BFI | Features and reviews

The line-up features Andrew Scott, Ava DuVernay, Brad Bird, Cynthia Erivo, James Gray, Jesse Eisenberg, John Malkovich, Mahershala Ali, Naomi Ackie and Sofia Coppola, while, for the first time, the festival will also host a Screen Talk outside London, with Danny Boyle at HOME in Manchester.

These rarely seen colour photos – likely taken by director Bryan Forbes himself during the filming of the nightclub scene in his 1962 drama The L-shaped Room – offer a beautifully detailed glimpse of early 60s fashions and dancing among the beatnik crowd.

When screenwriters write screenplays about screenwriters... As Pedro Almodóvar’s meta melodrama Bitter Christmas arrives in cinemas, we look at films that put script-writing in the spotlight, from Sunset Blvd to Adaptation.

After more than a decade away from the big screen, Gregg Araki returns with I Want Your Sex, a provocative screwball comedy that doubles as a defence of messy desire. The New Queer Cinema pioneer reflects on sex positivity, generational attitudes to intimacy, and why personal heartbreak can feel like its own apocalypse.

The new delivery model for 2026 to 2029 increases opportunities for underrepresented young people to access free year-round training, networking opportunities and career development closer to home.