship Chair’s Dinner (14 Feb), followed by an In Conversation event (BFI Southbank – 15 Feb), special Tenet screening introduction (BFI IMAX – 15 Feb) and a mini season of Nolan’s films (BFI IMAX – Feb)
• BFI Distribution theatrical release of Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande (BFI Distribution/UK-wide – 16 Feb), also released on BFI Blu-ray (26 Feb)
• Dorothy Arzner (BFI Southbank – Feb)
• The Anthropocene Trilogy, the films of Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier and Edward Burtynsky, in cultural partnership with The High Commission of Canada in the UK to coincide with BURTYNSKY: Extraction/Abstraction at Saatchi Gallery (BFI Southbank/BFI IMAX – Feb, BFI IMAX - Apr)
• BFI 4K UHD release of The Wages of Fear (5 Feb)
• The Taviani Brothers (BFI Southbank/BFI Player – Feb/Mar) presented in partnership with Cinecittà
• John Barry (BFI Southbank – Feb/Mar)
• BFI Future Film Festival (BFI Southbank/UK-wide/Online – 15-18 Feb). The country’s largest festival for young, emerging filmmakers with masterclasses, workshops, screenings and networking opportunities. Full programme announced in January
• BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival (BFI Player/BFI Southbank/UK-wide – 13-24 March)
• BFI Distribution theatrical release of Silver Haze (BFI Distribution/UK-wide – Mar)
• BFI Blu-ray release of Beautiful Thing (18 Mar)
• Gene Tierney (BFI Southbank – Apr)
• Queer East Festival (BFI Southbank – Apr)
• Victor Erice (BFI Southbank – Apr)

• Lindsay Anderson (BFI Southbank – May)
• Major season of Italian neo-realism, including BFI Distribution re-release of Roberto Rossellini’s Rome, Open City (BFI Distribution/BFI Player/BFI Southbank/UK-wide – May/Jun)
• BFI Distribution theatrical release of Àma Glora (BFI Distribution/UK-wide – Jun/Jul)
• London Indian Film Festival (BFI Southbank – Jun)
• Tigritudes – a major two-month survey of African cinema (BFI Player/BFI Southbank – Jun/Jul)
• (Dis)comfort Movies – the antidote to the cosy comfort watch, a thematic season of films which are hard viewing, but nevertheless fascinate and draw us in… (BFI Player/BFI Southbank – Jul)
• Soulfest (BFI Southbank – Aug/Sep)

• Stop motion animation season (BFI Southbank – Aug/Sep/Oct), supported by Headline Partner LAIKA and accompanied by an exhibit celebrating the stop motion excellence of LAIKA, including original film artifacts from Coraline, which marks its 15th anniversary in 2024
• Maggie Cheung (BFI Southbank – Sep/Oct)
• The 68th BFI London Film Festival (BFI Player/BFI Southbank/Venues across London and the UK – dates in October to be announced)
• The BFI’s annual UK-wide major blockbuster season, details to be announced in 2024 (BFI Distribution/BFI Player/BFI Southbank/UK-wide – Oct/Nov/Dec)
• Black History Month (BFI Blu-ray/BFI Player/BFI Southbank – Oct)
• James Baldwin (BFI Southbank – Oct/Nov)
• London Korean Film Festival (BFI Southbank – Nov)
• BFI Distribution theatrical release of Starve Acre (BFI Distribution/UK-wide – autumn)