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London
From the seedy streets of '60s Soho to the city's metropolitan sheen.
Welcome to the London collection.
In its tunnels and on its streets, a city hums with life. its arteries flow with stories of valour, love and struggle, pulled from the millions who live within.
Battle of Soho Battle of Soho
Documentary 2017 100 mins Director: Aro Korol
Take a journey through London's most notorious district, meeting residents and campaigners at the forefront of a battle to keep its eccentric, diverse spirit alive.
A Moving Image A Moving Image
Drama 2017 74 mins Director: Shola Amoo
The gentrification of London’s Brixton is examined in this probing and stylistically ambitious debut feature.
Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle
Documentary 2017 82 mins Director: Paul Sng
Maxine Peake narrates this forthright polemic on the consequences of the 1980s Right-to-Buy scheme on the nation's affordable housing.
The Party's Over The Party's Over
Drama 1965 92 mins Silent Director: Guy Hamilton
The partying of a wild group of beatniks lead by Oliver Reed has shocking consequences. Written by Marc Behm, directed by Guy Hamilton and with music by John Barry.
London Symphony London Symphony
Documentary 2017 72 mins Director: Alex Barrett
A poetic journey through the capital, presenting an artistic snapshot of London as it stands today, and a celebration of its rich diversity of culture, architecture and religion.
Nighthawks Nighthawks
Drama 1978 113 mins Director: Ron Peck
A schoolteacher juggles everyday life with nights spent cruising for Mr Right in this fascinating landmark in British gay cinema
My Brother the Devil My Brother the Devil
Drama 2012 107 mins Director: Sally El Hosaini
Sally El Hosaini's feature debut tells of the love and disenchantment of two British-Egyptian brothers as gangs, drugs and sexuality come between them.
London London
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1994 85 mins Director: Patrick Keiller
The first in Patrick Keiller’s highly imaginative trilogy of films is a photographic trip through London, recounted by our unseen narrator.
Peeping Tom Peeping Tom
Drama 1960 101 mins Director: Michael Powell
Michael Powell’s dark, disturbing, once controversial tale of a shy camera technician who films women as he kills them is now rightly deemed a classic.
Deep End Deep End
Drama 1970 92 mins Director: Jerzy Skolimowski
Jerzy Skolimowski’s darkly comic and utterly compelling story of teenage infatuation in a run-down swimming pool.
Bullet Boy Bullet Boy
Drama 2005 86 mins Director: Saul Dibb
Ashley Walters impresses in the hard-hitting Hackney drama that’s still one of the best of Britain’s black urban crime films.
Brick Lane Brick Lane
Drama 2007 97 mins Director: Sarah Gavron
Sarah Gavron’s subtle and intelligent adaptation of Monica Ali’s acclaimed novel charts the experiences of a Bangladeshi woman in London.
This Is Tomorrow This Is Tomorrow
2007 54 mins Director: Paul Kelly
The final part of Saint Etienne and Paul Kelly’s London trilogy follows the renovation and reopening of the Royal Festival Hall through 2005-7.
What Have You Done Today Mervyn Day? What Have You Done Today Mervyn Day?
Documentary 2005 45 mins Director: Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly’s second collaboration with pop band Saint Etienne traces the hidden history of East London’s Lower Lea Valley before its Olympic makeover.
Finisterre Finisterre
Documentary 2003 59 mins Director: Kieran Evans and Paul Kelly
A journey from London’s suburbs to its heart, charting the influence of the city on indie pop band Saint Etienne.
The Boy Who Turned Yellow The Boy Who Turned Yellow
Children's 1972 54 mins Director: Michael Powell
A London schoolboy’s surprise transformation marks the final collaboration of great British director Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.
Underground Underground
Romance 1928 93 mins Silent Director: Anthony Asquith
The BFI National Archive restoration of one of Anthony Asquith's finest silent films set in London's Underground, with a new score.
Heart of the Angel Heart of the Angel
Documentary 1989 40 mins Director: Molly Dineen
Molly Dineen’s wry, humorous and sometimes touching look at the trials faced by the staff and passengers of London’s dishearteningly dilapidated Angel tube station, before its modernisation.
Electricity Electricity
Drama 2014 96 mins Director: Bryn Higgins
Agyness Deyn stars in a powerful story seen through the eyes of a young woman whose epilepsy brings extraordinary hallucinations.
London the Modern Babylon London the Modern Babylon
Documentary 2012 128 mins Director: Julien Temple
The story of London told through a century of popular music and film archive treasures.
Pressure Pressure
Drama 1978 121 mins Director: Horace Ové
Hailed as Britain's first black feature film, Pressure is a hard-hitting, honest document of the plight of disenchanted black youths in 1970s London.
Burning an Illusion Burning an Illusion
Drama 1982 102 mins Director: Menelik Shabazz
Menelik Shabazz’s pioneering first feature traces the emotional and political growth of a young black couple in Thatcher’s London.
Bronco Bullfrog Bronco Bullfrog
Drama 1970 87 mins Director: Barney Platts-Mills
A fascinating record of 1960s suedehead youth culture which is largely improvised by a non-professional cast of teenagers from east London
Private Road Private Road
Drama 1971 89 mins Director: Barney Platts-Mills
A compelling tale about the struggle for personal freedom, starring Bruce Robinson (Withnail and I).
