Embrace all things English at the BBC First British Film Festival
When you think about Britain, it’s not hard to paint a mental picture of the culture that comes along with it. From fish and chips to a quintessential acerbic wit, there are certain things that just scream (or rather politely state) “This is so English it hurts.” The BBC First British Film Festival is back for its fourth outing, running from October 27 to November 16 at the Palace Barracks and bringing with it a taste of life from across the pond.
This year’s BBC First British Film Festival offering sees 19 new releases on the bill, as well as 10 additional curated selections that tap into Britain’s rich cinematic history. The mixture of old and new combines films that have not been shown on Australian screens for decades with official award-winning selections from international film festivals. Hot new releases include Ken Loach’s Cannes success I, Daniel Blake and golding biopic Tommy’s Honour from acclaimed director Jason Connery. Rooney Mara, Eric Bana and Vanessa Redgrave head the star-studded cast of emotionally charged The Secret Scripture, and Michael Fassbender shines in the crime drama Trespass Against Us.
The festival opener is an absolute banger – the Australian premiere of A United Kingdom tells the true story of a young Prince of Botswana who caused an international scandal when he married a white Englishwoman in 1948. The visually stunning A Monster Calls will close the festival, bringing to life Patrick Ness’s acclaimed book with the talents of Felicity Jones and Liam Neeson. Picks from the retrospective include dearly departed David Bowie’s outing in The Man Who Fell to Earth, as well as the James Bond classic Goldfinger.
There are still some tickets available to various sessions, so to check out the full program and for more information you can pop over to the BBC British First Film Festival website.
To find out more about what’s on in Brisbane, head to our Event Guide.
