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The Best Movies on BFI Player

Parasite (2019)
Bong Joon-ho · 40 critic votes
Free on ITVX · Streaming on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, BFI Player
All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks for their livelihood until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.
The Handmaiden (2016)
Park Chan-wook · 1 critic vote
Streaming on MUBI, BFI Player, Curzon Amazon Channel
1930s Korea, in the period of Japanese occupation, a new girl, Sook-hee, is hired as a handmaiden to a Japanese heiress, Hideko, who lives a secluded life on a large countryside estate with her domineering Uncle Kouzuki. But the maid has a secret. She is a pickpocket recruited by a swindler posing as a Japanese Count to help him seduce the Lady to steal her fortune.
The Wages of Fear (1953)
Henri-Georges Clouzot · 5 critic votes
Free on Tubi TV · Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
In a run-down South American town, four men are paid to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin into the jungle through to the oil field. Friendships are tested and rivalries develop as they embark upon the perilous journey.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Céline Sciamma · 65 critic votes
Free on ITVX · Streaming on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, BFI Player
On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.
Seven Samurai (1954)
Akira Kurosawa · 98 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.
Citizen Kane (1941)
Orson Welles · 211 critic votes
Free on BBC iPlayer, Tubi TV · Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.
Force Majeure (2014)
Ruben Östlund · 4 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, Curzon Amazon Channel
While holidaying in the French Alps, a Swedish family deals with acts of cowardliness as an avalanche breaks out.
High and Low (1963)
Akira Kurosawa · 9 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
Ikiru (1952)
Akira Kurosawa · 28 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.
Irréversible (2002)
Gaspar Noé · 3 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player
A woman’s lover and her ex-boyfriend take justice into their own hands after she becomes the victim of a rapist. Because some acts can’t be undone. Because man is an animal. Because the desire for vengeance is a natural impulse. Because most crimes remain unpunished.
Suspiria (1977)
Dario Argento · 13 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
An American newcomer to a prestigious German ballet academy comes to realize that the school is a front for something sinister amid a series of grisly murders.
The Voice of Hind Rajab (2025)
Kaouther Ben Hania · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
January 29, 2024. Red Crescent volunteers receive an emergency call. A five-year old girl is trapped in a car under fire in Gaza, pleading for rescue. While trying to keep her on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. Her name was Hind Rajab.
Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
Luchino Visconti · 14 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
When a impoverished widow’s family moves to the big city, two of her five sons become romantic rivals with deadly results.
Shoplifters (2018)
Hirokazu Koreeda · 7 critic votes
Free on Rakuten TV · Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
In the outskirts of Tokyo, a poor but close-knit group living on the fringes of society survives through shoplifting and odd jobs. When Osamu and his son take in a neglected young girl, their already fragile existence begins to unravel. As the family grows attached to her, buried secrets surface, forcing them to confront the true meaning of love, belonging, and what makes a family.
Red Beard (1965)
Akira Kurosawa · 7 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes him to a small country clinic under the gruff doctor Red Beard. Yasumoto rebels in numerous ways, but Red Beard proves a wise and patient teacher. He gradually introduces his student to the unglamorous side of the profession, ultimately assigning him to care for a prostitute rescued from a local brothel.
Nobody Knows (2004)
Hirokazu Koreeda · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
In a small Tokyo apartment, twelve-year-old Akira must care for his younger siblings after their mother leaves them and shows no sign of returning.
Martyrs (2008)
Pascal Laugier · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
A young woman’s quest for revenge against the people who kidnapped and tortured her as a child leads her and her best friend, also a victim of child abuse, on a terrifying journey into a living hell of depravity.
Pickpocket (1959)
Robert Bresson · 30 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Michel takes up pickpocketing on a lark and is arrested soon after. His mother dies shortly after his release, and despite the objections of his only friend, Jacques, and his mother's neighbor Jeanne, Michel teams up with a couple of petty thieves in order to improve his craft. With a police inspector keeping an eye on him, Michel also tries to get a straight job, but the temptation to steal is hard to resist.
Oldboy (2003)
Park Chan-wook · 8 critic votes
Streaming on MUBI, Shudder, MUBI Amazon Channel
With no clue how he came to be imprisoned, drugged and tortured for 15 years, a desperate man seeks revenge on his captors.
The Piano Teacher (2001)
Michael Haneke · 6 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother, meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her.
Betty Blue (1986)
Jean-Jacques Beineix · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
A lackadaisical handyman and aspiring novelist tries to support his younger girlfriend as she slowly succumbs to madness.
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Ingmar Bergman · 31 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
When disillusioned Swedish knight Antonius Block returns home from the Crusades to find his country in the grips of the Black Death, he challenges Death to a chess match for his life. Tormented by the belief that God does not exist, Block sets off on a journey, meeting up with traveling players Jof and his wife, Mia, and becoming determined to evade Death long enough to commit one redemptive act while he still lives.
Memories of Murder (2003)
Bong Joon-ho · 11 critic votes
Free on ITVX · Streaming on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, BFI Player
A sadistic serial rapist and murderer of young women terrorizes a small province in 1980s South Korea. To prevent further crimes, three increasingly desperate detectives with conflicting methods race against time to unravel the violent mind of the killer in a futile effort to solve the case.
Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
Werner Herzog · 30 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
A few decades after the destruction of the Inca Empire, a Spanish expedition led by the infamous Aguirre leaves the mountains of Peru and goes down the Amazon River in search of the lost city of El Dorado. When great difficulties arise, Aguirre’s men start to wonder whether their quest will lead them to prosperity or certain death.
Paris, Texas (1984)
Wim Wenders · 23 critic votes
Streaming on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, BFI Player
A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps to pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his family and disappeared four years earlier.
Wild Strawberries (1957)
Ingmar Bergman · 38 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Crotchety retired doctor Isak Borg travels from Stockholm to Lund, Sweden, with his pregnant and unhappy daughter-in-law, Marianne, in order to receive an honorary degree from his alma mater. Along the way, they encounter a series of hitchhikers, each of whom causes the elderly doctor to muse upon the pleasures and failures of his own life. These include the vivacious young Sara, a dead ringer for the doctor's own first love.
Maps to the Stars (2014)
David Cronenberg · 1 critic vote
Free on Rakuten TV, Plex · Streaming on Sundance Now Amazon Channel, BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel
Driven by an intense need for fame and validation, members of a dysfunctional Hollywood family chase celebrity, one another, and the relentless ghosts of their pasts. Their fragile ecosystem is disrupted by the arrival of Agatha, the scarred and estranged pyromaniac daughter.
The Rules of the Game (1939)
Jean Renoir · 101 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
The Marquis de la Chesnaye and his wife host a weekend gala where a variety of complicated romantic and social entanglements between guests and servants lead to tragedy, all against the backdrop of a looming war.
Dogtooth (2009)
Yorgos Lanthimos · 4 critic votes
Free on Rakuten TV, ITVX · Streaming on MUBI, BFI Player, ITVX Premium
Three teenagers are confined to an isolated country estate that could very well be on another planet. The trio spend their days listening to endless homemade tapes that teach them a whole new vocabulary. Any word that comes from beyond their family abode is instantly assigned a new meaning. Hence 'the sea' refers to a large armchair and 'zombies' are little yellow flowers. Having invented a brother whom they claim to have ostracized for his disobedience, the uber-controlling parents terrorize their offspring into submission.
