The British Film Institute turns 75 this month, and they're throwing a big Birthday Weekender bash at their swank Southbank and IMAX locations to celebrate.
Things kick off tonight with an audiovisual performance that aims to "glance into the future of cinema" and mix it with "club culture", an ominous pairing if ever we imagined one one. On Saturday and Sunday things settle into a more predictable groove, with free screenings of Mitchell and Kenyon in Ireland at 2pm. Saturday evening, the IMAX will show a nocturnal collection of films from the BFI's current Time Machine season, including Terminator 2 and Twelve Monkeys. A family funday and an evening film quiz round things off nicely on Sunday.
Beyond the weekend itself, the BFI is tackling the thornier issue of cinema's visions for the future. They've gathered a motley crew of the great 'n good from the world of film and current affairs - 75 of them, to be precise - and posed two questions: What film would you choose to share with future generations, and what excites you about the future of the moving image. Their pontifications and musings are available for all to read, but the BFI is also inviting film fans to join in. You can vote for one of the films (or even nominate a new one), and the top five will be screened at BFI Southbank in January.
At time of writing the top spots are dominated by what looks like the contents of an Empire subscriber's DVD cabinet - Blade Runner, Quadrophenia, The Godfather and Pulp Fiction are there or thereabouts, while a more esoteric entry comes via Stalker in fourth place.
We're biased of course, but we'd love to see the celluloid classics featured in our Londonist Film Club up on the big screen again.
BFI Birthday Weekender, 26th-28th September, South Bank. Thanks to Gia Milinovich for the image.
