BFI announce programme for September, including a Pam Grier season

The BFI announced the programme for September and early October at BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX, the latter having just resumed being fully operated and programmed in-house by the BFI.

As well as screening some of the biggest and best films on release in the UK, this month the BFI IMAX programme will begin to integrate with the programme at BFI Southbank, creating a film hub of two iconic and globally recognised cinemas in and around London’s South Bank. The newly integrated programme will this month celebrate 60 years of James Bond with a special weekend of events and screenings at BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX from 1-2 October, complete details of which will be announced soon. The new vision and plans for BFI IMAX will be unveiled through a major venue re-launch later in 2022.

Seasons running at BFI Southbank in September and into early October will include Pam Grier: Foxy, Fierce and Fearless, a major new retrospective dedicated to, in the words of Quentin Tarantino, ‘cinema’s first female action star’. The centrepiece of the season will be Pam Grier In Conversation on 9 September, where the iconic star will take to the BFI Southbank stage to discuss her incredible career. The season, which has been programmed by writer and film scholar Mia Mask, will include screenings of films such as Coffy (Jack Hill, 1973), Black Mama, White Mama (Eddie Romero, 1973), Foxy Brown (Jack Hill, 1974) and Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino, 1997), the latter of which will be re-released by Park Circus on 16 September to mark its 25^th anniversary. Grier will also take part in Q&As at Midland Arts Centre (MAC) and Ritzy Picturehouse on 11 September and 10 September respectively, with both cinemas showing key films starring Grier as well. Complete details of this season will be announced soon.

As Channel 4 marks 40 years on the airwaves, BFI Southbank will celebrate the channel’s radical first decade and the revolutionary spirit that has continued to inspire it ever since. Programmed thematically by the BFI’s Marcus Prince and Rod Stoneman, who was a Deputy Commissioning Editor at Channel 4 from 1983-93, Channel 4: 40 Years of Revolution will showcase work from the channel’s first 10 years. Titles will include The Tube (Channel 4/Tyne Tees TV, 1982), The Comic Strip Presents: Five Go Mad in Dorset (Channel 4, 1982), A Very British Coup (Channel 4, 1988), Handsworth Songs (Channel 4, 1986), Out on Tuesday (Channel 4, 1989) and many more.

There will be accompanying panel discussions and introductions to contextualise the ground-breaking significance of the programmes, with guests including comedians Rosie Jones and Munya Chawawa, Trix Worrell (creator of Desmonds), actor Robert Lindsay, filmmaker John Akomfrah, Nida Manzoor (creator of We Are Lady Parts), TV presenter Yinka Bokinni and many of Channel 4’s commissioners past and present. As the channel issues its latest provocation – ‘Here Comes Trouble’, a call for short films with radical ambition, the season will culminate in an address by Channel 4’s current Chief Content Officer Ian Katz. Regional screenings and events will also be taking place at venues across the UK including Arnolfini, Bristol; Filmhouse Edinburgh; Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast; and Y Drwm, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, with complete details of the season being announced soon.

Following the success of BFI Southbank’s season Bowie: Starman and the Silver Screen at the start of this year, the much-anticipated Moonage Daydream (Brett Morgen, 2022) arrives at BFI Imax from 16 September. To celebrate this new immersive Bowie experience from director Brett Morgen, the Starman will also land back at BFI Southbank with further screenings of key Bowie films. The Man Who Fell to Earth (Nicolas Roeg, 1976), The Hunger (Tony Scott, 1983), Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (Nagisa Ôshima, 1983), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (David Lynch, 1992) and Cracked Actor (Alan Yentob, 1975) return to the big screen by popular demand throughout September. BFI Southbank will also present two earlier films directed and co-directed by Brett Morgen, THE Kid Stays in the Picture (Nanette Burstein, Brett Morgen, 2002), and Cobain: Montage of Heck (Brett Morgen, 2015) which sees Morgen’s talent for archival storytelling applied to two other cultural icons – Robert Evans and Kurt Cobain.