Les Amants du Pont-Neuf (1991)
Leos Carax · 5 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Set against Paris' oldest bridge, the Pont Neuf, while it was closed for repairs, this film is a love story between two young vagrants: Alex, a would be circus performer addicted to alcohol and sedatives and Michele, a painter driven to a life on the streets because of a failed relationship and an affliction which is slowly turning her blind.
If I Had Legs I'd Kick You (2025)
Mary Bronstein · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
With her life crashing down around her, Linda attempts to navigate her child's mysterious illness, her absent husband, a missing person, and an increasingly hostile relationship with her therapist.
Maurice (1987)
James Ivory · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
After his lover rejects him, Maurice attempts to come to terms with his sexuality within the restrictiveness of Edwardian society.
Stolen Kisses (1968)
François Truffaut · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
The third in a series of films featuring François Truffaut's alter-ego, Antoine Doinel, the story resumes with Antoine being discharged from military service. His sweetheart Christine's father lands Antoine a job as a security guard, which he promptly loses. Stumbling into a position assisting a private detective, Antoine falls for his employers' seductive wife, Fabienne, and finds that he must choose between the older woman and Christine.
Late Spring (1949)
Yasujirō Ozu · 80 critic votes
Free on Plex · Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right.
Tokyo Story (1953)
Yasujirō Ozu · 187 critic votes
Free on Plex · Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
The elderly Shukishi and his wife, Tomi, take the long journey from their small seaside village to visit their adult children in Tokyo. Their elder son, Koichi, a doctor, and their daughter, Shige, a hairdresser, don't have much time to spend with their aged parents, and so it falls to Noriko, the widow of their younger son who was killed in the war, to keep her in-laws company.
The Woman in the Dunes (1964)
Hiroshi Teshigahara · 7 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player
A vacationing entomologist suffers extreme physical and psychological trauma after being taken captive by the residents of a poor seaside village and made to live with a woman whose life task is shoveling sand for them.
SHOWGIRLS (1995)
Paul Verhoeven · 7 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player
Fresh to Las Vegas with no connections, Nomi Malone takes a job as an exotic dancer. Her talents are quickly noticed by Cristal, a headlining dancer who senses an opportunity to bolster her own act. But Nomi won’t play second fiddle and soon begins her venomous path to the top, ruthlessly backstabbing anyone who gets in her way.
Fanny and Alexander (1982)
Ingmar Bergman · 35 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the siblings end up in a joyless home when their mother, Emilie, marries a stern bishop. The bleak situation gradually grows worse as the bishop becomes more controlling, but dedicated relatives make a valiant attempt to aid Emilie, Fanny and Alexander.
20th Century Women (2016)
Mike Mills · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Netflix, BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel
In 1979 Santa Barbara, California, Dorothea Fields is a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie, at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women – Abbie, a free-spirited punk artist living as a boarder in the Fields' home and Julie, a savvy and provocative teenage neighbour – to help with Jamie's upbringing.
Personal Shopper (2016)
Olivier Assayas · 1 critic vote
Free on Rakuten TV, Amazon Prime Video Free with Ads, Amazon MX Player · Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel
Maureen, mid-20s, is a personal shopper for a media celebrity. The job pays for her stay in Paris, a city she refuses to leave until she makes contact with her twin brother who previously died there. Her life becomes more complicated when a mysterious person contacts her via text message.
Kwaidan (1964)
Masaki Kobayashi · 3 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player
Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.
This Man Must Die (1969)
Claude Chabrol · 2 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
When his young son is killed in a hit and run accident, Charles Thenier resolves to hunt down and murder the killer. By chance, Thenier makes the acquaintance of an actress, Helène Lanson, who was in the car at the time of the accident. He then meets Helène’s brother-in-law, Paul Decourt, a truly horrible individual.
The 400 Blows (1959)
François Truffaut · 64 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
For young Parisian boy Antoine Doinel, life is one difficult situation after another. Surrounded by inconsiderate adults, including his neglectful parents, Antoine spends his days with his best friend, Rene, trying to plan for a better life. When one of their schemes goes awry, Antoine ends up in trouble with the law, leading to even more conflicts with unsympathetic authority figures.
Wings of Desire (1987)
Wim Wenders · 16 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, Curzon Amazon Channel
Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting with them. When Damiel falls in love with lonely trapeze artist Marion, the angel longs to experience life in the physical world, and finds — with some words of wisdom from actor Peter Falk — that it might be possible for him to take human form.
The Ice Storm (1997)
Ang Lee · 3 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, Studiocanal Presents Amazon Channel
In the weekend after thanksgiving 1973 the Hood family is skidding out of control. Then an ice storm hits, the worst in a century.
La Haine (1995)
Mathieu Kassovitz · 8 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
After a chaotic night of rioting in a marginal suburb of Paris, three young friends, Vinz, Hubert and Saïd, wander around unoccupied waiting for news about the state of health of a mutual friend who has been seriously injured when confronting the police.
Watership Down (1978)
Martin Rosen, John Hubley · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
When the warren belonging to a community of rabbits is threatened, a brave group led by Fiver, Bigwig, Blackberry and Hazel leave their homeland in a search of a safe new haven.
Ordet (1955)
Carl Theodor Dreyer · 67 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
The three sons of devout Danish farmer Morten have widely disparate religious beliefs. Youngest son Anders shares his father's religion, but eldest son Mikkel has lost his faith, while middle child Johannes has become delusional and proclaims that he is Jesus Christ himself. When Mikkel's wife, Inger goes into a difficult childbirth, everyone's beliefs are put to the test.
M (1931)
Fritz Lang · 59 critic votes
Free on BFI Player, Plex · Streaming on BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
In this classic German thriller, Hans Beckert, a serial killer who preys on children, becomes the focus of a massive Berlin police manhunt. Beckert's heinous crimes are so repellant and disruptive to city life that he is even targeted by others in the seedy underworld network. With both cops and criminals in pursuit, the murderer soon realizes that people are on his trail, sending him into a tense, panicked attempt to escape justice.
Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
Werner Herzog · 3 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
A real estate agent leaves behind his beautiful wife to go to Transylvania to visit the mysterious Count Dracula and formalize the purchase of a property in Wismar.
Kontinental '25 (2025)
Radu Jude · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Orsolya is a bailiff in Cluj, the main city in Transylvania. One day she has to evict a homeless man from a cellar, an action with tragic consequences that triggers a moral crisis which Orsolya must weather as best she can.
The Look of Silence (2014)
Joshua Oppenheimer · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
An Indonesian man with a communist background named Ramli was brutally murdered when the "Communist" purge occurred in 1965. His remaining family members lived in fear and silence until the making of this documentary. Adi, a brother of his, decided to revisit the horrific incident and visited the men who were responsible for the killings and one survivor of the purge. These meetings uncovered sadistic details of the murders and exposed raw emotions and reactions of the killers' family members about what happened in the past - much to Adi's disappointment.
Trouble Every Day (2001)
Claire Denis · 10 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player
Newlyweds Shane and June arrive in Paris for their honeymoon. In the process of trying to find a cure for his strange, bloodthirsty disease, Shane stumbles upon the story of a doctor and his flesh eating wife.
Golden Eighties (1986)
Chantal Akerman · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
In a lively shopping center, proprietors and customers are bustling, including three women vying for a man's heart with song and dance.
Enemy (2013)
Denis Villeneuve · 1 critic vote
Free on ITVX · Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, Curzon Amazon Channel
A mild-mannered college professor discovers a look-alike actor and delves into the other man's private affairs.
