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BFI London Film Festival Shorts
Small but perfectly formed. The Short Film Award recognises short-form works with a unique cinematic voice and a confident handling of chosen theme and content.
Stop Motion
Reality and fantasy collide to extraordinary effect when you bring the inanimate to life, one frame at a time.
#GenerationNow
Specially selected from the BFI London Film Festival main programme, the #GenerationNow films explore what it means to be a young adult in the world today. These shorts showcase some of the brightest emerging filmmakers and explore issues of identity, sexuality, coming of age, family, friendships and community.
South Asian Britain on Film
Discover a rich history reaching back over a century as we celebrate South Asian communities and culture across Britain.
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.
The Arts on Film
Behind the canvas with a movie camera: you can almost smell the turpentine in these fascinating portraits of artists at work.
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Animals on Film
"Never work with animals or children," runs the old film industry saw. But British filmmakers have proven adept at both - and especially animals.
Animation 2018
13 new short films from new and emerging animators, commissioned through a prestigious initiative by the BFI, BBC Four, and BBC Arts.
Animated Britain
An animated portrait of a nation, brought to life frame by painstaking frame
Arcadia
Capturing the beauty and brutality, the magic and madness of rural Britain.
Immerse yourself in the films featured in Paul Wright's captivating archive odyssey.
The Arts on Film
Behind the canvas with a movie camera: you can almost smell the turpentine in these fascinating portraits of artists at work.
Beat Generations
Every generation finds its own beat, and every scene has been caught on camera. This toe-tapping tour guides us through pop's glorious past.
Black Britain on Film
Striking, illuminating and sometimes surprising images of black culture, community and characters, spanning over a century of British film and TV.
Black Eyes, Black Lives
A selection of exceptional shorts from filmmakers, curated by S.O.U.L Celebrate Connect founder Iyare Igiehon.
Born Digital: First Cuts
Eleven innovative short films about the digital experience, commissioned by the BFI, BBC Four and BBC Arts to mark the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web in 2019.
Britain on Film: Out of the Rubble
Penny Woolcock’s Out of the Rubble is an archive documentary compiled from films digitised for our Britain on Film project. Here we present Woolcock’s work alongside the original films that inspired it.
Carol Morley
Dreams, memories and reveries - the collected works of one of Britain's most distinctive filmmakers.
Cats v Dogs
Pampered pooches or fabulous felines? It’s the eternal popularity contest.
China on Film
Travel back in time to a lost China with this collection of extraordinary, rare and beautiful travelogues, newsreels and home movies from the first half of the 20th century.
Chinese Britain on Film
Chart the representation of Britain's Chinese communities in film, from exotic Other to more authentic self-portraits, in a collection of rare, strange, witty and touching films.
Christmas Crackers
It's time to join the ghosts of Christmases past as we celebrate a century of festive film.
Coal on Film
Coalmining is visually unique, dramatic, elemental, iconic - and a huge filmmaking challenge. Small wonder that it's the industry with the richest and deepest screen history of all.
COI at 75
The Central Office of Information (COI) produced and distributed thousands of films for use across Britain, the Commonwealth and the world. Paid for by you the taxpayer, the films couldn’t have been more varied: documentary, drama, news, animation, comedy - even horror.
Comedy Genius
Celebrating side-splitting film and TV, from slapstick legends to today's anarchic voices.
Commercial Break: British Advertising on Screen
Few films capture our hopes, fears and desires in such a compact expressive form as the screen advertisement.
Disabled Britain on Film
This diverse and fascinating collection looks at representations of disabled people on screen over the past ten decades. It offers a glimpse into the lives and experiences of people often hidden from screen history, and a chance to see how contemporary disabled artists and filmmakers are insisting that their own images and voices must be seen and heard.
Eating In
Bring the restaurant to you: gastronomic inspiration for novice cooks and greedy gourmands
Edwardian Britain on Film
Welcome to a lost world. These amazing films, lost for nearly a century, offer something close to time travel - a journey into the Britain of our great grandparents, courtesy of filmmakers Mitchell and Kenyon.
Family Films
Films for kids have changed dramatically over the last 100 years, as seen in this family-friendly collection.
Festival Fever
From deep-rooted folk traditions to youth culture happenings: a celebration of the music and arts festivals of summers past.
Film Academy Shorts
We present the very best shorts by young filmmakers, produced through the BFI Film Academy.
Films For Fives and Under
Watch with grown-ups: a fun selection of films for supervised viewing by 3-5 year olds and the young at heart.
The First World War
From the home front to the front line: life during the “war to end all wars” as seen through the lens of newsreel, propaganda and drama.
Football on Film
Football and film: two giants of 20th century spectacle. Born just a few years apart, film and the professional game have grown up together, as this fascinating collection shows.
Forgotten Features
Mischievous mermaids, murderous minors and military mayhem are among the highlights of this collection of long hard-to-see titles.
Garden Cities & New Towns
Explore England’s pioneering planned settlements, from Edwardian utopia to radical postwar housing schemes.
Gothic: The Dark Heart of Film
Gothic horror and romance tales feed on our darkest fears and desires, and conjure the creatures of the night into being.
The Home Front
Sandbags and searchlights, firefighters battling blazing streets; trains packed with departing children or servicemen... film has given us some of our most enduring images of war.
Home Movies & Amateur Film
Celluloid scrapbooks: the most intimate and personal of films invite us into Britain's birthday parties, back gardens and beach holidays.
India on Film: 1899-1947
An extraordinary collection of films capturing India before independence.
