For the first month of 2022, we’re celebrating the first-time features of some of our favourite filmmakers. Join us in January for a classic season of stunning directorial debuts, from genre-defining crime-noirs to incredible visionary tales of youth by some of cinemas greatest filmmakers.
The BFI recently released a restored version of John Huston’s debut The Maltese Falcon to celebrate the film’s 80th anniversary, a film that still cuts like a finely sharpened knife today. The film stars Humphrey Bogart as a world-weary private detective who gets tangled up with a deadly band of international thieves on the hunt for a precious statue. Huston’s meticulously planned and creatively shot crime-noir has gone down in history as one of the most influential detective films ever made.
Watch The Maltese Falcon on the following dates:
- Sunday 2 January 14:45
- Monday 3 January 18:30
- Wednesday 5 January 20:30
THE MALTESE FALCON – BOOK TICKETS
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See where it all began for one of the revered directors of all time. Andrei Tarkovsky’s eerie, nightmarish masterpiece follows a young boy who becomes a Soviet spy on the Eastern Front during the Second World War. Featuring some truly unforgettable imagery, Ivan’s Childhood is one of the greatest films to portray the effect of war on children.
Watch Ivan’s Childhood on the following dates:
- Sunday 9 January 16:00
- Monday 10 January 18:30
- Tuesday 11 January 20:45
IVAN’S CHILDHOOD – BOOK TICKETS
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We’ll also be showing another recent BFI restoration this time reappraising Francois Truffaut’s semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama The 400 Blows. Jean-Pierre Léaud plays a 12-year-old boy who seeks refuge in truancy, crime, and the cinema. With its honest yet sensitive portrayal of adolescence and iconic final frame, the film marked Truffaut’s creative transformation from critic to trailblazer of the French New Wave.
Watch The 400 Blows on the following dates:
- Sunday 16 January 15:00
- Monday 17 January 18:15
- Tuesday 18 January 20:45
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For our final film of the season, we revisit the first feature of one of the UK’s most unique and thought-provoking modern filmmakers, Lynne Ramsay. Perhaps more well known for her recent US-based work such as You Were Never Really Here and We Need To Talk About Kevin, Ramsay’s early work was much more focused on her Scottish homeland. Her debut specifically examines a period of political upheaval in 1970s Glasgow told through the eyes of a troubled young boy. Haunting and incredibly moving, the film is surely one of the best British films of the 1990s.
See Ratcatcher on the following dates:
- Sunday 23 January 15:45
- Monday 24 January 18:30
- Wednesday 26 January 20:45
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