The Exterminating Angel (1962)
Luis Buñuel · 25 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, Cultpix
After a lavish dinner party, the guests find themselves unable to depart... and, over the next few days, all of their elaborate societal pretenses and façades deteriorate as they are reduced to living like animals.
Orpheus (1950)
Jean Cocteau · 6 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
A famous poet in postwar Paris, scorned by the Left Bank youth, is in love with both his wife Eurydice and a mysterious princess. Seeking inspiration, the poet becomes obsessed and follows the princess from the world of the living to the land of the dead.
An Autumn Afternoon (1962)
Yasujirō Ozu · 20 critic votes
Free on Plex · Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Widower Shuhei Hirayama's caretaker is his 24-year-old daughter, Michiko. Gradually, he comes to realize that Michiko should not be obliged to look after him for the rest of his life, so he arranges a marriage for her.
Good Morning (1959)
Yasujirō Ozu · 8 critic votes
Free on Plex · Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
A lighthearted take on director Yasujiro Ozu’s perennial theme of the challenges of intergenerational relationships, Good Morning tells the story of two young boys who stop speaking in protest after their parents refuse to buy a television set. Ozu weaves a wealth of subtle gags through a family portrait as rich as those of his dramatic films, mocking the foibles of the adult world through the eyes of his child protagonists. Shot in stunning color and set in a suburb of Tokyo where housewives gossip about the neighbors’ new washing machine and unemployed husbands look for work as door-to-door salesmen, this charming comedy refashions Ozu’s own silent classic I Was Born, But . . . to gently satirize consumerism in postwar Japan.
Nouvelle Vague (2025)
Richard Linklater · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
After writing for Cahiers du cinéma, a young Jean-Luc Godard decides making films is the best film criticism. He convinces producer Georges de Beauregard to fund a low-budget feature, and creates a treatment with fellow New Wave filmmaker François Truffaut about a gangster couple. The result? Breathless, one of the first features of the Nouvelle Vague era of French cinema.
The Act of Killing (2012)
Joshua Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn · 18 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
In this chilling and groundbreaking documentary, former Indonesian death squad leaders reenact their real-life mass killings in the style of various film genres. As they recreate their past atrocities, the line between reality and performance blurs, exposing the lingering impact of Indonesia's 1965-66 anti-communist purge and the unsettling psychology of its perpetrators.
Police Story (1985)
Jackie Chan · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, Now TV Cinema
Officer Chan Ka Kui manages to put a major Hong Kong drug dealer behind the bars practically alone, after a shooting and an impressive chase inside a slum. Now, he must protect the boss' secretary, Selina, who will testify against the gangster in court.
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Carl Theodor Dreyer · 88 critic votes
Free on JustWatch TV, Tubi TV, Plex · Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel
A classic of the silent age, this film tells the story of the doomed but ultimately canonized 15th-century teenage warrior. On trial for claiming she'd spoken to God, Jeanne d'Arc is subjected to inhumane treatment and scare tactics at the hands of church court officials. Initially bullied into changing her story, Jeanne eventually opts for what she sees as the truth. Her punishment, a famously brutal execution, earns her perpetual martyrdom.
Throne of Blood (1957)
Akira Kurosawa · 11 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.
Mother (2009)
Bong Joon-ho · 5 critic votes
Streaming on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, Sundance Now Amazon Channel
A mother lives quietly with her son. One day, a girl is brutally killed, and the boy is charged with the murder. Now, it's his mother's mission to prove him innocent.
Christiane F. (1981)
Uli Edel · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
A teen girl in 1970s Berlin becomes addicted to heroin. Everything in her life slowly begins to distort and disappear as she befriends a small crew of junkies and falls in love with a drug-abusing male prostitute.
Viridiana (1961)
Luis Buñuel · 19 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Viridiana is preparing to start her life as a nun when she is sent, somewhat unwillingly, to visit her aging uncle, Don Jaime. He supports her; but the two have met only once. Jaime thinks Viridiana resembles his dead wife. Viridiana has secretly despised this man all her life and finds her worst fears proven when Jaime grows determined to seduce his pure niece. Viridiana becomes undone as her uncle upends the plans she had made to join the convent.
Rashomon (1950)
Akira Kurosawa · 75 critic votes
Free on Plex · Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.
Teorema (1968)
Pier Paolo Pasolini · 9 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player
A wealthy Italian household is turned upside down when a handsome stranger arrives, seduces every family member and then disappears. Each has an epiphany of sorts, but none can figure out who the seductive visitor was or why he came.
Stray Dog (1949)
Akira Kurosawa · 1 critic vote
Free on Plex · Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo’s sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of crime. With each step, cop and criminal’s lives become more intertwined and the investigation becomes an examination of Murakami’s own dark side.
Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005)
Park Chan-wook · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Released after being wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for 13 years, a woman begins executing her elaborate plan of retribution.
8½ (1963)
Federico Fellini · 95 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Guido Anselmi, a film director, finds himself creatively barren at the peak of his career. Urged by his doctors to rest, Anselmi heads for a luxurious resort, but a sorry group gathers—his producer, staff, actors, wife, mistress, and relatives—each one begging him to get on with the show. In retreat from their dependency, he fantasizes about past women and dreams of his childhood.
The Taste of Watermelon (2004)
Tsai Ming-liang · 2 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player
Hsiao-Kang, now working as an adult movie actor, meets Shiang-chyi once again. Meanwhile, the city of Taipei faces a water shortage that makes the sales of watermelons skyrocket.
Autumn Sonata (1978)
Ingmar Bergman · 3 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
After a seven-year absence, Charlotte Andergast travels to Sweden to reunite with her daughter Eva. The pair have a troubled relationship: Charlotte sacrificed the responsibilities of motherhood for a career as a classical pianist. Over an emotional night, the pair reopen the wounds of the past. Charlotte gets another shock when she finds out that her mentally impaired daughter, Helena, is out of the asylum and living with Eva.
The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
Akira Kurosawa · 2 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player
In this loose adaptation of "Hamlet," a young man infiltrates a powerful construction company to uncover the truth behind his father's death, exposing a wider web of corporate corruption and moral decay.
Black Orpheus (1959)
Marcel Camus · 2 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Young lovers Orfeu and Eurydice run through the favelas of Rio during Carnaval, on the lam from a hitman dressed like Death and Orfeu's vengeful fiancée Mira and passing between moments of fantasy and stark reality. This impressionistic retelling of the Greek legend of Orpheus and Eurydice introduced bossa nova to the world with its soundtrack by young Brazilian composers Luiz Bonfá and Antonio Carlos Jobim.
The South (1983)
Víctor Erice · 2 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
A woman recalls her childhood growing up in the North of Spain, focusing on her relationship with her father.
The Hidden Fortress (1958)
Akira Kurosawa · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.
Yojimbo (1961)
Akira Kurosawa · 11 critic votes
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A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.
Persona (1966)
Ingmar Bergman · 108 critic votes
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A young nurse, Alma, is put in charge of Elisabeth Vogler: an actress who is seemingly healthy in all respects, but will not talk. As they spend time together, Alma speaks to Elisabeth constantly, never receiving any answer.
The Duke of Burgundy (2014)
Peter Strickland · 1 critic vote
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Day in and day out, lovers Cynthia and Evelyn enact an elaborate sadomasochistic fantasy as mistress and maid. But as their ritual of domination and submission begins to turn stale, Cynthia yearns for something more conventional, while Evelyn tries to push their taboos even further.
