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Previous New Release titles

New Release Support titles that have previously been backed by the BFI Film Audience Network (FAN)

2021/2022 releases

Ali & Ava

Dir. Clio Barnard | Cert. 15  | 95 mins | UK | 2021

Booking: bryonyforde@altitudefilment.com

Release date: 4 March 2022

Sparks fly after ALI and AVA meet through their shared affection for Sofia, the child of Ali’s tenants whom Ava teaches. Ali finds comfort in Ava’s warmth and kindness while Ava finds Ali’s complexity and humour irresistible. As the pair begin to form a deep connection they have to find a way to keep their newfound passion from being overshadowed by the stresses and struggles of their separate lives and histories.​

Enveloped in music, humour and emotion, ALI & AVA is a heartfelt contemporary love story written and directed by BAFTA-nominated Clio Barnard (The Arbor, The Selfish Giant).

BFI FAN members that screen Ali & Ava can expect and request:

Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn

Dir. Radu Jude | Cert 18  | 106 mins | Romania | 2021

Booking: chee@sovereignfilms.co.uk

Release date: 26 November 2021

Emi, a school teacher, finds her career and reputation under threat after a personal sex tape is leaked on the Internet. Forced to meet the parents demanding her dismissal, Emi refuses to surrender to their pressure. Radu Jude (Aferim!) delivers an incendiary mix of unconventional form, irreverent humor and scathing commentary on hypocrisy and prejudice in our societies.

The title contains strong real sex, nudity, sexually abusive behaviour, very strong language.

BFI FAN members that screen Bad Luck Banging can expect and request:

  • Audio descriptive and captioned versions of the film
  • Marketing pack and assets including programme notes
  • Pre-recorded 20 min director Q&A available for exhibitors
  • Freelance marketing support in every Film Hub area
  • Advice from Inclusive Cinema for exhibitors putting on accessible screenings
  • Support from BFI FAN’s Young Consultants
  • Budget for Facebook/social media ads

Balloon

Dir. Pema Tseden | Cert 12A  | 102 mins | China | 2019

Booking: duncan@day-for-night.org

Release date: 24 September 2021

Tibet, 1980s: Dargye and Drolkar’s two boisterous youngest sons have blown up their parents’ condoms like balloons. Not only does this outrage their entire village, but more practically: they have no more condoms. The shepherd couple already have three sons, and as China has recently introduced its one-child policy, they can’t have any more. 

Once China’s one-child policy was relaxed in 2015 – now permitting two children per family – space opened up for films examining the often profoundly traumatic consequences of this measure. Tseden takes a drily comic approach to the subject here, captured in deceptively simple handheld footage full of implicit symbolism. In his world, there is no chasm between modernity and tradition; rather, the two gently rub against each other. 

With its cool colour palette, attentive handheld camerawork, and painterly passages that seem to transpire somewhere between this world and the next, Balloon approaches weighty themes with beguiling brio and a sense of wonder.

BFI FAN members that screen Balloon can expect and request:

Limbo

Dir: Ben Sharrock | Cert 12A  | 103 mins | UK | 2020

Booking: Natalie Ralph <nralph@mubi.com>

Release date: 30 July 2021

Ben Sharrock’s critically adored deadpan comedy-drama Limbo is a wry, funny and poignant cross-cultural satire that subtly sews together the hardship and hope of the refugee experience, shining a light on the hearts and lives of those at the centre of a crisis that is mostly only experienced through the headlines. 

Set on a fictional remote Scottish island, Limbo tells the story of a group of new arrivals awaiting the results of their asylum claims. It centers on Omar (played by rising star Amir El-Masry), a young Syrian musician who, thousands of miles from home, finds himself trapped by guilt, regret and the grief that he carries for the loss of his former identity. Separated from his family and burdened by a plaster cast on his arm, Omar wanders the epic landscapes searching for answers to a complex past and daunting future. 

But while he is stuck there, he isn’t alone. In between brief long-distance conversations with his parents and passing interactions with oddball locals, Omar and his new flatmates attend outrageously misjudged ‘cultural awareness’ classes, binge Friends boxsets, and debate attending the local open mic night, all the while waiting for the delivery of letters that will ultimately determine their future.

BFI FAN members that screen Limbo can expect and request:

ALSO AVAILABLE: To celebrate the release of Limbo by MUBI on 30 July, BFI FAN have teamed up with ArtReach to offer you the opportunity to add a short film to your screening.

