BFI Young Programmers Festival

Curated by 36 young people aged 16 – 19, the BFI Young Film Programmer Season is finally upon us!

We gave these talented young programmers carte blanche to come up with whatever they wanted. The result is a season that includes some of the best in contemporary and cult classics, including The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner.

With each film fitting into a different strand including, Perfect Failures, Dreams of the Future, Living in Colour, The Overlooked, Videogames in Film and Identity and Self-Discovery. Which each exploring a set of themes, subjects and commonality through the films.

This team of young film experts have put together a varied and considered season of cinema. Their selections are a joy to behold on the big screen, and putting these films back where they belong gives people a chance to see them for the first time, or give some classics a much-needed rewatch.

The BFI Young Programmers Festival was planned and put together by 36 talented 16-19 year olds from this year’s BFI Film Academy Specialist Programming Course, which runs here at Showroom Cinema each year. On the month long course, 36 young people from all over the UK learned about film programming, marketing, distribution and audience development alongside industry professionals and filmmakers from across the world. Each strand, film, event and discussion has been curated by young programmers from across the UK.

We will also be screening a selection of our very own BFI Film Academy short films ahead of each screening.

This course is part of BFI Film Academy, a national talent programme supported by the Department for Education and the National Lottery. For more information about the BFI Film Academy Specialist Courses please click here.

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Phantom of the Paradise 15: Written and directed by Brian de Palma as a loose retelling of The Phantom of the Opera, Phantom of the Paradise stars William Finley as Winslow Leach, a talented songwriter who writes his music for the woman he loves to perform.

Jennifer's Body 15: A newly possessed high school cheerleader turns into a succubus who specializes in killing her male classmates.

Rafiki 12A: Swahili/English; When romance blossoms between two Kenyan girls, they must choose between their happiness and their safety. A vibrant, vital film buzzing with chemistry between its two leads.

Pariah 15: 17 year-old Alike quietly but surely embraces her identity as a lesbian. Growing up in Brooklyn, as a straight-A student and talented poet, she is comfortable with who she is, but faces the difficulty of encouraging her family’s acceptance.

Scott Pilgrim vs The World 12A: Scott Pilgrim must defeat the seven evil exes of the girl of his dreams to win her over.

Wreck It Ralph PG: Tired of playing the role of a bad guy in his game, Ralph sets off on a journey across the arcade through multiple generations of video games to prove he’s got what it takes to be a hero.

One Cut of the Dead 15: Japanese; A film crew is shooting a zombie horror flick when a real zombie apocalypse erupts.

Sorry to Bother You 15: English; A fresh, funny and outrageously audacious political comedy starring Lakeith Stanfield (Get Out), Tessa Thompson (Creed) and Jordan Peele.

Under The Skin 15: Visually and aurally audacious and as slippery in form as its central character, Jonathan Glazer’s elliptical sci-fi about an alien creature who stalks down human prey.

The Shining 15: Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece of modern horror is widely considered to be the most terrifying movie of all time.

2001: A Space Odyssey U: Kubrick’s spectacular, transcendent epic has been the touchstone for all science fiction cinema since its original 1968 release

Blade Runner: Final Cut 15: Harrison Ford’s Deckard is a retired Blade Runner - a cop who specialises in terminating replicants. He is forced to resume his old job when four rogue replicants escape from an off-world colony and make it to Earth.