British Cinema

Artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen made his cinema debut with this provocative portrait of Irish republican prisoners defying the British government.

Saoirse Ronan gives a bracing performance as a young recovering alcoholic returning home to Orkney in this moving adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s memoir.

A 1990s club-culture cult classic about five Cardiff friends planning a night out to remember. The weekend has landed!

Derek Jarman’s unique biopic of the 17th century Italian artist Michelangelo da Caravaggio is a powerful meditation on sexuality, criminality and art.

This incendiary Glam-rock cult classic is described by critic Mark Kermode as ‘the Citizen Kane of British pop movies’.

Buried passions boil over in a buttoned-up postwar Britain in Terence Davies acclaimed adaptation of Rattigan's play, starring Rachel Weisz.

Terence Davies’ devastatingly moving, lyrical portrait of the life of celebrated war poet Siegfried Sassoon.

Terence Davies' debut feature is a remarkable evocation of working-class family life in the 40s and 50s and a visionary exploration of memory.

Terence Davies’ mosaic of childhood, imagination, time and memory is one of the greatest cinematic experiences.

Unsettling, little-seen 1970s psychological thriller – a story of sibling rivalry set on the lonely Scottish coast, with Tom Conti and Gay Hamilton.

After meeting at a gig, a London couple’s relationship unfolds in Michael Winterbottom’s intimate and controversial portrait of sex and live music.

Samantha Morton plays the enigmatic title character in Lynne Ramsay’s dreamy and atmospheric road movie.

Christopher Nolan’s gritty neo-noir first feature about a young London writer who gets drawn into a criminal underworld.

A troubled young sheep farmer falls for a hired hand in this stunning debut from Francis Lee.

The ultimate depiction of coming-of-age awkwardness, Bill Forsyth’s comedy about a teen who falls for the new female footballer on the school team.

An ungainly cockney chauffeur navigates the seedy streets of London, gradually falling for the elegant and mysterious prostitute who is his passenger.

A family finds a stranger floating naked in their swimming pool in this sensual, sun-baked drama starring Christopher Abbott

A novelist’s rural retreat descends into an orgy of violent mayhem, in one of the most notorious shockers in British cinema.

A bouncer is enlisted to fight off a mob boss, in this barmy, shot-on-video cult actioner from famed Mancunian hardman Cliff Twemlow.

A man who was abducted by aliens returns to his family years later with a sinister purpose, in this outrageously bizarre British horror.

The Queen's Silver Jubilee beats to the sounds of Funkadelic, Sylvester and the O'Jays in Isaac Julien’s feature debut.

British visionary Donald Cammell directs this kaleidoscopic, highly stylised thriller about a series of brutal murders in an isolated community.

Joanna Hogg's enthralling ghost story, featuring an astonishing performance by her regular collaborator Tilda Swinton.

Engrossing tribute to London’s legendary Scala cinema, aptly subtitled.

A British-Palestinian drag performer catches the eye of a strait-laced white man in Amrou Al-Kadhi’s stunning, semi-autobiographical debut.

Oscar-winning director Asif Kapadia's unsettling drama-documentary delivers a powerful commentary on the state of the world today… and tomorrow.

A ferocious dystopian nightmare, this was the first film directed by a Black British woman to receive a UK theatrical release.

Billie Piper stars in her own directorial debut, a no-holds-barred, Fleabag-esque anti-romcom about a modern woman’s struggles in work and love.

On the Isle of Lewis, a passionate surfer and his sweetheart have dreams of escaping in this charming comedy with echoes of Bill Forsyth.

BAFTA winner and coming-of-age story starring newcomer Katie Jarvis as disaffected teen Mia and Michael Fassbender in one of his earliest film roles.

Andrea Arnold’s highly acclaimed film, winner of top prizes at Cannes and the BFI London Film Festival, is a haunting drama about a woman confronting past demons.

Thomas Clay’s unflinching story of teen drugs and violence scandalised the British film industry 20 years ago, but is arguably ripe for rehabilitation

Sinister forces invade a couple’s home in this wildly eerie British folk horror, with unflinching performances from Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark.

