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Explore archive films
See shorts and features, showing the best from the BFI, national and regional archives - including 120 years of Britain on film
Britain on Film map
Watch thousands of beautifully preserved films, capturing our lives and our stories over 120 years. Search by location to find films about places that mean the world to you.
What we're watching
Hovis: Boy on the Bike
Advert19741 mins Location: Shaftesbury
A classic slice of British advertising history, though that hill's not as Northern as it looks...
Solar Eclipse
Non-Fiction19001 mins
The magic of a real solar eclipse filmed by a famous magician
Father's Picnic on the Sands
Comedy19054 minsSilent
Edwardian comedy in which a father turns to beer when his large family holiday goes wrong.
To the Four Corners
Travelogue195727 mins Location: Cardiff/Caerdydd
Haunting colour travelogue taking in Ulster, Lewis, Lincoln and Cardiff's Tiger Bay.
ABC in Sound
Animation & Artists Moving Image19332 mins
Hand-drawn sound experiment by Bauhaus professor László Moholy-Nagy.
Fifty Years of Ascot Fashions
Amateur film198623 minsSilent Location: Ascot
Fascinating panorama of a half-century of sartorial choices at Royal Ascot...some better judged than others
The Magic Extinguisher
Trick film19012 minsSilent
You'll never guess quite what this chap can hide under his cone...
Going Self-sufficient
Current affairs19804 mins Location: Somerset
The Buxtons decide to live the good life in Somerset.
Panorama of the Paris Exhibition No. 3
Non-Fiction19001 minsSilent
An unusual view of Paris, shot from a boat travelling down the Seine. You can even see the Eiffel tower - almost!
Pont Pill Monument
Current affairs19775 mins Location: Fowey
Divers have raised a large monument stone from the riverbed at Pont Pill Creek in Cornwall.
Panorama of Niagara Falls
Non-Fiction19010 minsSilent
The wonder of Niagara captured in an early film
How It Feels to Be Run Over
Trick film19001 minsSilent
A terrifying first-person brush with death at the hands of a dangerous driver
Gee Bee Pop
Promotional198318 mins Location: Tyersal
Bottling the fruits of the world into a fizzy drink much beloved by the youngsters of Yorkshire.
Glimpses of pre-war Worthing
Amateur film193924 minsSilent Location: Worthing
A gem of a film shot from the rooftops of Worthing, capturing busy streets, railways and unsuspecting Worthingites as well as scenes from the snowy January of 1939.
Passport to Llyn
Amateur film19608 minsSilent Location: Porth Dinllaen
Snapshots of villages of the Llyn Peninsula and more extensive footage of Pwlhelli - its market and mart plus an early Father Christmas!
Billy Fury at the ABC Plymouth
Current affairs19623 mins Location: Plymouth
Billy Fury is interviewed before his concert at the ABC in Plymouth.
Great Central Railway
Non-Fiction19625 mins Location: Chesterfield
Doctor Beeching sounds the death knell for the Great Central main line.
Cheese Rolling
News19601 minsSilent Location: Cooper's Hill
Injuries abound as the annual cheese rolling at Cooper's Hill near Brockworth claims its usual victims.
NHS on Film
Film has the power to change lives – and even save them. No surprise, then, that moving images have played an important role in one of the world’s greatest public health services.
Towards a Better Life - Community Health
26 mins
A GP in rural Somerset and one in Kentish Town, London, reflect on “what is a General Practitioner in the 1980s?”
New Way of Caring
Documentary197321 mins
An in-house training film designed to explain the NHS' 1973 reorganisation to its staff.
District Nurse
Government sponsored film195227 mins Location: Wadhurst
Never a dull moment for a rural district nurse in the early days of the NHS.
Something to Offer
Documentary196922 mins
An interesting documentary on psychiatric provision, set at a Plymouth day hospital and originally produced for nursing recruitment.
C.A.L.M.
Public Information Filler19971 mins
A powerful public information filler promoting CALM – a charity dedicated to preventing male suicide.
Blood Donor : Glenda and Ernie
Public Information Filler19813 mins
Glenda Jackson makes a song and a dance about giving blood – in a wise-cracking double act with Ernie Wise.
Featured collections
Victorian Film
Queen Victoria's long reign famously saw extraordinary advances: in industry, transport, science, culture... But one vital innovation is too often missed: the moving image, the last great invention of the age. Yet film forever changed the way we see the world. And even before the French Lumière brothers presented their first demonstrations in London in 1895, British filmmakers were beginning to make their mark. Now, for the first time, we are making publically available all of the BFI's collections of British films made in the first six years of the medium - from 1895 to 1901.
Cricket on Film
When cricket is played, it seems as if summer will never end. And when cricket is filmed, summer can last for ever.
The Victorian Street
Some of the most fascinating of early films are those which are content to watch the Victorian world go by. Numerous filmmakers parked their cameras on street corners, outside workplaces or churches, or into sports venues to capture moments of everyday life.