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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
Crowning Glory
Advert193614 mins
Limp-haired lover Betty rekindles romance with dashing Dick by swapping to Amami Shampoo and Wave Set in this 1930s advertising film.
The Lost Highway
Promotional201910 mins
A wandering warrior dreams of a new form of expression, in this promo for UNKLE’s album The Road: Part II / Lost Highway Pt. II directed by Warren Du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones.
Essex Willows
School programme and Educational film194624 minsSilent
A fascinating look at how a cricket bat is professionally crafted, by hand, in 1946, from its beginnings as a willow tree.
Love on the Range
Advert19396 mins
An animated Western mock-opera about Horlicks? Bring it on!
Frank's Joke
Animation & Artists Moving Image20186 mins
A comedic look at how our brains can keep us awake at night and the mercurial nature of memory.
Changing Climate
Documentary197825 mins Location: Norwich
A fascinating insight into the early work of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia 6 years after it's foundation by Professor Hubert H. Lamb in 1972.
Changing Hues
Advert19225 minsSilent
Pretty in Pink 1920s style: an innovatively hand-coloured cinema advert for Twink dye.
Pont Pill Monument
Current affairs19775 mins Location: Fowey
Divers have raised a large monument stone from the riverbed at Pont Pill Creek in Cornwall.
Symphony in Colour (Persil Advert)
Advert19425 mins
Super soft-sell Persil ad, in the guise of a lush Technicolor essay on colour itself.
Harp - Ronnie Barker (Version 1)
Advert19720 mins
Ronnie Barker of The Two Ronnies advises viewers to stock up with some cans of Harp lager in this chirpy early seventies TV advert.
The Whisky of His Ancestors
Advert19772 mins
Dewar’s were so proud of making one of the world’s first cinema ads, they recycled it seven decades later
Solar Eclipse
Non-Fiction19001 mins
The magic of a real solar eclipse filmed by a famous magician
To the Four Corners
Travelogue195727 mins Location: Cardiff/Caerdydd
Haunting colour travelogue taking in Ulster, Lewis, Lincoln and Cardiff's Tiger Bay.
7 Towns
Amateur film196758 mins Location: Evesham
Worcestershire's historic towns: a heritage at risk from 1960s progress.
Heinz Baked Beans : Common Market
Advert19721 mins
In 1972 Britain entered the European common market full of beans. What could go wrong?
A Visit to Portchester Castle
Amateur film19463 minsSilent Location: Portchester Castle
Join the Pesketts as they visit the ancient ruins of Portchester Castle - which despite being in ruins, still commands Portsmouth's natural harbour
Changing Face of Camberwell
Documentary196332 mins Location: Camberwell
Looking back at Camberwell's Victorian history, and forward to the future, this film captures the impact of changing architecture on local residents.
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...
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
Commercial Break: British Advertising on Screen
Few films capture our hopes, fears and desires in such a compact expressive form as the screen advertisement.
Tennis on Film
Quiet Please! Our unique collection serves up some nine decades of court action from Wimbledon and other UK tournaments.
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.