British Film Institute

Eight years ago, frustrated by mainstream Hollywood, Steven Soderbergh quit filming directing. He un-quit last week with Logan Lucky, the rural American take on his Ocean's heist movies. The director - restless and creative - continues to take artistic risks in pursuit of interesting new ideas. Often his films don't work, but there's something to love in even his worst. Here Henry Barnes presents the case for calling Soderbergh the best director in the business and shares clips from an interview with Soderbergh (and his regular star George Clooney)from the BFI archive. The British Film Institute's podcast is an audio adventure through the BFI's archives. Each fortnight host Henry Barnes digs into a cinematic passion, be it an actor, a director, a genre, a franchise or meme. This episode of The BFI Podcast contains clips from the following: - The Girlfriend Experience. Directed by Steven Soderbergh and released in 2009 by Magnolia Pictures. - Erin Brockovich. Directed by Steven Soderbergh and released in 2000 by Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures. - Logan Lucky. Directed by Steven Soderbergh and released in 2017 by Bleecker Street and Fingerprint Releasing. The following audio tracks were used under license from Audio Network: - Throwback Jack. Written and recorded by Tim Garland and released in 2013. - Gentleways. Written and recorded by Paul Mottram and released in 2014. - Tough It Out. Written and recorded by Gareth Johnson, Simon Clarke and David Bronze and released in 2015. - Monster Groove. Written and recorded by James Taylor and released in 2016. - Ice Cream Sky. Written and recorded by Bob Bradley, Jason Pedder and Ben Ziapour and released in 2012.

Simon McCallum, programmer of the BFI's Gross Indecency season, introduces Victim, the 1961 film, starring Dirk Bogarde, that was a mainstream crime thriller unlike any other. The first English-language film to use the word "homosexual", Victim was a campaigning work, calling for an end to legislation that made homosexual relationships illegal and left thousands of men vulnerable to blackmail. Here Simon takes us through the making of the film and talks about the bravery of its star, a gay man who chose not to reveal his sexuality, but still to take a stand. The British Film Institute's podcast is an audio adventure through the BFI's archives. Each fortnight host Henry Barnes will be joined by a special guest to dig into their cinematic passion, be it an actor, a director, a genre, a franchise or meme. This episode of The BFI Podcast contains clips from the following: - Victim. Directed by Basil Dearden and released in 1961 by Rank Film Distributors. - Penny Princess. Directed by Val Guest and released in 1952 by General Film Distributors. - Death in Venice. Directed by Luchino Visconti and released in 1971 by Warner Brothers. The following audio tracks were used under license from Audio Network: - Throwback Jack. Written and recorded by Tim Garland and released in 2013. - I Need You. Written and recorded by Jason Pedder, Ashley Barnes and Douglas Brown and released in 2015. - Have a Dream. Written and recorded by Lincoln Grounds and Pat Reyford and released in 2016. - Late Night Tipsy. Written and recorded by Neil Sidwell and released in 2016. - Mooch. Written and recorded by Mark Allaway and Jeff Lardner and released in 2017.

Special guest Sam Wigley introduces Claude Chabrol, "the French Hitchcock", whose 50-plus films explored the psychology of murder with a mischievous flair. Chabrol, the first of the French New Wave directors to make a film, is often overshadowed by his flashier contemporaries. Here, Sam makes the case for celebrating the godfather of the scene: a gourmand, a revolutionary and a bit of scamp. The British Film Institute's podcast is an audio adventure through the BFI's archives. Each fortnight host Henry Barnes will be joined by a special guest to dig into their cinematic passion, be it a director, a genre, a franchise or a meme. This episode of The BFI Podcast contains clips from the following: - Le Boucher. Directed by Claude Chabrol and released in 1970 by Cinerama Releasing Corporation. - La Rupture. Directed by Claude Chabrol and released in 1970 by Gaumont Film Company and New Line Cinema. The following audio tracks were used under license from Audio Network: - Throwback Jack. Written and recorded by Tim Garland and released in 2013. - Cunning Plan. Written and recorded by Tim Garland and released in 2010. - Swinging Clock. Written and recorded by Bob Bradley and released in 2015. - Silent Desire. Written and recorded by Angel Lam and released in 2013. - Captain Jack. Written and recorded by Barry Gledden and Kes Loy and released in 2015.

