The BFI has announced details of Close Encounters with Spielberg, a bespoke BFI IMAX programme of Steven Spielberg classics to “celebrate the release of the singular cinematic visionary’s return to science fiction with Disclosure Day, coming to the UK’s largest screen at BFI IMAX in IMAX with Laser from 10 June”.
This limited engagement at BFI IMAX will feature a tailored programme of five classic titles including Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) and Ready Player One (2018).
Meanwhile, to mark the BFI’s extended celebration of London Climate Action Week, a screening of Jaws (1975) on 31 May will be introduced by Zoological Society London’s Dr David Curnick, head of the Ocean Predator Lab, and Joanna Barker, aquatic species and policy programme manager, following a separate screening of IMAX documentary Shark Kingdom 3D (Dave Duce, Matt Tomaszewski, 2025) featuring a Q&A with the pair.
Together they will discuss the impact that nature representation on screen can have for wildlife, 51 years after Jaws.
Elsewhere, a 3D screening of Jurassic Park (1993) on 28 June will be introduced by The Wildlife Trusts chief executive Craig Bennett, who will explore how this science fiction classic is “far closer to fact for modern-day conservationists”.
This will follow a separate screening of IMAX documentary Dinosaurs of Antarctica 3D (David Clark, 2020) and a Q&A with University College London’s Dr Cassius Morrison, former student of the Natural History Museum, who will discuss how the film inspired his career as a scientist and his subsequent research on the brains and diets of dinosaurs.
Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day, his long awaited return to science fiction, opens at BFI IMAX in IMAX with Laser from 10 June.
Previewing the film, which is lensed by Janusz Kaminski, the BFI said: “We have long considered the possibility that there may be intelligent life somewhere in the universe. But how would we react if we knew it to be true?
“There is arguably no filmmaker more suitable than Steven Spielberg to answer this question.
“Based on a story by the director, and with a script by his regular collaborator David Koepp, Disclosure Day will be unmissable on the UK’s largest screen at BFI IMAX.”
More information on Close Encounters with Spielberg is available on the BFI website.