Japan on Film
The vibrancy of the Meiji era is revealed in these early films of Japan, restored by the BFI National Archive.
Jewish Britain on Film
Jewish life on screen: a century of insights and hidden histories
Jubilee on Film
A celebration of Royal Jubilees past, from 1897 to 1977.
Keep Fit
Let’s get physical! With over a century of exercise on film, this collection offers some high intensity viewing.
Listen to Britain 2017
Celebrating 75 years since Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAllister’s original film, BBC Four and BFI NETWORK, in association with Wingspan Productions, have partnered to offer the next generation of UK filmmakers the opportunity to present their diverse and unique perspectives on modern Britain.
London Film-Makers' Co-op
Celebrating 50 years of the LFMC (now Lux), the ground-breaking production and distribution cooperative for artists’ moving image.
London Indian Film Festival
A selection of favourite shorts from Europe’s largest South Asian film festival.
Most Popular Free 2022
The most popular free films that caught your imagination in 2022.
Most Popular Free 2021
The most popular free films that caught your imagination in 2021.
Most Popular Free 2020
Bevan, badgers and some very British goings on - your favourites from our collections…
Making and Doing
Get crafty, avoid boredom: why not take up a new hobby from the comfort of home?
Mark Kermode Online In 3D
Mark Kermode's hugely popular film discussion show is now available on BFI Player.
The March of Time
Time Marches On! Though perhaps most famous today for inspiring the opening of Citizen Kane, The March of Time was a truly trailblazing series.
Musicals!
Want to escape our troubled times? Immerse yourself in the emotional, life-enhancing pleasures of the musical.
Never Mind The Ballots
As election fever grips Britain (or doesn't), we get on our soapbox to present a fascinating collection of political and campaigning films.
Other Grooves
An eccentric excursion to the furthest fringes of youth culture and alternative lifestyles, as captured in archive film and TV.
Peter Greenaway shorts
Explore the filmmaking journey of one of Britain’s most acclaimed directors.
The Pleasure Principle
From Victorian voyeurism to Soho striptease: how a hidden film industry emerged to satisfy the sexual appetites of (male) viewers.
Public Information Films
Stop! Look! Listen! For decades public information films have been educating, persuading and above all warning us of hidden dangers.
Punk
Punk’s mad parade burnt bright and quick, feeding on the public’s limitless love of disgust. Works from Julien Temple and Captain Zip immerse you in the movement, with music from The Undertones and more.
Queer Britain
This colourful and challenging collection explores screen representations of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender lives over the past century.
Queen Elizabeth II
HM Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022): A life through the lens.
Queer East Shorts
Showcasing rarely-seen queer cinema from East and Southeast Asia to audiences in the UK.
Railways on Film
Tracking shots: cinema and the railways have enjoyed a long journey together, starting in the Victorian era and yet to hit the buffers.
Refugee Week
To mark this year's Refugee Week, BFI and Counterpoints Arts have compiled a collection of films that explore refugee experiences in the past and present and across different parts of the world.
Robert Paul: Giant of Early Film
The most prolific filmmaker of the pioneer period of British film
Royal Geographical Society
Ascend the Himalayan peaks, sail through mighty oceans and traverse thickets of African jungle – all in one extraordinary collection of films.
Sci-Fi - Days of Fear and Wonder
Take a trip around the blazing worlds of sci-fi as we undock a blockbuster celebration of this most spectacular of movie genres.
Shakespeare on Film
All the world's a cinema! How a century and more of filmmakers have raided, remade and refashioned the bard.
Shipbuilding on Film
Every ship launch is an epic. The majestic glide of the colossus into the waiting waters is a spectacle made for filming.
Football on Film
Football and film: two giants of 20th century spectacle. Born just a few years apart, film and the professional game have grown up together, as this fascinating collection shows.
Spotlight on Key Workers
A salute to the vital workers who keep our essential services running in bad times - and all the time.
Steel on Film
With its glowing rivers of liquid metal and dazzling showers of sparks, steelmaking is the most colourfully cinematic of industries.
The Story of British Animation
To accompany an important new BFI book, we chart this extraordinarily fertile area of British film.
Suffragettes on Film
"You have to make more noise than anybody else!," cried Suffragette pioneer Emmeline Pankhurst. But how to make more noise in silent film?
Textiles on Film
From cotton reels to reels of film: with its restless looms, vibrant colours and rich textures, Britain's textiles industry offers cinematic pleasures by the yard.
Thriller
Who Can You Trust?
From the collections of the BFI and its partner archives, a host of rarely seen British thrillers highlighting Britain's often idiosyncratic take on the genre.
To the Ends of the Earth
Journey across the planet’s most challenging terrain in this ode to exploration and endurance on film.
Too Desi Too Queer
A selection of LGBTIQ+ shorts curated by the London Indian Film Festival.
Unavailable on DVD
This collection showcases a selection of hard-to-see features that are unavailable to watch anywhere else (legally) in the UK.
VE Day
75 years ago, Britain threw itself a party. After six gruelling years of war, it had earned it.
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.
Virtual Pub Crawl
Fancy a swift half? This round of Britain's drinking establishments is on us.
Wedding Bells
It's the big day and you're invited: a multitude of marriages, caught on film since the 1910s.
WTF - A Box of Odd
What’s that Film?! If you’ve a taste for the curious or the kitsch, the bewildering or the bizarre, then look no further. Our selection of rare archive treats will satisfy the most adventurous palate.