Long Day's Journey into Night (2018)
Bi Gan · 6 critic votes
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Luo Hongwu returns to Kaili, the hometown from which he fled many years ago. He begins the search for the woman he loved and whom he has never been able to forget.
Naked (1993)
Mike Leigh · 9 critic votes
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An unemployed Brit vents his rage on unsuspecting strangers as he embarks on a nocturnal London odyssey.
Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962)
Agnès Varda · 92 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, Curzon Amazon Channel
Agnès Varda eloquently captures Paris in the sixties with this real-time portrait of a singer set adrift in the city as she awaits test results of a biopsy. A chronicle of the minutes of one woman’s life, Cléo from 5 to 7 is a spirited mix of vivid vérité and melodrama, featuring a score by Michel Legrand and cameos by Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina.
Floating Clouds (1955)
Mikio Naruse · 3 critic votes
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A married Japanese forester during WWII is sent to Indochina to manage forests. He meets a young Japanese typist and promises to leave his wife. He doesn't and after the war, she turns up and the affair resumes.
The Soft Skin (1964)
François Truffaut · 1 critic vote
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Pierre Lachenay is a well-known publisher and lecturer, married to Franca and father of Sabine. He starts a love affair with air hostess Nicole, which Pierre is hiding, but he cannot stay away from her.
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
F. W. Murnau · 114 critic votes
Free on JustWatch TV, Plex · Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
A married farmer falls under the spell of a slatternly woman from the city, who tries to convince him to drown his wife.
Eyes Without a Face (1960)
Georges Franju, Claude Sautet · 4 critic votes
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Dr. Génessier is riddled with guilt after an accident that he caused disfigures the face of his daughter, the once beautiful Christiane, who outsiders believe is dead. Dr. Génessier, along with accomplice and laboratory assistant Louise, kidnaps young women and brings them to the Génessier mansion. After rendering his victims unconscious, Dr. Génessier removes their faces and attempts to graft them on to Christiane's.
House (1977)
Nobuhiko Obayashi · 2 critic votes
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Hoping to find a sense of connection to her late mother, Gorgeous takes a trip with her friends to visit her aunt's ancestral house in the countryside. The girls soon discover that there is more to the old house than meets the eye.
Still Walking (2008)
Hirokazu Koreeda · 9 critic votes
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A family gathers together for a commemorative ritual whose nature only gradually becomes clear.
Macunaíma (1969)
Joaquim Pedro de Andrade · 1 critic vote
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Born a fully grown black man in a village in the Brazilian jungle, Macunaíma later magically transforms into a white man before making an adventure-filled trip to the city of São Paulo. Once there, he becomes something of a dandy, falling in love with Ci, a revolutionary who dies in an accidental bombing. After robbing a ruthless industrialist, Macunaima returns to his village where he finds his newly acquired knowledge and possessions of little use.
Successive Slidings of Pleasure (1974)
Alain Robbe-Grillet · 2 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player
A young woman is questioned by the police and the judges, suspected of being a modern witch. The girl who shared her apartment has been found dead, and a pair of scissors impaled through her heart, as she lay attached to the bedposts. Apparently, the girl does have powers, to make all people around her fall prey to her spell, glissing progressively into desire, lust, and the unknown.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)
Ken Loach · 1 critic vote
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In 1920s Ireland young doctor Damien O'Donovan prepares to depart for a new job in a London hospital. As he says his goodbyes at a friend's farm, British Black and Tans arrive, and a young man is killed. Damien joins his brother Teddy in the Irish Republican Army, but political events are soon set in motion that tear the brothers apart.
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Sergei Eisenstein · 52 critic votes
Free on JustWatch TV · Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, Klassiki
A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resultant public demonstration, showing support, which brought on a police massacre.
Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
Dziga Vertov · 117 critic votes
Free on JustWatch TV, Tubi TV · Streaming on GuideDoc, BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel
A cameraman wanders around with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness.
Rome, Open City (1945)
Roberto Rossellini · 16 critic votes
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During the Nazi occupation of 1944 Rome, Resistance leader Giorgio Manfredi is pursued by the Nazis as he seeks refuge and a means of escape.
The Love Witch (2016)
Anna Biller · 1 critic vote
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A modern-day witch uses spells and magic to get men to fall in love with her, with deadly consequences.
Paisà (1946)
Roberto Rossellini · 17 critic votes
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Six stories unfold in various regions, from Sicily to the northern Po Valley as American military personnel interact with a variety of Italian locals over eighteen months in the push north during the Italian Campaign of WWII as German forces retreat.
Je t'aime, je t'aime (1968)
Alain Resnais · 2 critic votes
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Recovering from an attempted suicide, a man is selected to participate in a time travel experiment that has only been tested on mice. A malfunction causes the man to experience moments from his past in a random order.
Equinox Flower (1958)
Yasujirō Ozu · 1 critic vote
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Wataru's outwardly liberal views on marriage are severely tested when his daughter declares her love for a coworker and is adamant to live her own way, instead of agreeing to an arranged marriage. Outwitted by his female relatives, Hirayama stubbornly refuses to admit defeat.
The Draughtsman's Contract (1982)
Peter Greenaway · 1 critic vote
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R. Neville, a brash young draftsman, is hired to make a dozen landscape illustrations at the estate of Mr Herbert and his wife Virginia. Aside from monetary compensation, the arrangement includes a sexual liaison offered to Neville by Virginia while her estranged husband is away. But when the murdered body of Mr Herbert is discovered at the estate, mysterious clues found in Neville's drawings point to the identity of the killer.
Exhibition (2013)
Joanna Hogg · 1 critic vote
Free on BFI Player
An intimate examination of a contemporary artist couple, whose living and working patterns are threatened by the imminent sale of their home.
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)
Mikio Naruse · 5 critic votes
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Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she's a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life's vicious cycle: acting cheerful around drunks, dressing and living well to convey confidence, needing money for these expenses and for her demanding mother and brother, and knowing she's growing older.
The Butcher (1970)
Claude Chabrol · 4 critic votes
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An unlikely friendship between a dour, working class butcher and a repressed schoolteacher coincides with a grisly series of Ripper-type murders in a provincial French town.
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat (2024)
Johan Grimonprez · 1 critic vote
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Jazz and decolonization are intertwined in a powerful narrative that recounts one of the tensest episodes of the Cold War.
The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder · 4 critic votes
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Maria marries a young soldier in the last days of World War II, only for him to go missing in the war. She must rely on her beauty and ambition to navigate the difficult post-war years alone.
Out of the Blue (1980)
Dennis Hopper · 2 critic votes
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A young girl whose father is an ex-convict and whose mother is a junkie finds it difficult to conform and tries to find comfort in a quirky combination of Elvis and the punk scene.
Rose of Nevada (2025)
Mark Jenkin · 1 critic vote
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A mysterious boat returns to a village 30 years after vanishing. Two men join its crew hoping for better fortune. After one voyage, they find themselves transported back in time, mistaken for the original crew.
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Jean Cocteau, René Clément · 7 critic votes
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The story of a gentle-hearted beast in love with a simple and beautiful girl. She is drawn to the repellent but strangely fascinating Beast, who tests her fidelity by giving her a key, telling her that if she doesn't return it to him by a specific time, he will die of grief. She is unable to return the key on time, but it is revealed that the Beast is the genuinely handsome one. A simple tale of tragic love that turns into a surreal vision of death, desire, and beauty.
Fascination (1979)
Jean Rollin · 1 critic vote
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A runaway criminal breaks into an eerie chateau, taking its two frightened chambermaids hostage. As night falls, a group of mysterious aristocratic women arrive and the criminal begins to realize the women are hiding a sinister secret.
Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (2018)
Frederick Wiseman · 1 critic vote
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A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.
Beautiful Thing (1996)
Hettie MacDonald · 1 critic vote
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During a long, hot summer on the Thamesmead Estate in Southeast London, three teenagers edge towards adulthood.
Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
Chantal Akerman · 258 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player
A lonely young widow lives with her son following an immutable order: while the boy is in school, she cares for their apartment, does chores, and receives clients in the afternoon.
Un Chien Andalou (1929)
Luis Buñuel · 24 critic votes
Free on Bloodstream · Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Un Chien Andalou is an European avant-garde surrealist film, a collaboration between director Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali.
Cameraperson (2016)
Kirsten Johnson · 6 critic votes
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As a visually radical memoir, CAMERAPERSON draws on the remarkable footage that filmmaker Kirsten Johnson has shot and reframes it in ways that illuminate moments and situations that have personally affected her. What emerges is an elegant meditation on the relationship between truth and the camera frame, as Johnson transforms scenes that have been presented on Festival screens as one kind of truth into another kind of story—one about personal journey, craft, and direct human connection.
Underground (1995)
Emir Kusturica · 7 critic votes
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Black marketeers Marko and Blacky manufacture and sell weapons to the Communist resistance in WWII Belgrade, living the good life along the way. Marko's surreal duplicity propels him up the ranks of the Communist Party, and he eventually abandons Blacky and steals his girlfriend. After a lengthy stay in a below-ground shelter, the couple reemerges during the Yugoslav Civil War of the 1990s as Marko sees the opportunity to exploit the situation.
Caravaggio (1986)
Derek Jarman · 1 critic vote
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A retelling of the life of the celebrated 17th-century Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio through his brilliant, nearly blasphemous paintings and his flirtations with the underworld.
Cries and Whispers (1972)
Ingmar Bergman · 18 critic votes
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As Agnes slowly dies of cancer, her sisters are so immersed in their own psychic pains that they are unable to offer her the support she needs.
Jules and Jim (1962)
François Truffaut · 12 critic votes
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In the carefree days before World War I, introverted Austrian author Jules strikes up a friendship with the exuberant Frenchman Jim and both men fall for the impulsive and beautiful Catherine.
Onibaba (1964)
Kaneto Shindō · 5 critic votes
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel
While her son, Kichi, is away at war, a woman and her daughter-in-law survive by killing samurai who stray into their swamp, then selling whatever valuables they find. Both are devastated when they learn that Kichi has died, but his wife soon begins an affair with a neighbor who survived the war, Hachi. The mother disapproves and, when she can't steal Hachi for herself, tries to scare her daughter-in-law with a mysterious mask from a dead samurai.
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder · 12 critic votes
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Petra von Kant is a successful fashion designer -- arrogant, caustic, and self-satisfied. She mistreats Marlene (her secretary, maid, and co-designer). Enter Karin, a 23-year-old beauty who wants to be a model. Petra falls in love with Karin and invites her to move in.
An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)
Hu Bo · 7 critic votes
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In the northern Chinese city of Manzhouli, they say there is an elephant that simply sits and ignores the world. Manzhouli becomes an obsession for the protagonists of this film, a longed-for escape from the downward spiral in which they find themselves.
Winter Light (1963)
Ingmar Bergman · 10 critic votes
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A Swedish pastor fails a loving woman, a suicidal fisherman and God.
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
Ingmar Bergman · 1 critic vote
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Early in the 20th century, middle-aged lawyer Fredrik Egerman and his young wife, Anne, have still not consummated their marriage, while Fredrik's son finds himself increasingly attracted to his new stepmother. To make matters worse, Fredrik's old flame Desiree makes a public bet that she can seduce him at a romantic weekend retreat where four couples convene, swapping partners and pairing off in unexpected ways.
Journey to Italy (1954)
Roberto Rossellini · 43 critic votes
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Married for eight years with no children, Brits Katherine and Alex Joyce are driving to Italy, their ultimate destination just outside of Naples to sell the villa they have just inherited from his uncle, the villa where they will be staying during their time there. On the drive, they come to the realization that this trip marks the first time that they have truly been alone together, and as such don't really know one another in the true sense.
There Is No Evil (2020)
Mohammad Rasoulof · 1 critic vote
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Set against the backdrop of Iran's strict and oppressive legal system, this anthology film tells the stories of four men who each face a moral crisis when having to deal with death penalties.
Fitzcarraldo (1982)
Werner Herzog · 12 critic votes
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Fitzcarraldo is a dreamer who plans to build an opera house in Iquitos, in the Peruvian Amazon, so, in order to finance his project, he embarks on an epic adventure to collect rubber, a very profitable product, in a remote and unexplored region of the rainforest.
Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974)
Jacques Rivette · 38 critic votes
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Julie, a daydreaming librarian, meets Céline, an enigmatic magician, and together they become the heroines of a time-warping adventure involving a haunted house, psychotropic candy, and a murder-mystery melodrama.
Summer with Monika (1953)
Ingmar Bergman · 2 critic votes
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One summer day, two teens begin a reckless affair and abandon their families to be with one another.
Querelle (1982)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder · 1 critic vote
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French sailor Querelle arrives in Brest and starts frequenting a strange whorehouse. He discovers that his brother Robert is the lover of the lady owner, Lysiane. Here, you can play dice with Nono, Lysiane's husband: if you win, you are allowed to make love with Lysiane; if you lose, you have to make love with Nono... Querelle loses on purpose.
Land and Freedom (1995)
Ken Loach · 2 critic votes
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David Carr is a British Communist who is unemployed. In 1936, when the Spanish Civil War begins, he decides to fight for the Republican side, a coalition of liberals, communists and anarchists, so he joins the POUM militia and witnesses firsthand the betrayal of the Spanish revolution by Stalin's followers and Moscow's orders.
Mädchen in Uniform (1931)
Leontine Sagan · 9 critic votes
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A sensitive girl is sent to an all-girls boarding school and develops a romantic attachment to one of her teachers.
After Life (1998)
Hirokazu Koreeda · 12 critic votes
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On a cold Monday morning, a group of counselors clock in at an old-fashioned social services office. Their task is to interview the recently deceased, record their personal details, then, over the course of the week, assist them in choosing a single memory to keep for eternity.
Maborosi (1995)
Hirokazu Koreeda · 2 critic votes
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A tragedy strikes a young woman's life without warning or reason. She continues living while searching for meaning in a lonely world.
Young Soul Rebels (1991)
Isaac Julien · 1 critic vote
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Two disc jockeys have a friend's murder to solve in the fringe-group melting pot of 1977 London.
Bande à part (1964)
Jean-Luc Godard · 2 critic votes
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Cinephile slackers Franz and Arthur spend their days mimicking the antiheroes of Hollywood noirs and Westerns while pursuing the lovely Odile. The misfit trio upends convention at every turn, be it through choreographed dances in cafés or frolicsome romps through the Louvre. Eventually, their romantic view of outlaws pushes them to plan their own heist, but their inexperience may send them out in a blaze of glory -- which could be just what they want.
La Notte (1961)
Michelangelo Antonioni · 23 critic votes
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A day in the life of an unfaithful married couple and their steadily deteriorating relationship in Milan.