Journeys into Film is a fresh and thoughtful selection of short films from five contemporary filmmakers that offer both artistic intrigue and an injection of the reality of displacement and seeking refuge. Through bold, experimental, and intimate approaches, these films articulate the voices of their makers’ lived experiences and will resonate with audiences across the country.

Each film can be provided individually for a small fee of £20 +VAT. The full programme can also be booked for £100+VAT and would work best as a stand alone follow up screening.

Please enquire with Dan Williamson dan@artreach.biz for more details and to get preview access to the films.

Find out more

Another Round

Dir. Thomas Vinterberg | Cert 15  | 116 mins | Denmark | 2020

Booking:

Release date: 2 July 2021

Winner of the Oscar for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards and winner of the Best Film Not in the English Language at the 74th British Academy Film Awards.

There is an obscure philosophical theory that humans should have been born with a small amount of alcohol in our blood; that modest inebriation opens our minds to the world around us, diminishing problems and increasing creativity.

Intrigued, Martin (Mads Mikkelsen) and three of his friends, all weary high school teachers, embark on a risky experiment to maintain a constant level of intoxication throughout the workday.

Initial results are positive, but as the units are knocked back and stakes are raised, it becomes increasingly clear that some bold acts carry severe consequences.

BFI FAN members that screen Another Round can expect and request:

Sound of Metal 

Dir. Darius Marder | Cert 15  | 120 mins | Belgium/USA | 2019

Booking: michaelw@vertigofilms.com

Release date: 17 May 2021

Riz Ahmed is superb in Sound of Metal, the remarkably assured feature debut of American director, screenwriter and editor Darius Marder (co-writer of The Place Beyond the Pines) about a heavy metal drummer (Riz Ahmed) who after losing his hearing, is forced to re-evaluate his place in the world.

Ruben (Riz Ahmed) and Lou (Olivia Cooke) live together, two nomads traveling gig to gig on an endless American tour. Their music is loud, frenzied and passionate, until one day Ruben is overwhelmed by a severe ringing in his ears, which quickly gives way to deafness. Ruben is suddenly overcome by anxiety, depression, and soon enough his past addictions begin to surface. Ruben checks himself into a home for deaf addicts run by an eccentric deaf veteran, Joe. In this world of silence and under Joe’s tough, observant care, Ruben must confront himself more honestly than ever before. But the love and sound of his old life echoes in Ruben’s mind, calling for him to return…

Marder uses innovative sound design to create a powerful soundscape of scrapes and muffles that give you a real sense of Ruben’s sonic experience and interior world; including his utter panic as he is jolted into a new, quieter way of being. Injecting visceral, edgy circumstances with great sensitivity, and strengthened by tough-minded performances from Ahmed and Cooke, Sound of Metal is a poignant portrait of a man finding his way to a new revelation.

2019/2020 releases

System Crasher

Dir. Nora Fingscheidt | Cert 15  | 118 mins | Germany | 2019

Booking: pat.kelman@606distribution.co.uk / james@koenigpictures.com

This film is supported by The Association of Child Protection Professionals. Please contact them if you’d be interested in having a representative introduce your screening. 

She is small, but dangerous. Wherever Benni ends up, she is immediately expelled. 

The wild 9-year-old girl has already become what child protection services call a “system crasher” and she is certainly not looking to change her ways. Benni has one single goal: to be back at home with her mommy! Unfortunately, her mother is scared of her own daughter. Trying to find a permanent placement for Benni, Child Protection Services hires Micha, an anger management trainer and suddenly there is a seed of hope. Will Micha be able to succeed where all others despaired? 

While being acutely authentic, first-time director Nora Fingscheidt transcends a psychological study and crafts vibrant, visceral and emotional cinema, which evokes unforgettable performances.

The Peanut Butter Falcon

Dir. Tyler Nilson and Michael Shwartz  | Cert. 12A | 1hr 33 min | U.S.

Booking: sales@signature-entertainment.co.uk

The Peanut Butter Falcon is a modern Mark Twain-esque adventure starring Shia LaBeouf (American Honey, Fury) as a small-time outlaw turned unlikely coach who joins forces with Zak, a young man with Down Syndrome on the run from the nursing home with the dream of becoming a professional wrestler. Dakota Johnson (Suspiria, Fifty Shades of Grey) stars as Zak’s loving, but stubborn, carer.

