BFI announces January-June 2023 cultural programme highlights

The BFI announced upcoming cultural programme highlights for audiences across the UK, focusing on the first 6 months of 2023, in venue at BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX, cinemas UK-wide, BFI Player and BFI Blu-ray and DVD.

From free newly digitised archive film material in libraries and online collections at home on the small screen to highly anticipated premiere events and Film Festivals on the big screen, the 2023 BFI cultural programme helps connect audiences everywhere to stories old and new.

The BFI’s 2023 programme highlights include:

• New releases, classic titles, curated collections and free archive material on BFI Player including subscription collections on Akira Kurosawa, The DNA of Enys Men + Mark Jenkin, New  Australian Cinema, Dario Argento and Nina Menkes seasons.
• Film and TV seasons at BFI Southbank including Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time, Northern Lights and retrospectives of Akira Kurosawa, Jerzy Skolimowski, Ginger Rogers, Dario Argento, Maggie Cheung and Spike Lee including screenings at BFI IMAX.
• Hybrid in-person and online BFI Festivals: BFI Future Film Festival (16-19 February), Busting the Bias (3-5 March) BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival (15-26 March) and the inaugural BFI Film on Film Festival (8-11 June).
• BFI Distribution UK-wide theatrical releases of new features; ENYS MEN, EO, CREATURE, BRAINWASHED: SEX-CAMERA-POWER and PRETTY RED DRESS
• BFI Blu-ray releases including JUNIPER TREE, INGMAR BERGMAN VOLUME 4, KAMIKAZE HEARTS, Jerzy Skolimowski’s IDENTIFICATION MARKS: NONE and HANDS UP! plus the brand new BFI 4K restoration of 2 Tone concert documentary DANCE CRAZE
• BFI 4K remasters of THE PASSION OF REMEMBRANCE and YOUNG SOUL REBELS
• BFI Expanded strand dedicated to Immersive Art and Extended Realities (XR) at BFI Southbank, including Shifting Perspectives: A focus on Female and Non-Binary creators in XR in February plus a new Immersive and XR programme at BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival in March.
• UK-wide releases of films produced with the support of the BFI Film Fund, awarding funds from the National Lottery, including; BLUE JEAN, FASHION REIMAGINED, RYE LANE and THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY
• UK roll out of BFI Replay, a new free archive online platform exclusively available in UK public lending libraries.

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FURTHER DETAILS OF PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS

JANUARY –MARCH 2023

• KUROSAWA (BFI Distribution/BFI Player/BFI Southbank/BFI IMAX, UK-wide – Jan/Feb) – Complete Akira Kurosawa retrospective in partnership with the Japan Foundation, co-programmed by Asif Kapadia and Ian Haydn Smith. The KUROSAWA Season is generously supported by Philippe and Stephanie Camu and includes a BFI Distribution re-release of RASHOMON, in cinemas and online 6 January as well as a Kurosawa collection of 15 features available UK-wide via BFI Player.
• MY FRENCH FILM FESTIVAL (BFI Player – Jan) subscription film festival collection
• SIGHT AND SOUND GREATEST FILMS OF ALL TIME  (BFI Player/BFI Southbank/BFI IMAX – Jan/Feb/Mar)
• Mark Jenkin curated season, THE CINEMATIC DNA OF ENYS MEN  (BFI Distribution/BFI Southbank/BFI Player – Jan) – ahead of  BFI Distribution release of ENYS MEN, in cinemas UK wide (13 January)
• WOMAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA SUMMIT (BFI Southbank – 14 Jan) plus WWAMC themed BFI Player offer, including a subscription collection of works by Molly Dineen.
• LONDON SHORT FILM FESTIVAL (BFI Southbank/BFI Player –20-29 Jan)
• JUNIPER TREE (BFI Blu-ray/BFI Player – 23 Jan) BFI Blu-ray release starring Björk in her first feature film performance
• EO  (Jerzy Skolimowski, 2022) – BFI Distribution release in cinemas UK-wide (3 Feb)
• BFI FUTURE FILM FESTIVAL (BFI Player/BFI Southbank/Hybrid online events – 16-19 Feb) The country’s largest festival for young, emerging filmmakers with masterclasses, workshops, screenings and networking opportunities. Full programme announced 25 January
• CREATURE (Asif Kapadia, 2022) – BFI Distribution release in cinemas UK-wide (24 Feb)
• New films produced with the support of the BFI Film Fund, awarding funds from the National Lottery, in cinemas UK-wide including: BLUE JEAN (Georgia Oakley 2022) on 10 Feb, RYE LANE (Raine Ann Miller) on 17 March and FASHION REIMAGINED (Becky Hutner, 2022) backed by the BFI Doc Society Fund on 3 March.
• BFI EXPANDED, a programme strand dedicated to Immersive Art and Extended Realities (XR) including Shifting Perspectives: A focus on Female and Non-Binary creators in XR (BFI Southbank – 6-12 Feb) challenging the preconception of emerging technology being a predominantly male domain, plus a new Immersive and XR programme strand at BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival in March, details tbc.
• YOU BEAUTIES: NEW AUSTRALIAN CINEMA (BFI Southbank/BFI Player – Feb) season of new films curated by ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image).
• BFI REPLAY (February) UK-wide roll out of this free archive online platform exclusively available in UK public lending libraries. Over 60 years of newly digitised material from the collections of the BFI National Archive and partner UK Regions and Nations Film Archives.
• BUSTING THE BIAS (BFI Southbank/BFI Player – 3-5 Mar) annual showcase of new work from d/Deaf ad Disabled creatives with a series of screenings, talks and events.
• BFI FLARE: LONDON LGBTQIA+ FILM FESTIVAL (BFI Player/BFI Southbank/BFI Expanded – 15-26 Mar)
• DANCE CRAZE (BFI Player/ BFI Blu-ray and DVD –27 Mar) – Joe Massot’s classic 2 Tone concert film documentary featuring performances by Madness, The Specials and The Selecter, newly remastered and available on Blu-ray and DVD for the first time, including a special screening and Q&A at BFI IMAX.
• KAMIKAZE HEARTS (BFI Player/ BFI Blu-ray –27 Mar) – 2K restoration of Juliet Bashore’s celebrated queer quasi-documentary about the 1980s porn industry.

APRIL – JUNE 2023

• KINOTEKA POLISH FILM FESTIVAL and OUTSIDERS AND EXILES: THE FILMS OF JERZY SKOLIMOWSKI (BFI Southbank/BFI Player  – Mar/Apr) Skolimowski season curated by Michael Brook.
• EO, (BFI Player/ BFI Blu-ray and DVD – 3 Apr) and Jerzy Skolimowski 2-disc BFI Blu-ray IDENTIFICATION MARKS: NONE and HANDS UP! (24 Apr)
• GINGER ROGERS (BFI Southbank – Apr)
• YOUNG SOUL REBELS / THE PASSION OF REMEMBRANCE (BFI Player/BFI Southbank – Apr) BFI Distribution re-release (28 April) of BFI 4K remasters ahead of BFI Blu-ray release of YOUNG SOUL REBELS (July date TBC)
• NORTHERN LIGHTS (BFI Player/BFI Southbank – Apr) season dedicated to Northern film and television creative talent, in partnership with Manchester HOME
• QUEER EAST FESTIVAL  (BFI Southbank – 18-30 Apr)
• THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY (Hettie Macdonald 2023) produced with the support of the BFI Film Fund, awarding funds from the National Lottery, in cinemas UK-wide 23 Apr
• DARIO ARGENTO (BFI Southbank/BFI Player – May) season co-produced by the BFI and Cinecittà, Rome, curated by Michael Blyth, BFI and Paola Ruggiero and Camilla Cormanni (Cinecittà).
• MURIEL BOX (BFI Southbank – May)
• NINA MENKES (BFI Southbank / BFI Player – May TBC) including BFI Distribution UK-wide cinema release of BRAINWASHED: SEX-CAMERA-POWER (May date TBC)
• ENYS MEN, (BFI Player/ BFI Blu-ray and DVD – May date TBC)
• BFI FILM ON FILM FESTIVAL (BFI Southbank – 8-11 June) Inaugural festival programme dedicated to screening exclusively on a variety of film formats sourced from the BFI National Archive
• SPIKE LEE (BFI Southbank – June)
• MAGGIE CHEUNG (BFI Southbank – June)
• MICHEL PICCOLI (BFI Southbank –June) includes BFI Distribution re-release of LE MEPRIS in cinemas and online date tbc
• PRETTY RED DRESS (BFI Distribution/BFI Player/BFI Southbank/ UK-wide – June TBC)