Cobra Verde (1987)
Werner Herzog · 1 critic vote
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A fearsome 19th century bandit, Cobra Verde cuts a swath through Brazil until he arrives at the sugar plantation of Don Octávio Countinho. Not knowing that his new guest is the notorious bandit and impressed by his ruthless ways, Don Octávio hires Cobra Verde to oversee his slaves. But when Cobra Verde impregnates Don Octávio’s three daughters, the incensed plantation owner exiles the outlaw to Africa where he is expected to reopen the slave trade. Following his trans-Atlantic journey, Cobra Verde exploits tribal conflicts to commandeer an abandoned fortress and whips an army of naked warriors into a frenzied bloodlust as he vies for survival.
Titicut Follies (1967)
Frederick Wiseman · 7 critic votes
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A stark and graphic portrayal of the conditions that existed at the State Prison for the Criminally Insane at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and documents the various ways the inmates are treated by the guards, social workers, and psychiatrists.
Fata Morgana (1970)
Werner Herzog · 3 critic votes
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Shot under extreme conditions and inspired by Mayan creation theory, the film contemplates the illusion of reality and the possibility of capturing for the camera something which is not there. It is about the mirages of nature—and the nature of mirage.
The River (1951)
Jean Renoir · 19 critic votes
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Director Jean Renoir’s entrancing first color feature—shot entirely on location in India—is a visual tour de force. Based on the novel by Rumer Godden, the film eloquently contrasts the growing pains of three young women with the immutability of the Bengal river around which their daily lives unfold. Enriched by Renoir’s subtle understanding and appreciation for India and its people, The River gracefully explores the fragile connections between transitory emotions and everlasting creation.
Late Autumn (1960)
Yasujirō Ozu · 1 critic vote
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A woman and her daughter are each forced to contend with an increasing pressure to marry, particularly from three men who knew her late husband.
Daughters of Darkness (1971)
Harry Kümel · 3 critic votes
Free on Plex · Streaming on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, BFI Player
Ostend, Belgium. In a decadent seaside hotel, Stefan and Valerie, a newlywed couple, meet the mysterious Countess Báthory and Ilona, her secretary.
Walkabout (1971)
Nicolas Roeg · 5 critic votes
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel
Under the pretense of having a picnic, a geologist takes his teenage daughter and 6-year-old son into the Australian outback and attempts to shoot them. When he fails, he turns the gun on himself, and the two city-bred children must contend with harsh wilderness alone. They are saved by a chance encounter with an Aboriginal boy who shows them how to survive, and in the process underscores the disharmony between nature and modern life.
The Ice Tower (2025)
Lucile Hadžihalilović · 1 critic vote
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Jeanne, a 15-year-old orphan, witnesses the shoot for a film adaptation of the fairy tale The Snow Queen, and she becomes fascinated by its star, Cristina, an actress who is just as mysterious and alluring as the Queen she is playing.
Stromboli (1950)
Roberto Rossellini · 10 critic votes
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After the end of WWII, a young Lithuanian woman and a young Italian man from Stromboli impulsively marry, but married life on the island is more demanding than she can accept.
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder · 55 critic votes
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Emmi Kurowski, a cleaning lady, is lonely in her old age. Her husband died years ago, and her grown children offer little companionship. One night she goes to a bar frequented by Arab immigrants and strikes up a friendship with middle-aged mechanic Ali. Their relationship soon develops into something more, and Emmi's family and neighbors criticize their spontaneous marriage. Soon Emmi and Ali are forced to confront their own insecurities about their future.
April (2024)
Dea Kulumbegashvili · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player
Nina, an OB-GYN, faces accusations after a newborn's death. Her life undergoes scrutiny during investigation. She persists in her medical duties, determined to provide care others hesitate to offer, despite the risks.
The Gleaners and I (2000)
Agnès Varda · 44 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, Curzon Amazon Channel
Varda focuses her eye on gleaners: those who scour already-reaped fields for the odd potato or turnip. Her investigation leads from forgotten corners of the French countryside to off-hours at the green markets of Paris, following those who insist on finding a use for that which society has cast off, whether out of necessity or activism.
A Night of Knowing Nothing (2021)
Payal Kapadia · 3 critic votes
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L, a student in India witness to the government's violent response to university protests, writes letters to her estranged lover while he is away.
Germany, Year Zero (1948)
Roberto Rossellini · 12 critic votes
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In the ruins of post-WWII Berlin, a twelve-year-old boy is left to his own devices in order to help provide for his family.
L'Argent (1983)
Robert Bresson · 27 critic votes
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A forged 500-franc note is passed from person to person and shop to shop, until it falls into the hands of a genuine innocent who doesn't see it for what it is—which will have devastating consequences on his life.
Witchfinder General (1968)
Michael Reeves · 2 critic votes
Streaming on Shudder, Shudder Amazon Channel, BFI Player
England, 1645. The cruel civil war between Royalists and Parliamentarians that is ravaging the country causes an era of chaos and legal arbitrariness that allows unscrupulous men to profit by exploiting the absurd superstitions of the peasants; like Matthew Hopkins, a monster disguised as a man who wanders from town to town offering his services as a witch hunter.
Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
Terence Davies · 14 critic votes
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Siblings Maisie and Tony, along with their mother, gather for their sister Eileen's wedding. It is a joyous occasion, but through flashbacks, it becomes clear that the family was not always happy. Their father was physically abusive to his wife and left the children emotionally traumatized. As a result, the children have grown into unhappy adults, looking for love they didn't receive when they were young.
The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)
Val Guest · 1 critic vote
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British reporters suspect an international cover-up of a global disaster in progress... and they're right. Hysterical panic has engulfed the world after the United States and the Soviet Union simultaneously detonate nuclear devices and have caused the orbit of the Earth to alter, sending it hurtling towards the sun.
Two English Girls (1971)
François Truffaut · 4 critic votes
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In the early 20th-century, Frenchman Claude meets Englishwoman Ann in Paris. Ann invites him to her family home, intending him for her sister Muriel. Claude falls for Muriel, but families demand year-long separation before approving marriage.
Chocolat (1988)
Claire Denis · 3 critic votes
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On her way to visit her childhood home in a colonial outpost in Northern Cameroon, a young French woman recalls her childhood, her memories concentrating on her family's houseboy.
Simon of the Desert (1965)
Luis Buñuel · 2 critic votes
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Simon, a deeply religious man living in the 4th century, wants to be nearer to God so he climbs a column. The Devil wants him come down to Earth and is trying to seduce him.
The Silence (1963)
Ingmar Bergman · 6 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player
Traveling through an unnamed European country on the brink of war, sickly, intellectual Ester, her sister Anna and Anna's young son, Johan, check into a near-empty hotel. A basic inability to communicate among the three seems only to worsen during their stay. Anna provokes her sister by enjoying a dalliance with a local man, while the boy, left to himself, has a series of enigmatic encounters that heighten the growing air of isolation.
The Margin (1976)
Walerian Borowczyk · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player
A businessman leaves his country home, and wife and young son for a business trip to Paris. While there he develops a sexual and spiritual bond with a call girl.
Black God, White Devil (1964)
Glauber Rocha · 11 critic votes
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Wanted for killing his boss, Manuel flees with his wife Rosa to the sertão, the barren landscape of Northern Brazil. Thrust into a primordial violent region, Manuel and Rosa come under the influence and control of a series of frightening figures.
Heart of a Dog (2015)
Laurie Anderson · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Lyrical and powerfully personal essay film that reflects on the deaths of her husband Lou Reed, her mother, her beloved dog, and such diverse subjects as family memories, surveillance, and Buddhist teachings.