Chelsea Bridge Boys Chelsea Bridge Boys
Documentary 1965 31 mins Director: Peter Davis and Staffan Lamm
Made for Swedish television, a look at a gang of "Rockers" who meet at a tea-kiosk on Chelsea Bridge.
Duffer Duffer
Drama 1971 75 mins Director: Joseph Despins and William Dumaresq
A bizarre study of obsession focusing on a teenage boy who is torn between the charms of a fleshly female prostitute and the sadism of an older man.
The Moon over the Alley The Moon over the Alley
Musical 1977 108 mins Director: Joseph Despins
The Moon Over the Alley is a bizarre and compelling musical exploring the problems of multicultural Notting Hill residents in the early 1970s.
Face Face
Crime 1997 101 mins Director: Antonia Bird
Robert Carlyle and Ray Winstone are members of a criminal gang that tears itself apart after a heist goes wrong, in Antonia Bird’s stylish thriller.
The Day the Earth Caught Fire The Day the Earth Caught Fire
Science Fiction 1961 100 mins Director: Val Guest
The BFI’s HD remaster of the British sci-fi classic. A journalist discovers that the Earth has been knocked off its axis and is moving ever closer to the sun. Is the Earth doomed?
Quatermass and the Pit Quatermass and the Pit
Horror 1967 94 mins Director: Roy Ward Baker
One of Britain’s finest sci-fi films, based on Nigel Kneale’s masterful script, about the discovery of ancient alien craft beneath central London.
Nightbirds Nightbirds
Drama 1970 78 mins Director: Andy Milligan
Dark drama about the doomed relationship of two down-and-outers living in the squalid East End of London in the early 1970s.
Carousella Carousella
Documentary 1965 26 mins Director: John Irvin
A controversial, well-made documentary that follows the lives of three young striptease artistes working in Soho.
Pub Pub
Documentary 1962 15 mins Director: Peter Davis
Short documentary originally made for Swedish television which opens the doors a typical working-class pub in East London.
Strip Strip
Documentary 1966 26 mins Director: Don Defina, Peter Davis and 1 more
Documentary about the lives of the women who work at a striptease club called The Phoenix on Old Compton Street, in the heart of Soho in the swinging sixties.
Oliver Twist Oliver Twist
Period drama 1948 116 mins Director: David Lean
Arguably the essential Dickens adaptation, David Lean’s evocative portrayal of Victorian London in sooty black and white features Alec Guinness as a memorably sinister Fagin.
Seance on a Wet Afternoon Seance on a Wet Afternoon
Crime 1964 111 mins Director: Bryan Forbes
Bryan Forbes’ stylish psychological thriller about a medium who plans to kidnap a child and help the police solve the crime to bolster her reputation as a clairvoyant.
The Elephant Man The Elephant Man
Biopic 1980 124 mins Director: David Lynch
David Lynch's moving true-life tale of the severely deformed Joseph Merrick and his rescue from the hell of a Victorian circus sideshow.
She, a Chinese She, a Chinese
Drama 2010 99 mins Director: Xiaolu Guo
British-Chinese director Xiaolu Guo’s story of a young woman's journey from a remote Chinese village to London, in an attempt to realise the Western consumer dream.
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
Crime 1926 91 mins Silent Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Ivor Novello plays a strange lodger who may be behind a number of Jack the Ripper-style killings in Alfred Hitchcock’s silent thriller.
Terry on the Fence Terry on the Fence
Children's 1985 70 mins Director: Frank Godwin
11-year-old Terry runs away from home and is drawn into a gang of bullies, in a gritty Children's Film Foundation drama.
The Monster of Highgate Ponds The Monster of Highgate Ponds
Children's 1961 59 mins Director: Alberto Cavalcanti
A boy receives a mysterious egg, but when it hatches a baby monster, mayhem ensues.
The Salvage Gang The Salvage Gang
Children's 1958 52 mins Director: John Krish
John Krish directs this beautifully photographed Children’s Film Foundation caper about four children scavenging bomb-damaged London for scrap metal.
Operation Third Form Operation Third Form
Children's 1966 58 mins Director: David Eady
John Moulder Brown (Deep End) fronts a crack children’s spy unit in this ripping boy's own adventure.
Hide and Seek Hide and Seek
Children's 1972 61 mins Director: David Eady
Gary Kemp (The Krays) becomes entangled with a borstal escapee known as the Deptford Dodger in this cracking drama from the Children’s Film Foundation.
Soapbox Derby Soapbox Derby
Children's 1957 64 mins Director: D'Arcy Conyers
Children’s Film Foundation adventure that sees a young Michael Crawford scrapping with a rival South London gang in Battersea.
It Always Rains on Sunday It Always Rains on Sunday
Drama 1947 88 mins Director: Robert Hamer
Austerity noir: Ealing's downbeat but compelling East End thriller.
Swandown Swandown
Documentary 2012 107 mins Director: Andrew Kötting
Filmmaker Andrew Kötting and writer Iain Sinclair embark on a quest from Hastings to East London by pedalo.
Welcome to Britain Welcome to Britain
Documentary 1976 73 mins Director: Ben Lewin
Ben Lewin’s 1976 film captures a moment in Britain's evergreen immigration debate, focusing on new arrivals at Heathrow as they wrestle with immigration law.