In a nightmarish Thatcherite near-future, disenchanted youths Winston, a black trainee-draughtsman, and Eddie, who's white and unemployed, head off on a raucous road trip journey of self-discovery to the north of England. This impressive, ambitious and distinctly unconventional class struggle dra...

Friendship (Tilda Swinton) has been sent to Earth on a peace mission. Heading for MIT, she inadvertently lands in Amman, Jordan during the 1970 ‘Black September’ war and is ushered to safety by journalist Sullivan (Bill Paterson). Holed up in a hotel as the conflict rages outside, the pair enter ...

This fascinating and moving film by award-winning director Penny Woolcock is a lyrical portrait of Britain's coastline, created through an exquisite combination of evocative archive footage - drawn from the BFI National Archive - and stirring music. Brighton-based band British Sea Power set the c...

A rare chance to see an extremely elusive short; one of a handful of films directed by celebrated photographer David Bailey. This singular take on the mania of the swinging sixties - from one of its key protagonists - follows an ageing pop singer as he is hounded by mysterious assassins.
The re...

A road movie truly like no other, Gallivant chronicles Andrew Kötting’s journey around the UK’s coastline, with his eccentric ‘Big Granny’ Gladys and young daughter Eden, who has Joubert Syndrome and communicates through sign-language. The route, which starts at Bexhill-on-Sea and takes ...

Shot on location around the lonely, windswept coasts of Cornwall, this is an impressively ghostly adventure from the Children's Film Foundation. It remains a cautionary tale for profit-hungry modern miners, and the fine underground camera work effectively conveys all the creepy claustrophobia of ...

When a young poet (Michael Gothard, the brilliant character actor who excelled in films such as The Devils and The Valley Obscured by Clouds) hires a marketing company to turn his suicide into a mass-media spectacle, he finds that his subversive intentions are quickly diluted into a reactionary ...

Before she hit the big time with Bend it Like Beckham, Gurinder Chadha made this fascinating documentary on what it meant to be a young British Asian in the 1980s. The young people interviewed are from across the UK; the common thread is that they see it as home, but their differing views about w...

A superb early work by illustrious British director Lewis Gilbert (Alfie, You Only Live Twice) which follows orphaned Polish refugee Janek, who runs into trouble in the shape of two scheming thieves.

The directorial debut of illustrator and producer Stewart Mackinnon, Justine is a near-lost example of British avant-garde cinema of the 1970s. Produced by the BFI Production Board in 1976, it has been out of circulation for the entire 40 years since.

This gloriously odd, gently subversive comedy from the Children’s Film Foundation sees cosmic hobo Kadoyng – blessed with mysterious powers and a stalk-like appendage on his head - arrive unexpectedly on earth, to befriend local residents, and take on nasty politicians and road developers. Wi...

Reformed junkie James looks back on a troubled past which took him from childhood mischief to adult criminality. Writer-director Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin) takes us on a bold journey into an ex-addict's inner world, blurring the boundaries between his reality, dreams and memories....

As lead singer of the much-loved bands Felt, Denim and Go-Kart Mozart, Lawrence is one of true cult artists of the British indie music scene, without really ever troubling the charts over his 40 year career. First released in 2012, Paul Kelly’s (Saint Etienne’s The London Trilogy, Dexys’ No...

The first in Patrick Keiller’s highly imaginative trilogy of psycho-geographic journeys charts a trip through (and history of) London, as undertaken by our unseen narrator (Paul Scofield) and his companion, Robinson.

The debut feature by future Hollywood star director Tony Scott is a dark, surreal piece about a couple who accidentally kill a young man while out driving their car. Taking him home, the woman treats the boy as if he were her own - and as if he were still alive. She finds happiness by talking to ...

A unique and affecting tale of a disillusioned gay man who flees the city’s shallow scene, convinced that the facial birthmark in the shape of the eponymous island makes him terminally unattractive. Winding up on a rugged stretch of coast he forms a hesitant relationship with an eccentric, sexu...

The second instalment of Terence Davies' masterful Trilogy finds Robert Tucker in middle age, with the clash of religion and sexuality taking its toll. A depressed loner who takes the ferry across the Mersey to work as an office clerk, Robert is haunted by nightmares of his own death and tormente...

Pat Murphy and John Davis’ experimental film attempts to posit an alternative, feminist perspective on the Troubles and Irish nationalism. Flitting between the various pasts and present, it follows the experiences of the titular character as she grows up under the spectre of sectarianism, leav...

The sole directorial credit by the German-born founder of distributor Artificial Eye, Andi Engel, is a cerebral thriller about an art critic drawn into an assassination plot. Jeroen Krabbe plays the German ex-pat who reconnects with his radical past when he’s asked to assist with the hit of a C...

George Hoellering's powerful adaptation of TS Eliot's classic verse drama is a stark and highly atypical example of British historical cinema. Little-seen despite winning a top prize at the Venice Film Festival, the film recounts - entirely in verse - the clash between King Henry II and Archbisho...

The second instalment of Bill Douglas’ revered Trilogy. Though life becomes ever harder for Jamie, so that he eventually end up in a none-too-comforting children’s home, the bold, uncompromising assurance of Douglas’ very personal brand of realism ensures that the film effortlessly avoids t...

Set in 1945, the first part of Bill Douglas’ poetic and profoundly stirring autobiographical triptych revisits his impoverished childhood, living with his grandmother and half-brother in the Scottish mining village of Newcraighall.

Concluding his acclaimed Trilogy, Bill Douglas’ autobiographical film follows young Jamie as leaves home to live with his paternal grandmother, only to be conscripted into the RAF.

Luke (Steven Brandon), a young man with Down's syndrome who prizes his independence, is forced into a care home after the death of his mother. There he rails against the restrictions imposed on him, but his frustrations are allayed by his budding friendships with his care-worker Eve (Shana Swash)...