Burning an Illusion (1981)
Menelik Shabazz · 2 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
A young black woman in England becomes increasingly frustrated with her life with her lazy, demanding boyfriend, and with the help of friends seeks something better.
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974)
Werner Herzog · 5 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
The film follows Kaspar Hauser, who lived the first seventeen years of his life chained in a tiny cellar with only a toy horse to occupy his time, devoid of all human contact except for a man who wears a black overcoat and top hat who feeds him.
The Arbor (2010)
Clio Barnard · 6 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
The lives of the late Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar and Lorraine, one of her daughters, and the community of Bradford, in the 30 years since the 18-year-old Andrea penned a play about growing up in the community titled "The Arbor".
Deep End (1970)
Jerzy Skolimowski · 4 critic votes
Free on Plex · Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
London, England. Mike, a fifteen-year-old boy, gets a job in a bathhouse, where he meets Susan, an attractive young woman who works there as an attendant.
Pink Narcissus (1971)
James Bidgood · 3 critic votes
Free on BFI Player · Streaming on BFI Player
An outrageous erotic poem focusing on the daydreams of a beautiful boy prostitute who, from the seclusion of his ultra-kitsch apartment, conceives a series of interlinked narcissistic fantasies populated by matadors, dancing boys, slaves, and leather-clad bikers.
Stroszek (1977)
Werner Herzog · 4 critic votes
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Bruno Stroszek is released from prison and warned to stop drinking. He has few skills and fewer expectations: with a glockenspiel and an accordion, he ekes out a living as a street musician. He befriends Eva, a prostitute down on her luck and they join his neighbor, Scheitz, an elderly eccentric, when he leaves Germany to live in Wisconsin.
Friendship's Death (1987)
Peter Wollen · 1 critic vote
Free on BFI Player · Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
A robot messenger is sent to earth to appeal to humans to live in peace. Originally designed to go to MIT, by mistake she ends up in Amman, Jordan during the Black September riots of 1970. Sullivan, a British journalist, comes to her aid when she is found wandering without papers following a bombing and grants her refuge in his hotel room. But there she tells him she is a robot, sent as a peace envoy from another planet. He is not sure whether to believe her story or not, but finds her unusual view of the world appealing. They examine the human condition in a series of incredibly insightful and entertaining conversations.
High School (1968)
Frederick Wiseman · 2 critic votes
Streaming on MUBI, MUBI Amazon Channel, BFI Player
Documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman takes us inside Northeast High School as a fly on the wall to observe the teachers and how they interact with the students.
Twilight (1990)
György Fehér · 2 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
In the dense and murky woodlands of provincial Hungary, the search for a child murderer drags a once-respected detective into an all-consuming obsession enshrouded by irresolution and despair, even long after he has been taken off the case. What emerges is not a crime story, but a harrowing venture through the darkness of the human soul.
Daughters of the Dust (1991)
Julie Dash · 45 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
In 1902, an African-American family living on a sea island off the coast of South Carolina prepares to move to the North.
Je Tu Il Elle (1974)
Chantal Akerman · 18 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player
A woman suffers a subdued psychological breakdown in the wake of a devastating breakup.
Down There (2006)
Chantal Akerman · 2 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Akerman spends a month in Tel Aviv, in an apartment by the sea, contemplating childhood, family, and her Jewish identity.
Anna's Meetings (1978)
Chantal Akerman · 2 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Detached filmmaker Anna Silver arrives in Germany to show her latest film; over the course of some days, she encounters a variety of new and old faces, some of whom make personal revelations to her to little affect.
Tótem (2023)
Lila Avilés · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
In a bustling Mexican household, seven-year-old Sol is swept up in a whirlwind of preparations for the birthday party for her father, Tona, led by her mother, aunts, and other relatives. As the day goes on, building to an event both anticipated and dreaded, Sol begins to understand the gravity of the celebration this year and watches as her family does the same.
Red Road (2006)
Andrea Arnold · 3 critic votes
Free on Plex · Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Jackie is a CCTV operator. One day, a man shows his face on her monitor, a man she hoped never to see again. Now she has no choice and is compelled to confront him.
Babylon (1980)
Franco Rosso · 2 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Drama telling the story of Blue, a young man of Jamaican descent living in Brixton in 1980, as he hangs out with his friends, fronts a dub sound system, loses his job, struggles with family problems and has his friendships tested by racism.
Under the Skin (1997)
Carine Adler · 1 critic vote
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Although married and pregnant Rose has always been mother's favorite, it is younger sister Iris whose life is shaken up by mother's death. Suffocating, Iris spirals out of control and copes by losing herself in sexual oblivion.
The Gold Diggers (1983)
Sally Potter · 2 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
An avant-garde examination of the relationship between women and money in society. Mixing musical, silent melodrama, and philosophical treatise into a post-punk, heady brew.
O Ornitólogo (2016)
João Pedro Rodrigues · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Stranded along a sublime river fjord in northern Portugal, an ornithologist is subjected to a series of brutal and erotic Stations-of-the-Cross-style tests.
The '?' Motorist (1906)
Walter R. Booth · 1 critic vote
Free on BFI Player
A magical glowing white motorcar ignores policemen, drives up buildings, flies through outer space, and can transform into a horse and carriage.
Ballet (1995)
Frederick Wiseman · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Ballet portrays rehearsals, choreography, performances, business transactions, and other day-to-day life of the American Ballet Theatre. Much of the footage dates from the 1992 season. It also includes scenes from the company's European tour, namely in Greece and Copenhagen.
The Angelic Conversation (1985)
Derek Jarman · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
The Angelic Conversation is a lyrical, haunting film about a young man’s search for love in a dreamlike landscape. Its tone is set by the juxtaposition of slow moving homo-erotic images and opaque landscapes through which two men take a journey into their own desires. Offscreen, Dame Judi Dench recites a sequence of Shakespeare's sonnets that counterpoint the action. Jarman called it, “My most austere work, but also the closest to my heart.”
Land of Silence and Darkness (1971)
Werner Herzog · 4 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Through examining Fini Straubinger, an old woman who has been deaf and blind since her teens, and her work on behalf of other deaf-blind people, this film shows how the deaf-blind struggle to understand and accept a world from which they are almost wholly isolated.
Welfare (1975)
Frederick Wiseman · 7 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
WELFARE shows the nature and complexity of the welfare system in sequences illustrating the staggering diversity of problems that constitute welfare: housing, unemployment, divorce, medical and psychiatric problems, abandoned and abused children, and the elderly. These issues are presented in a context where welfare workers as well as clients struggle to cope with and interpret the laws and regulations that govern their work and life.
Ray & Liz (2018)
Richard Billingham · 1 critic vote
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On the outskirts of Birmingham and the margins of society the Billingham family perform extreme rituals and break social taboos as they muddle through a life decided by factors beyond their control. At times shocking and laced with an unsettling humor, three episodes unfold as a powerful evocation of the experience of growing up in a Black Country council flat.
Kuhle Wampe or Who Owns the World? (1932)
Slatan Dudow · 2 critic votes
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Kuhle Wampe takes place in early-1930s Berlin. The film begins with a montage of newspaper headlines describing steadily-rising unemployment figures. This is followed by scenes of a young man looking for work in the city and the family discussing the unpaid back rent. The young man, brother of the protagonist Anni, removes his wristwatch and throws himself from a window out of despair. Shortly thereafter his family is evicted from their apartment. Now homeless, the family moves into a garden colony of sorts with the name “Kuhle Wampe.”
