Carl Roberts 
The BFI announces its 2026 cultural programme highlights for UK audiences. Get ready to be amazed! You’re in for a treat!
The BFI has announced its upcoming cultural programme highlights for audiences across the UK. These highlights include shows in cinemas at BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX. They will also be available around the UK/Ireland through BFI Distribution. Additionally, they will be available on BFI Player and on BFI Blu-ray. From highly anticipated premieres and new releases, archive restorations, curated seasons and film festivals on the big screen, to the most exciting names in film and television live on stage, plus free archive film material in libraries and at home. Furthermore, distinctive online collections will be part of the programme. The BFI’s 2026 cultural programme will help connect audiences everywhere to stories on screen. These include stories that are old and new, from the UK and around the world.
WHAT’S INCLUDED
The BFI’s 2026 programme will include:
Film and TV seasons at BFI Southbank will include retrospectives on filmmakers David Lynch, Kathryn Bigelow, Andrzej Wajda, Peter Weir, Ritwik Ghatak, and Guillermo del Toro. He was recently announced as our next BFI Fellow. Additional retrospectives will feature Peter Watkins, Sir John Akomfrah and Billy Wilder. There will also be Marilyn Monroe retrospectives as part of her centenary celebrations. There will also be an extensive two-month season on Brazilian Cinema. This is part of the UK/Brazil Season of Culture 2025-26. Plus a range of thematic seasons. These will look at boxing, Trash Cinema, skateboarding, British Postwar Cinema (1945-1960), and the history of the UK’s multicultural TV units.
Other highlights include Constructed, Told, Spoken: A Counter History of Britain on TV. Films from the UK’s influential Black and South Asian Workshops will be remastered in 4K by the BFI National Archive. Additionally, there will be Puppetry on screen. A season programmed by Kazuo Ishiguro will focus on films set on trains. Celebratory weekenders will look back at the Festival of Britain 75 years on. But there is also much more planned.
BFI Distribution UK and Ireland cinema releases of new features, including MENUS-PLAISIRS – LES TROISGROS, THE CHRONOLOGY OF WATER, D IS FOR DISTANCE, ROSE OF NEVADA, ISH and SUPER NATURE, plus classics including STRONGROOM and CRONOS.
The 40th BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival (19–30 March) and the 70th BFI London Film Festival return in October, celebrating significant milestones.
MAJOR RELEASES
Major releases and event cinema screenings on the UK’s largest screen, BFI IMAX, including NARNIA (Greta Gerwig), THE BRIDE! (Maggie Gyllenhaal), PROJECT HAIL MARY (Phil Lord and Chris Miller), THE MANDALORIAN & GROGU (Jon Favreau), and Christopher Nolan’s THE ODYSSEY shot entirely with IMAX cameras and playing on an IMAX 70mm print, plus seasons on David Lynch and Guillermo del Toro with screenings at BFI IMAX.
BFI PLAYER
New releases, classic titles and curated collections on BFI Player, including subscription collections on Brazilian Cinema, boxing, trash cinema, skateboarding, and Frederick Wiseman.
BFI BLU-RAY
BFI Blu-ray releases include Cinema Expanded: The Films of Frederick Wiseman 3-disc Blu-ray collection, Mark Jenkin’s ROSE OF NEVADA, a BFI remaster of Vernon Sewell’s STRONGROOM (1962), 3-disc Blu-ray/DVD Dual Format Edition set of Daniel Farson’s Guide to Britain Volume 1 and Children’s Film Foundation Bumper Box: Volume 6.
UK-WIDE RELEASES OF SUPPORTED FILMS
UK-wide releases of films made with the support of the BFI Filmmaking Fund, awarding National Lottery funding, including Akinola Davies Jr’s MY FATHER’S SHADOW starring Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù, Aneil Karia’s HAMLET starring Riz Ahmed and Morfydd Clark (both released 6 February), Mark Jenkin’s ROSE OF NEVADA starring George MacKay and Callum Turner (released 24 April) and Imran Perretta’s ISH (released spring/summer). Also recently in production and expected in 2026, hotly anticipated new features from Shane Meadows with CHORK, his first feature in 17 years, and Clio Barnard with I SEE BUILDINGS FALL LIKE LIGHTNING starring Anthony Boyle, Joe Cole, Jay Lycurgo and Daryl McCormack, as well as directorial feature debuts from Ashley Walters, with ANIMOL starring Tut Nyuot, Vladyslav Baliuk and Stephen Graham, and Thea Gajić, with SURVIVING EARTH starring Slavko Sobin and Olive Gray.