The story of the New German Cinema film-makers, who magicked one of the world's most exciting cinema movements out of the creative ruin of the second world war. As the BFI's Rainer Werner Fassbinder season continues, Henry Barnes digs up archive audio of the stars of the movement, including Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders. The British Film Institute's podcast is an audio adventure through the BFI's archives. Each fortnight host Henry Barnes will be joined by a special guest to dig into their cinematic passion, be it a director, a genre, a franchise or a meme. This episode of the BFI podcast contains clips from the following: - Paris, Texas. Directed by Wim Wenders and released by 20th Century Fox in 1984. - Faraway, So Close! Directed by Wim Wenders and released by Sony Pictures Classics in 1993. The following tracks were used under license from Audio Network: - Throwback Jack. Written and performed by Tim Garland. Released in 2013. - Zen Tea Tent. Written and performed by Bob Bradley. Released in 2009. - Cosmic Hustle. Written and performed by Barrie Gledden,Tim Reilly and Jeff Dale. Released in 2014. - Obvious Youth. Written and performed by Alexis Smith and Joe Henson. Released in 2014. - Flesh and Bones. Written and performed by Tom Boddy. Released in 2015. - Sleepwalker. Written and performed by Terry Devine-King. Released in 2015. - Feel Good. Written and performed by Alex Arcoleo. Released in 2016.

Sight & Sound production editor Isabel Stevens guest hosts on an episode about the history of all-female director-actor partnerships, from Frances Marion and Mary Pickford's box office busting silent films to Michelle Williams and Kelly Reichardt's collaboration, which has produced films like Wendy & Lucy and Meek's Cutoff - stories of women challenging patriarchal assumptions about their place in society. Plus, we look at the troubling relationship between director Catherine Breillat and actor Roxane Mesquida - whose second film together explored the experience of shooting of an exploitative sex scene in their first. The British Film Institute's podcast is an audio adventure through the BFI's archives. Each fortnight host Henry Barnes will be joined by a special guest to dig into their cinematic passion, be it a director, a genre, a franchise or a meme. This episode includes clips from the following films: - Dawson’s Creek, “Road Trip”, Season 1, episode 9. Directed by Steven Robman and released by Columbia TriStar Television in 1998. - Wendy & Lucy. Directed by Kelly Reichardt and released by Oscilloscope Laboratories in 2008. - Meek’s Cutoff. Directed by Kelly Reichardt and released by Oscilloscope Laboratories in 2010. - Certain Women. Directed by Kelly Reichardt and released by IFC Films in 2017. - Taxi Driver. Directed by Martin Scorsese and released by Columbia Pictures in 1976 The following tracks were used under license from Audio Network: - Throwback Jack. Written and performed by Tim Garland. Released in 2013. - Sunlight. Written and performed by David O’Brien. Released in 2007. - Sunshine’s Coming Up. Written and performed by Neil Williams and Gerard Presencer. Released in 2011. - Get Connected. Written and performed by Jason Pedder, Ben Ziapour and Jamie Ziapour. Released in 2013. - Remember Our Day. Written and performed by Jeff Meegan, David Tobin, Andrew Duncan and Jason Pedder. Released in 2017. - Uluru. Written and performed by Bruce Maginnis. Released in 2017.