BAFTA-winner Jared Harris stars as a father wrestling with uncertainty when his daughter reappears a decade after vanishing.

A brutal, fascinating portrait of the realities of addiction and mental health issues, set against the backdrop of the iconic Manchester skyline.

Sight and Sound's 2019 film of the year is the compelling, semi-autobiographical drama from acclaimed writer-director Joanna Hogg.

A deliciously dark comedy about social paranoia that will have you joyfully squirming in your seat.

Peter Strickland’s visually and aurally intoxicating tale of sadomasochistic power-play is a daringly erotic sensory feast.

Menelik Shabazz’s pioneering first feature traces the emotional and political growth of a young black couple in Thatcher’s London.

A coming-of-age tale about a father-son relationship that might just be out of this world.

The hunt for a Jersey serial killer sparks a dangerous awakening in a young woman in this astonishing psycho-sexual thriller.

Simmering tensions between locals and newcomers in a modern-day Cornish fishing village reach boiling point in this hugely acclaimed British independent film.

Ashley Walters impresses in the hard-hitting Hackney drama that’s still one of the best of Britain’s black urban crime films.

In this knockout feature debut from Aleem Khan, Bafta-winner Joanna Scanlan is the woman who discovers her late husband’s secrets.

Jenny Agutter plays the teenage girl reliant on a young Aboriginal for her survival, in Nicolas Roeg's stunning Australian outback drama.

Robert Carlyle and Ray Winstone are members of a criminal gang that tears itself apart after a heist goes wrong, in Antonia Bird’s stylish thriller.

Ken Loach’s powerful, Palme d’Or-winning invective against welfare injustice captured the mood of modern Britain and became his biggest box office success.

Carine Adler’s sexy and dark debut, starring Samantha Morton in her first major feature film role.

Discover the unrealised visions and passion projects of revered British filmmaker Michael Powell, in this fascinating documentary featuring Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker.

Andrew Haigh's internationally acclaimed tale of a brief encounter between two gay men.

Florence Pugh's first film teams her with Maisie Williams as teenage friends at a school cursed by mystery sickness.

This strange, enigmatic and engrossing thriller finds a troubled young man returning to his hometown in the wake of his mother’s disappearance.

Blistering thriller of a teen groomed to work for a brutal, organised drugs network.

Ben, an innocent immigrant from a remote village in Guyana, arrives in Brixton and falls prey to an assortment of streetwise characters in Anthony Simmons' Palme d’Or nominated comic drama.

A deeply religious family must decide whether to stick by their relation or abandon her, in this striking debut from Daniel Kokotajlo.

In modern Liverpool, a couple meet and begin a transgressive, sexually charged affair set against a background of crime and encroaching danger.

Menelik Shabazz (Burning an Illusion) shines a light on the music genre often dubbed ‘romantic reggae’; a uniquely black British sound that developed in the late 70s and 80s against a backdrop of riots, racial tension and sound systems.

Sally El Hosaini's feature debut tells of the love and disenchantment of two British-Egyptian brothers as gangs, drugs and sexuality come between them.

A schoolteacher juggles everyday life with nights spent cruising for Mr Right in this fascinating landmark in British gay cinema

The incredible story of a band you may never have heard of but whose sound has influenced generations with their irresistible rhythms and message of peace.

A distinctly bold and sensual reclaiming of gay history, Jarman here tells the sexually intense story of the 4th-century martyr.

An evil and enigmatic entity throws a family into turmoil in Lindsey C. Vickers' much sought-after cult horror.

Anna Friel and Michelle Williams star as two troubled girls whose tumultuous friendship takes many twists and turns.

Hettie MacDonald’s 1996 comedy tells the story of two classmates and neighbours who fall in love over one summer in South East London.

The first in Patrick Keiller’s highly imaginative trilogy of films is a photographic trip through London, recounted by our unseen narrator.

Clio Barnard's film about Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar mixes reconstruction, interviews (performed by actors) and scenes from the plays.

Director Alan Clarke examines the grim reality of borstal life in this searing remake of his previously banned television play.