Highlights of the events programme in September and early October will include Madly, Deeply: A Celebration of Alan Rickman on 2 October. Hosted by Mark Kermode, this very special event will celebrate and remember Rickman’s life and work, as well as launch the publication of his diaries, Madly, Deeply (Canongate Books). Alongside some of Rickman’s most celebrated moments on screen and excerpts from his diaries, the evening will feature some special guests talking about their friendship and work with him, including Emma Thompson, Harriet Walter, Ian McKellen, Juliet Stevenson, Lindsay Duncan, Eddie Izzard and Dexter Fletcher. On the same evening there will also be a screening of Anthony Minghella’s Truly Madly Deeply (1990) starring Rickman alongside Juliet Stevenson; a brilliant, funny and deeply touching film about coping with loss.

A major new TV thriller from award-winning writer Steven Moffat, Inside Man (BBC/Netflix, 2022) will preview on 19 September with a screening of Episode 1, followed by a Q&A with stars David Tennant, Stanley Tucci, Dolly Wells and Lydia West, writer Steven Moffatt and director Paul McGuigan. The captivating four-part mini-series follows a prisoner on death row in the US, a Vicar in a quiet English town and a maths teacher trapped in a cellar, as they cross paths in the most unexpected way. On 7 September there will be a preview of Cunk on Earth (BBC Two/Netflix, 2022) including a Q&A with writer/executive producer Charlie Brooker, Philomena Cunk actress Diane Morgan, and series producer Sam Ward. In this ‘deeply profound and important’ mockumentary, Cunk tells the entire story of human civilisation and asks the experts some hard-hitting questions along the way.

Puppet musical extravaganza Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared (Channel 4/BFI YACF, Blink Industries, 2022) will preview on 28 September, with a Q&A with creators Becky Sloan, Joseph Pelling and Baker Terry, executive producer James Stevenson Bretton, producers Hugo Donkin and Charlie Perkins. Part-educational programming, part-existential nightmare, the mixed-media trip moves from kids’ show pastiche to fever-dream horror in the blink of an eye. Doctor Who: The Abominable Snowmen (BBC, 1967/2022) will be screening on 3 September; with five of the original episodes missing, except for their audio, this new animated version presents the complete story of The Doctor’s Tibetan adventure 55 years after its first broadcast.

Also on 3 September, Jawbone (Thomas Napper, 2016) cast members Johnny Harris, Michael Smiley and Ray Winstone reunite to mark the arrival of a new photobook on the film; a screening of this brutal and authentic British boxing drama will be followed by a Q&A with the cast. Signed copies of the book will be available to purchase on the night. On 6 September, there is a rare opportunity to see cult film Oxide Ghosts: The Brass Eye Tapes (Michael Cumming, 2017) followed by a Q&A with the director Michael Cumming. Providing an insight into the creative process behind the landmark TV series BRASS EYE, the film is made from hundreds of hours of unseen footage from Cumming’s personal archive. A preview of The Score (Malachi Smyth, 2021) will screen on 7 September with a Q&A featuring director Malachi Smyth and actor Johnny Flynn. This sweet, musical-crime-thriller with a splash of romance stars Flynn, Will Poulter and Naomi Ackie, and is powered by original songs from Flynn’s band Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit.

The fourth annual S.O.U.L FEST (founded by S.O.U.L Celebrate Connect, We Are Parable and The British Blacklist) arrives at BFI Southbank on 16 September, this year in partnership with ABFF London – a European spin-off of the American Black Film Festival. Expect this exciting new partnership to deliver a combination of exclusive films previews, shorts, festival awards and a programme of masterclasses, panel discussions and contributions from industry experts.

Mark Kermode, one of the nation’s most respected film critics, returns with Mark Kermode Live in 3D at the BFI on 12 September. Joined by surprise industry guests, Kermode explores, critiques and dissects new and upcoming releases, film news, cinematic treasures and guilty pleasures.