As part of the 2017 UK-India Year of Culture, the British Council and British Film Institute share a unique collection of films documenting the sights and culture of a bygone India. Filmed between 1899-1947, and preserved in the BFI National Archive since then, these rare films capture many glimpses of life in India, from dances and markets, to hunts and pageantry.
The Endless Summer (1966)
Bruce Brown's The Endless Summer is one of the first and most influential surf movies of all time. The film documents American surfers Mike Hynson and Robert August as they travel the world during California’s winter (which, back in 1965 was off-season for surfing) in search of the perfect wave and ultimately, an endless summer.
Season in Tyrol (1969)
A short look at various seasonal activities offered in the Tyrol region of Austria.
Charlie Chaplin, The Genius of Liberty (2020)
The whole world knows him. Burlesque comedy genius, popular actor, author, director, producer, composer, choreographer, Charlie Chaplin (1899-1977) used his talent to serve an ideal of justice and freedom. But his best scenario was his own destiny, a story written into the political and artistic history of the 20th century.
Barbarella Forever (2023)
"Get a never-before-seen look behind the scenes of the making of the sexy and swinging sci-fi Cult classic, Barbarella, in Barbarella Forever. In Barbarella, sixties icon Jane Fonda starred as the saucy astronaut from the 41st century sent to stop an evil scientist and Barbarella Forever features footage of Fonda at work and play during shooting. Gain an insight into the creation of the film’s legendary hand-to-hand sex scene, as well as Fonda and co-star David Hemmings’ processes and working relationship, plus, an insight into the film’s suave French director Roger Vadim. This candid featurette is a snapshot of on and off-set life in groovy 1967 and an unforgettable time capsule capturing a film, and way of filmmaking, that they don’t make like this anymore!"
Singapore On Film (2019)
Rare archive footage reveals what Singapore was like dating back to 1900, showing coolies sharing lunch, rickshaw pullers, a grand Peranakan funeral, and more.
RANIERO (NaN)
With a scuba suit and a GoPro in hand, a 65-year-old shoe store owner is determined to clean up Malta’s seas, one piece of rubbish at a time.
Panipat (2019)
During 18th century India, the Marathas emerged as the most powerful empire in the nation until the Afghan King Ahmad Shah Abdali plans to take over India. Sadashiv Rao Bhau is brought in to save the empire from the king which then leads to the third battle of Panipat.
Promises to the Future (2020)
As the filmmaker pursues a creative career, she goes looking for others in similar positions to explore what her decision entails. Mixing experimental art and documentary film, the work explores the real and imaginary boundaries of creativity.
Raising Bertie (2017)
Raising Bertie is a longitudinal documentary feature following three young African American boys over the course of six years as they grow into adulthood in Bertie County, a rural African American-led community in Eastern North Carolina. Through the intimate portrayal of these boys, this powerful vérité film offers a rare in-depth look at the issues facing America's rural youth and the complex relationships between generational poverty, educational equity, and race. The evocative result is an experience that encourages us to recognize the value and complexity in lives all too often ignored.
Portrait of Dublin (1952)
This short film was made by filmmaker (later archivist) Liam Ó Laoghaire (aka Liam O’Leary) and was commissioned by the Cultural Relations Committee of the Irish Department of External Affairs. The film was designed to promote the city of Dublin to its inhabitants and to potential visitors from abroad. Brendan J. Stafford’s crisp black and white cinematography serves the city’s elegant architecture well while the narrator tells of the city’s cultural, literary and architectural history and its many venerable inhabitants. The elegant Georgian squares, the bustling markets, the tranquil parks and the sparkling nightlife present a city that is vibrant, cultured and steeped in history.
longseason (2023)
In the year of 2022, a late teenager and their friends film moments they would prefer not to forget: their long season.
Tread (2020)
Pushed to his breaking point, a master welder in a small town at the foot of the Rocky Mountains quietly fortifies a bulldozer with 30 tons of concrete and steel and seeks to destroy those he believes have wronged him.
Fieldwork Footage (1928)
Under the tutelage of anthropologist Franz Boas (her former Columbia professor) and Harlem Renaissance arts patron Charlotte Osgood Mason, Zora Neale Hurston spent nearly two years, from 1927 to 1929, studying the folkloric customs, work songs, spirituals, and vernacular language of African American communities along the River Road and from New Orleans to Florida.
Between the Lines: India's Third Gender (2005)
Repping best view to date into the world of the Indian eunuch, “Between the Lines: India’s Third Gender” may not answer all the questions it poses, but helmer Thomas Wartmann provides an intimate glimpse at a community whose members are considered pariahs and conduits of supernatural force. Following shutterbug Anita Khemka in her quest to discover why these castrated men fascinate and repel, docu concentrates on three personalities and uses them as guides to their highly stratified world. Under its nautch skirts, film has strong enough legs to step out into international arthouses.
The Last Maneater: Killer Tigers of India (2003)
Sunderbans (Forest of Beauty) is in West Bengal, India, and is the only place on Earth that is the natural habitat of Royal Bengal Tigers that have never known to be fearful of humans. One tiger has been known to kill three fully grown men, leaving behind orphans and widows who belong to poor tribes, dependent on harvesting wild honey and fishing, in a swampy mangrove region. About 80 people are killed annually by these ferocious beasts with razor-sharp jaws, whose forepaws can shatter bones, and sharp teeth can pierce a skull in one bite. Amidst religious superstitions, the narrator attempts to explain the cause behind their taste for human meat in a region devoid of electricity, roadways, firearms and safe drinking water, and why the villagers continue to live there despite of being stalked and mauled on land and water alike.
At The Helm | The Making of Lotawana (2022)
This hilarious, behind-the-scenes adventure shows the unforgettable, year-long production that Trevor Hawkins and his skeleton-crew of endearing renegades went through to bring their gritty film, Lotawana, to life.
The Bloody Border (2020)
The painful story of Ireland and the Irish people, who struggled for centuries to free themselves from the tyrannical clutches of the British Empire; an epic tale of poverty, hunger, despair, violence and unyielding courage.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The story of British officer T.E. Lawrence's mission to aid the Arab tribes in their revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Lawrence becomes a flamboyant, messianic figure in the cause of Arab unity but his psychological instability threatens to undermine his achievements.
Gandhi (1982)
In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.