FURTHER DETAILS OF PROGRAMME HIGHLIGHTS
JANUARY – MARCH 2026
David Lynch: The Dreamer A year since Lynch’s passing, a chance to reflect and pay tribute to a unique visionary and his legacy (BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX – Jan)
Ensemble: The Filmmakers of Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, exploring the work of the figures that populate Richard Linklater’s joyful homage to the birth of the French New Wave (BFI Southbank – Jan)
Woman With a Movie Camera Summit (BFI Southbank – Jan, plus a BFI Player collection)
Beyond The Frame: Women filmmakers and their Archives exploring the legacy of Gurinder Chadha and Tina Gharavi’s work through the context of their archives (BFI Southbank – Jan)
MENUS PLAISIRS – LES TROISGROS (Frederick Wiseman, 2023) (BFI Distribution UK/Ireland release in selected cinemas – 2 Jan)
Cinema Expanded: The Films of Frederick Wiseman (BFI Blu-ray 3-disc collection including Titicut Follies, High School, Hospital, Juvenile Court and Welfare released 26 Jan plus 9-film BFI Player Subscription collection from Jan)
STRONGROOM (Vernon Sewell, 1962) BFI remaster (BFI Distribution UK/Ireland release in selected cinemas – 30 Jan, on BFI Blu-ray 23 Feb and BFI Player 23 Mar)
THE CHRONOLOGY OF WATER (Kristen Stewart) (BFI Distribution UK/Ireland cinema release – 6 Feb)
Andrzej Wajda: Portraits of History and Humanity to mark the century of Wajda’s birth and 10 years since his passing, we celebrate a singular voice in Polish and world cinema (BFI Southbank – Feb-Mar) presented in partnership with KINOTEKA Polish Film Festival
Close to the edge: The films of Kathryn Bigelow defined by action, adrenaline and artistry, Bigelow’s cinema demands to be seen on the big screen (BFI Southbank – Feb-Mar)
Constructed, Told, Spoken: A Counter History of Britain on TV In the postwar era, Afro-Caribbean and South Asian Britons began to construct a new identity, using television as a medium to advocate for their political and social representation (BFI Southbank – Feb-Mar)
Cinema Made in Italy Festival, celebrating the best new Italian Cinema (BFI Southbank – Mar)
Daniel Farson’s Guide to Britain Volume 1 showcases the pioneering investigative journalist’s most innovative, eccentric and important work, who paved the way for later programme-makers in the Louis Theroux mould (BFI 3-disc Blu-ray/DVD Dual Format Edition set – 16 Feb)
Children’s Film Foundation Bumper Box: Volume 6 (BFI Blu-ray – 16 Mar)
40th BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival (BFI Southbank – 19-30 Mar)
APRIL – JUNE 2026
D IS FOR DISTANCE (Christopher Petit & Emma Matthews) (BFI Distribution UK/Ireland cinema release – 3 Apr)
The Cinematic Life of Boxing (BFI Southbank – Apr)
Peter Weir (BFI Southbank – Apr)
ROSE OF NEVADA (Mark Jenkin) (BFI Distribution UK/Ireland cinema release – 24 Apr)
Trash Cinema building on the legacy of the BFI’s John Waters, Scala and Moviedrome, the season reclaims he subversive delights of US Trash Cinema as exemplified by the films of John Waters, Andy Warhol, Jack Smith, George Kuchar and Ed Wood, among others (BFI Southbank – Apr)
Guillermo del Toro BFI Fellowship and season (BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX – May) & CRONOS (BFI Distribution UK/Ireland cinema release – 15 May)
Brazilian Cinema (BFI Southbank – May-Jun) major two-month survey of Brazilian Cinema as part of UK/Brazil Season of Culture 2025-26
Great Expectations – British Postwar Cinema 1945-1960 (BFI Southbank – May) curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht and organised in partnership with the Locarno Film Festival
Celebratory free weekend programmes looking back at film in the 1951 Festival of Britain and exploring youth culture on film to tie in with Southbank 75 (BFI Southbank – May)
Skateboarding (BFI Southbank Jun) as part of Southbank Centre Skate Space 50 celebrations
Marilyn Monroe (BFI Southbank – Jun) with programming presented in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery and their exhibition Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait
Ritwik Ghatak (BFI Southbank – Jun)ISH (Imran Perretta) (BFI Distribution UK/Ireland cinema release – date TBC)
JULY– SEPTEMBER 2026
THE ODYSSEY (Christopher Nolan) playing on an IMAX 70mm print (BFI IMAX – Jul)
Kazuo Ishiguro and Trains on Film (BFI Southbank – Jul)
Black and South Asian Workshops (BFI Southbank – Jul) premieres of new BFI National Archive 4K remasters.
Mark Jenkin BFI Player collection to coincide with ROSE OF NEVADA online premiere (BFI Player – Jul)
Peter Watkins (BFI Southbank – Aug)
Puppetry on Screen (BFI Southbank – Aug)
John Akomfrah (BFI Southbank – Sep)
SUPER NATURE (Ed Sayers) – (BFI Distribution UK/Ireland cinema release – date TBC)
OCTOBER – DECEMBER 2026
70th BFI London Film Festival (BFI Player/BFI Southbank/Venues across London and the UK – dates in October to be announced)
Billy Wilder (BFI Southbank – Oct-Dec)
The BFI is the UK’s lead organisation for film, TV and the moving image. This unique cultural charity supports the work of filmmakers from the UK and around the world and champions independent filmmaking.
Introducing Carl! As the News Editor at Future of the Force, Carl has been an invaluable member of our team since early 2016. His expertise and dedication have made him an integral part of our editorial staff. Beyond his professional role, Carl is a fervent supporter of Liverpool F.C. and an avid follower of pop culture. He has a deep passion for Halloween, Friday the 13th, and the iconic movie franchises Star Wars and Star Trek.
He can be found either at his neighborhood cinema, enjoying the latest releases on the big screen, or at home streaming the newest blockbuster movies.