Part two of our special double episode on an American indie cinema heavyweight, Martin Scorsese. This episode we hear how Robert De Niro pigged out to play Raging Bull's Jake La Motta, why Scorsese angered Lorraine Bracco by pretending to be her on the set of Goodfellas and how Scorsese and one of his closest confidantes - editor Thelma Schoonmaker - have managed to keep working together for over 40 years. The British Film Institute's podcast is an audio adventure through the BFI's archives. Each fortnight host Henry Barnes will be joined by a special guest to dig into their cinematic passion, be it a director, a genre, a franchise or a meme. This week, BFI Southbank chief programmer Geoff Andrew joins us again for part two of our Marty party. This episode contains short clips from the following: - Raging Bull. Directed by Martin Scorsese, released by United Artists in 1980. - Goodfellas. Directed by Martin Scorsese, released by Warner Brothers in 1990. The following audio tracks are used under license from Audio Network Limited: - Throwback Jack by Tim Garland, released 2013. - Meltwater by Richard Lacy, released 2013. - Silent Desire by Angel Lam, released 2013. - Chicanery by Terry Divine-King and Paul Clarvis, released 2014 - Progress by Bryce Jacobs, released 2017 For more on the BFI's Scorsese season go to bfi.org.uk.

The new podcast from the British Film Institute launches with the first of a two-part episode on Martin Scorsese, featuring a previously unreleased interview with the film-maker from 1987, as well as clips from the archive of writer-director Paul Schrader and actor Robert De Niro revealing what it's like to work with one of the most precise directors in film. Join Henry Barnes every two weeks for an audio adventure through the BFI's archives. Each fortnight Henry will be joined by a special guest to dig into their cinematic passion, be it a director, a genre, a franchise or a meme. This week, BFI Southbank chief programmer Geoff Andrew clambers into the pod to kick off our Marty party. This episode contains short clips from the following: - Citizen Kane. Directed by Orson Welles, released by RKO Productions and Mercury Productions in 1942. - 8 1/2. Directed by Federico Fellini, released by Cineriz and Francinex in 1963. - Rocco and his Brothers. Directed by Luchino Visconti, released by Titanus and Les Films Marceau in 1960. - New York, New York. Directed by Martin Scorsese, released by Chartoff-Winkler Productions and United Artists in 1977. The following audio tracks are used under license from Audio Network Limited: - Throwback Jack by Tim Garland, released 2013. - String Theory by Terry Divine-King, released 2012. - Canyon Lands by Adam Drake, released in 2011. - Angel Island by Terry Divine-King, released in 2015. - Good Deeds by Sam Wedgwood, released in 2017. For more on the BFI's Scorsese season go to bfi.org.uk.

Tyler Perry became a media power player through Madea, his riotous spin on the mammy stereotype. Now the richest man in entertainment, Perry's success lies in serving a black audience that has been consistently ignored by Hollywood. In the final episode of our Black Star mini-series, we look at how stars like Perry, Spike Lee and Shonda Rhimes have begun to re-wire the industry. We also examine the role of the black star in Trump's America. This episode of the Black Star contains short clips from the following: - Marlon Wayans's appearance on the Essence Live chatshow on 21 January 2016. - Boo! A Madea Halloween, directed by Tyler Perry and released by Tyler Perry Studios and Lionsgate in 2016. - The Fresh Prince of Bel Air episode "For Sale by Owner", directed by Shelley Jensen and released by The Stuffed Dog Company, Quincy Jones productions, David Salzman Entertainment and NBC Productions in 1994. - Annie, directed by Will Gluck and released by Village Roadshow Pictures, Overbrook Entertainment and Columbia Pictures in 2014. - And Fences, directed by Denzel Washington, which is set for release by Bron Creative, Macro Media, Scott Rudin Productions and Paramount Pictures on Christmas day

In the last of our suite of salons, Experimenta programmer and BFI head of cinemas Helen de Witt takes Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor’s (aka Desperate Optimists) Further Beyond and Alia Syed’s On a Wing and a Prayer as the point of departure for a conversation about journey, exile, and personal and formal risk-taking. Raising questions about the unreliability of mediation through narrative, and responding to a hazardous situation through recreating and embodying biographical details, both films use bravely exposed formal innovation to throw light on all too current questions of migration and displacement.