From writer/director duo Tyler Nilson and Michael Shwartz the film also stars Jon Bernthal (Baby Driver, Fury), Thomas Hayden Church (Sideways), Bruce Dern (Nebraksa), John Hawkes (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) and introducing Zack Gottsagen as Zak.

Hail Satan?

Dir. Penny Lane | Cert. 15 | 1hr 35 min | U.S.

Booking: marcel@dogwoof.com

Chronicling the extraordinary rise of one of the most colourful and controversial religious movements in American history, Hail Satan? is an inspiring and entertaining new feature documentary from acclaimed director Penny Lane (Nuts!, Our Nixon). When media-savvy members of the Satanic Temple organise a series of public actions designed to advocate for religious freedom and challenge corrupt authority, they prove that with little more than a clever idea, a mischievous sense of humor, and a few rebellious friends, you can speak truth to power in some truly profound ways. As charming and funny as it is thought-provoking, Hail Satan? offers a timely look at a group of often misunderstood outsiders whose unwavering commitment to social and political justice has empowered thousands of people around the world.

We The Animals

Dir. Jeremiah Zagar | Cert TBC | 1hr 33 min | U.S.

Booking: steve@eurekavideo.co.uk

Three boys tear through their rural New York hometown, in the midst of their young parents’ volatile love that makes and unmakes the family many times over. While Manny and Joel grow into versions of their loving and unpredictable father, Ma seeks to keep her youngest, Jonah, in the cocoon of home. More sensitive and conscious than his older siblings, Jonah increasingly embraces an imagined world all his own.

With a screenplay by Dan Kitrosser and Jeremiah Zagar, We the Animals is a visceral coming-of-age story propelled by layered performances from its astounding cast – including three talented, young first-time actors – and stunning animated sequences which bring Jonah’s torn inner world to life.

2018/2019 releases

Utøya – July 22

Dir. Erik Poppe | Cert TBC | 1h 32min | Norway

On July 22 2011 more than 500 youths at a political summer camp on an island outside Oslo were attacked by an armed, right-wing extremist. Earlier that day he bombed a Government building in Oslo before making his way to Utøya island. In this first fictional movie about the attack we follow Kaja (18) as she tries to survive – minute by minute.

“A gut-wrenching ordeal … a brutal single-take drama from the victims’ perspective…like a YA post-apocalyptic dystopia, with Kaja a real-life Katniss Everdeen … an absorbing and moving tribute to the courage of the young victims of Utøya.”  – 4 Stars, The Guardian

Shoplifters

Dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda | Cert TBC | 2hr 1min | Japan

Now available to book via FilmBankMedia

“Equal parts incisive social critique and nuanced family portrait, the latest from Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda — winner of this year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes — follows a small band of marginalized misfits struggling to make ends meet in a merciless urban environment.” – Toronto International Film Festival

Now available for exhibitors:

  • Marketing pack and assets
  • Freelance marketing support in every Film Hub area
  • Budget for Facebook/social media ads
  • Help producing food-themed and Japanese culture events

Burning 

Dir. Lee Chang-dong | Cert TBC | 2hr 28min | South Korea

Released 1 February 2019 by Thunderbird

Now available to book via FilmBankMedia

In this thrilling adaptation of a Haruki Murakami short story, Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong returns with a gripping psychological thriller about obsessive love set in modern consumerist Korea.

  • Marketing pack and assets
  • Freelance marketing support in every Film Hub area
  • Budget for Facebook/social media ads
  • Help producing panel/Q&A events

Happy as Lazzaro

Dir. Alice Rohrwacher | Cert TBC | 2hr 5min | Italy

Released 5 April 2019 by Modern Films

Booking: franksmith@munrofilmservices.co.uk

Sweet-natured Lazzaro lives in a village in the beautiful Italian countryside, set apart from the world by a bridge that no one can be bothered to fix. Life unfolds much like it did a century ago, save for the odd Walkman and 1990s-era dance music, until things take a strange and supernatural turn as Lazzaro strikes up a friendship with a rebellious young nobleman.

Discover the latest titles to receive FAN support, which include amazing films from across the globe that deserve to be seen on the big screen.

For information on how FAN can support your screening, please contact Timon Singh, Campaigns Manager, FilmHub South West at ti.s@watershed.co.uk 

To find out the latest titles to receive FAN support, sign up to your local Film Hub in order to receive the Booking Now email.