Twenty-five years old and newly restored, Gary Oldman’s BAFTA-winning debut as writer-director remains a magnificent achievement.

John Hurt stars in Richard Kwietniowski’s comedy of fame and obsession about an older man (Hurt) who becomes infatuated with a young Hollywood actor (Jason Priestley), and proceeds to track him down.

Merchant Ivory’s landmark adaptation of E M Forster’s classic LGBTQ+ novel and a precursor to the James Ivory-scripted Call Me By Your Name.

Brilliantly mixing archive film and music, Liverpool-born director Terence Davies reflects with wit and wisdom on a times of change, for good or ill

The Terence Davies Trilogy reaches its astonishing climax as tortured Liverpool clerk Robert Tucker prepares to meet his maker.

1980s borstal drama – billed as the female Scum – featuring Amanda York and Kathy Burke as inmates in a ruthless women’s prison.

Jessica Hausner’s cool, witty and unsettling sci-fi starring Emily Beecham and Ben Whishaw.

Ken Loach’s passionate war drama follows an idealistic young Liverpudlian (Ian Hart) who fights for the international brigade during the Spanish Civil War.

Derek Jacobi and Daniel Craig star as artist Francis Bacon and his muse George Dyer in John Maybury’s darkly exquisite biopic.

Following a fatal car crash involving a swan outside a zoo, twin-brother zoologists Oliver and Oswald become fascinated by the processes of decay.

A lifelong friendship is tested by tragedy in this atmospheric and intense first feature from acclaimed British shorts director Fyzal Boulifa.

The lives of a London gay rugby team, both on and off the pitch, are explored in this assured feature which reveals the many games that people play.

Riotous urban comedy adapted from the hit Royal Court play, about a Peckham teen affronted by the arrival of his long-lost Nigerian sibling.

An apocalyptic vision pushes a group of rabbits to abandon their warren in search of a new home, in this landmark British animation.

The BFI’s HD remaster of the British sci-fi classic. A journalist discovers that the Earth has been knocked off its axis and is moving ever closer to the sun. Is the Earth doomed?

Ron Peck tests the thin line between pornography and art with his amusing rumination on the difficulties of showing the naked male form.

Twelve year old Ella's obsession with her brother's best friend Moses leaves her with a secret to take to the grave.

A witchfinder traverses 17th-century England executing those he suspects of witchcraft.

Autobiography as art: the centrepiece of Terence Davies' devastating Liverpool-set Trilogy focuses on his fictional alter-ego in middle age.

The first part of Terence Davies' formidable Trilogy explores the effects of violence on a Liverpool schoolboy, told in a series of flashbacks.

In this personal film, Richard Billingham delves into his upbringing to recreate family memories and desperate living in Thatcher’s Britain.

Florence Pugh shines in this exceptional British debut of a young wife's need for freedom, whatever the cost.

Legendary film that brilliantly captures the cultural phenomenon that was the 2 Tone movement, and showcases the very best of the British Ska revival.

Groundbreaking music film, coupled with Chloé Raunet’s documentary about the making of the film, offering an insight into the heart of acid house.

Paul Kelly's stirring and acclaimed character study of enigmatic musician Lawrence (Felt, Denim and Go-Kart Mozart).

Explicit and controversial drama. An ambitious working girl moves to London hoping to securing wealthier patrons, while her social worker friend fights to change antiquated prostitution laws.

A lesbian couple arouse the interest of their new neighbour in this erotic tale of voyeurism, power dressing and fantasy.

Mia Farrow plays a bereaved mother haunted by the spirit of a child in this supernatural chiller.

A unit of British paratroopers in Afghanistan become caught in a minefield, unable to move or help their injured colleagues, in this unbearably tense thriller.

Hannah Murray (Game of Thrones) and Josh O'Connor (God's Own Country), star in this haunting mystery drama inspired by true events.

A haunting blend of edgy mystery story and existential road movie.

A warm and witty graphic novel adaptation about a single librarian trying to reconnect with her introverted, metalhead teenage son.

Journey through the collected films of The KLF, one of the most successful, enigmatic and outrageous electronic bands of the late 1980s and early 1990s.