The Body Beautiful (1991)
Ngozi Onwurah · 2 critic votes
Free on BFI Player
This bold, stunning exploration of a white mother who undergoes a radical mastectomy and her Black daughter who embarks on a modeling career reveals the profound effects of body image and the strain of racial and sexual identity on their charged, intensely loving bond. At the heart of Onwurah’s brave excursion into her mother’s scorned sexuality is a provocative interweaving of memory and fantasy. The filmmaker plumbs the depths of maternal strength and daughterly devotion in an unforgettable tribute starring her real-life mother, Madge Onwurah.
Dreams of a Life (2011)
Carol Morley · 1 critic vote
Free on BFI Player · Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
A filmmaker sets out to discover the life of Joyce Vincent, who died in her bedsit in North London in 2003. Her body wasn't discovered for three years, and newspaper reports offered few details of her life - not even a photograph.
Workers Leaving the Factory (1995)
Harun Farocki · 1 critic vote
Free on BFI Player
Using one of the Lumière Brothers' first films of workers leaving the Factory as his starting point, Farocki provides an insight to changes in industrial production, workers' strikes and motion pictures-- via images of workers leaving factories throughout the years.
Crystal Gazing (1982)
Laura Mulvey, Peter Wollen · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Experimental drama set in London during the Thatcher administration involving four characters: Neil, a science-fiction illustrator; Kim, a woman rock musician; Vermilion, an analyst of satellite photography; and Julian, an old friend of the illustrator who has just finished his Ph.D thesis on the fairy-tales of Charles Perrault. Their four lives are closely interlinked as events happen to each of them.
Winstanley (1975)
Kevin Brownlow, Andrew Mollo · 1 critic vote
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Gerrard Winstanley is the leader of a 17th Century religious group that believes the land should be owned communally. His convictions bring him into conflict with both the state and the church.
Western Approaches (1944)
Pat Jackson · 1 critic vote
Free on BFI Player, Plex
A World War II drama-documentary showing the struggles of Merchant Navy seamen following an attack by a U-Boat. Western Approaches is a vast area of ocean control covering thousands of square miles of the Atlantic. In these waters is set this single incident in the fiercest and longest sea battle in history. The players are not professional actors but serving officers and men of Allied Navies and Merchant Fleets. This film is dedicated to them and their comrades who made the Allied victory possible.
News from Home (1976)
Chantal Akerman · 55 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Impersonal and beautiful images of Akerman's life in New York are combined with letters from her loving but manipulative mother, read by Akerman herself.
D'Est (1993)
Chantal Akerman · 11 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
In this incisive dispatch from the newly collapsed Soviet empire, bullet holes from WWII still pockmark the old stone buildings. Akerman journeys from East Germany to Moscow between the late summer and winter of 1993 ('while there’s still time'), chronicling in deliberate tracking shots, circular pans, and domestic tableaux yet another moment of radical upheaval in the 20th-century, the faces and bodies of Poles, Ukrainians, Germans, and Russians weighed down with obedient resignation and uncertainty.
Riddles of the Sphinx (1977)
Laura Mulvey, Peter Wollen · 4 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
In this avant-garde classic, protagonist Louise deals with a change in her lifestyle in which she must learn to negotiate domestic life and motherhood.
Maeve (1981)
Pat Murphy · 3 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Maeve returns home to Belfast after a long absence. Her arrival in the city stimulates a series of memories of childhood and adolescence both in herself and other people.
Pressure (1975)
Horace Ové · 2 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
A British-born younger son of an immigrant family from Trinidad finds himself adrift between two cultures.
Blow Up My Town (1968)
Chantal Akerman · 3 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player
A young girl shuts herself away in her apartment and goes about her business in a strange way, as she wastes the night in the kitchen – humming all along.
No Home Movie (2015)
Chantal Akerman · 8 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Akerman films her mother Natalia, an elderly woman of Polish origin, in her Brussels apartment. For two hours, we will see them eating, chatting and sharing memories, sometimes accompanied by Sylvaine, Chantal's sister. Also, and to show how small the world has become, Chantal remains in contact with her mother at other times of the year via Skype from lands as far away from Belgium as Oklahoma or New York.
Listen to Britain (1942)
Humphrey Jennings, Stewart McAllister · 5 critic votes
Free on BFI Player
A depiction of life in wartime Britain during the Second World War. Director Humphrey Jennings visits many aspects of civilian life and of the turmoil and privation caused by the war, all without narration.
Body and Soul (1925)
Oscar Micheaux · 3 critic votes
Free on JustWatch TV · Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
A convict escapes to a Southern town and passes himself off as a reverend, giving him the perfect cover to swindle the townspeople and corrupt an innocent young woman.
Sud (1999)
Chantal Akerman · 2 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Chantal Akerman investigates the American Deep South through the story of a lynching and grisly murder of an African-American man that took place in Texas in 1998.
The Song of Ceylon (1934)
Basil Wright · 1 critic vote
Free on BFI Player
Ambitious documentary chronicling the cultural life and religious customs of the Sinhalese and the effects of advanced industrialism on such customs.
Gallivant (1996)
Andrew Kötting · 2 critic votes
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Part home movie, part road movie, Kötting's riveting and eccentric film stars his 85-year-old grandmother Gladys - opinionated, bursting with anecdotes and contradictory reminiscences – and Eden, his eight-year-old daughter with Joubert syndrome, as they take a zig-zagging 6,000 mile trip in their campervan around Britain's coastline.
Night Mail (1936)
Harry Watt, Basil Wright · 4 critic votes
Free on BFI Player
This documentary short examines the special train on which mail is sorted, dropped and collected on the run, and delivered in Scotland on the overnight run from Euston, London to Glasgow.
Spare Time (1939)
Humphrey Jennings · 2 critic votes
Free on BFI Player
Spare Time is a 1939 British film directed by Humphrey Jennings for the GPO Film Unit, and made for the 1939 New York World's Fair. It is 15 minutes long and documents the leisure activities of workers in the coal, steel, and cotton industries in Sheffield, Bolton, Manchester and Pontypridd. Commentary is provided by Laurie Lee.
A Colour Box (1935)
Len Lye · 6 critic votes
Free on BFI Player
Animated shapes dance to Cuban music. This was one of the first animations to be painted directly onto the film.
Tins for India (1941)
Bimal Roy · 1 critic vote
Free on BFI Player
Documenting the production of kerosene tins and their reuse in rural India, this early short by Bimal Roy observes industrial labor and everyday life with a restrained, humanist perspective.
Burnham Beeches (1909)
Cecil M. Hepworth · 1 critic vote
Free on BFI Player
First film of Burnham Beeches, the famous beauty spot and ultimate film location.
Amy! (1980)
Laura Mulvey, Peter Wollen · 1 critic vote
Streaming on BFI Player, BFI Player Amazon Channel, BFI Player Apple TV Channel
Amy Johnson was the first woman to fly solo from Great Britain to Australia. Mulvey and Wollen’s experimental documentary combines newsreel footage of the aviator’s arrival, dramatic recreations of events from her life and contemporary discussions by feminist groups on the subject of heroism in this most unconventional biopic.
The Building of the New Tyne Bridge from Newcastle to Gateshead (1928)
· 1 critic vote
Free on BFI Player
There are some breathtaking shots of workers constructing Newcastle's iconic Tyne Bridge, designed by Mott, Hay and Anderson, in this detailed and informative film, showing the men erecting the arches at dizzying heights. From BFI collection "This Working Life: Steel".

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