Anja Kirschner (Moderation), Larissa Sansour and co-director Søren Lind (In the Future, They Ate from the Finest Porcelain) are invited into the BFI Studio for a lively conversation with Experimenta programmer and curator of artists’ moving image at the BFI National Archive, William Fowler. From horror to sci-fi and beyond, this salon explores how artist filmmakers are reinterpreting and manipulating genre filmmaking, what notions of genre cinema might mean when situated within an art discourse, and other related questions.

To celebrate the London Film Festival screening of EXPRMNTL, a documentary about the first experimental film festival, founded in 1949, we reflect on where we have got to in the intervening years. Is there still a place for experimental film festivals? What are they for? What is the relationship between the mainstream and the fringe in contemporary film culture? To discuss these and other questions Experimenta programmer and director of LUX Benjamin Cook is joined by the directors of two of the foremost 'experimental' film festivals Amy Fung, artistic director of Toronto’s Images Festival and Peter Taylor, director of Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival.

Questions of how the past intersects with, and is activated by, the present are concerns addressed in this Experimenta Salon that brings together Sarah Pucill (Confessions to the Mirror) and Ruth Maclennan (Hero City) in conversation with Experimenta programmer and BFI head of cinemas Helen de Witt. Creating dialogues between past and present across spans of time, both artists investigate the role of their own subjectivity in revisiting different pasts; activating those through their individual contemporary aesthetic practice to allow something new to arise from the dialogue.

Back to the 90s and the ascent of the black star as box office titan. Following in the footsteps of Pam Grier and Richard Pryor, actors like Eddie Murphy and Whoopi Goldberg used their immense popularity as comedians to push for top billing and some of the biggest pay packets in the business. - Whoopi Goldberg: Direct from Broadway. Directed by Thomas Schlamme and released by Vestron in 1985 - The Color Purple, directed by Steven Spielberg and released in 1985 by Warner Brothers - Ghost, directed by Jerry Zucker and released in 1990 by Paramount Pictures - The Toy, directed by Richard Donner and released in 1982 by Columbia Pictures - Sister Act 2, directed by Bill Duke and released in 1993 by Touchstone Pictures and Buena Vista Pictures

The one, the only, the mighty ... Pam Grier. This week the Black Star podcast pays tribute to the figurehead of the Blaxploitation movement: a star who became one of the only black women to take the fight to the men in the action genre. We also track Blaxploitation's influence, from the hip hop of Snoop Dogg and the Geto Boys to the genre's late-90s resurgence thanks - in part - to Quentin Tarantino. The Pam Grier episode of Black Star contained short clips from the following: - Foxy Brown, directed by Jack Hill and released in 1974 by American International Pictures - Coffy, directed by Jack Hill and released in 1973 by American International Pictures - Original Gangstas, directed by Larry Cohen and released in 1996 by Orien Pictures - Jackie Brown, directed by Quentin Tarantino and released in 1997 by A Band Apart, Mighty Mighty Aphrodite Productions, Laurence Bender Productions and Miramax. - Black Dynamite, directed by Scott Sanders and released in 2009 by ARS Nova and Apparition And a clip from the Fox TV show Empire, first broadcast in 2015 and released by Imagine Television, Lee Daniels Entertainment, Danny Strong Productions, Little Chicken Inc and 20th Century Fox Television.

The Black Star podcast continues with the story of a civil rights campaigner, who also happened to be one of the 1950s' biggest movie stars: Harry Belafonte. Tracing Belafonte’s political awakening back to Paul Robeson – and that star’s unlikely political awakening thanks to a group of striking Welsh miners – we see how Belafonte’s activism has inspired a whole new generation of political black stars. The Black Star podcast is a six-week series celebrating some of the most influential black film stars across the ages. This episode of Black Star contains short clips of the following: - The Banana Boat Song, performed by Harry Belafonte and released by RCA Victor in 1956 - Jesse Williams’s speech at the 2016 BET awards, held on June 26th of this year and presented by BET Networks - Amandla Stenberg’s video essay, Don’t Cash Crop My Cornrows, produced by Quinn Masterson and Amandla Stenberg AND - Harry Belafonte’s address to the 2016 #MKNOW event, footage directed by Paul Fant