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London

From the seedy streets of '60s Soho to the city's metropolitan sheen.

Welcome to the London collection.
 

In its tunnels and on its streets, a city hums with life. its arteries flow with stories of valour, love and struggle, pulled from the millions who live within.

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Enjoy over 600 subscription-only classic and cult films from across the decades.  Free for 14 days, then £4.99 a month - cancel any time

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Battle of SohoBattle of Soho

Documentary 2017 100 minsDirector: Aro Korol

Take a journey through London's most notorious district, meeting residents and campaigners at the forefront of a battle to keep its eccentric, diverse spirit alive.

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A Moving ImageA Moving Image

Drama 2017 74 minsDirector: Shola Amoo

The gentrification of London’s Brixton is examined in this probing and stylistically ambitious debut feature.

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Dispossession: The Great Social Housing SwindleDispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle

Documentary 2017 82 minsDirector: Paul Sng

Maxine Peake narrates this forthright polemic on the consequences of the 1980s Right-to-Buy scheme on the nation's affordable housing.

Currently unavailable

The Party's OverThe Party's Over

Drama 1965 92 minsSilentDirector: Guy Hamilton

The partying of a wild group of beatniks lead by Oliver Reed has shocking consequences. Written by Marc Behm, directed by Guy Hamilton and with music by John Barry.

Rent for £3.50

London SymphonyLondon Symphony

Documentary 2017 72 minsDirector: Alex Barrett

A poetic journey through the capital, presenting an artistic snapshot of London as it stands today, and a celebration of its rich diversity of culture, architecture and religion.

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NighthawksNighthawks

Drama 1978 113 minsDirector: Ron Peck

A schoolteacher juggles everyday life with nights spent cruising for Mr Right in this fascinating landmark in British gay cinema

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My Brother the DevilMy Brother the Devil

Drama 2012 107 minsDirector: Sally El Hosaini

Sally El Hosaini's feature debut tells of the love and disenchantment of two British-Egyptian brothers as gangs, drugs and sexuality come between them.

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LondonLondon

Animation & Artists Moving Image 1994 85 minsDirector: Patrick Keiller

The first in Patrick Keiller’s highly imaginative trilogy of films is a photographic trip through London, recounted by our unseen narrator.

Rent for £3.50

Peeping TomPeeping Tom

Drama 1960 101 minsDirector: Michael Powell

Michael Powell’s dark, disturbing, once controversial tale of a shy camera technician who films women as he kills them is now rightly deemed a classic.

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Deep EndDeep End

Drama 1970 92 minsDirector: Jerzy Skolimowski

Jerzy Skolimowski’s darkly comic and utterly compelling story of teenage infatuation in a run-down swimming pool.

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Bullet BoyBullet Boy

Drama 2005 86 minsDirector: Saul Dibb

Ashley Walters impresses in the hard-hitting Hackney drama that’s still one of the best of Britain’s black urban crime films.

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Brick LaneBrick Lane

Drama 2007 97 minsDirector: Sarah Gavron

Sarah Gavron’s subtle and intelligent adaptation of Monica Ali’s acclaimed novel charts the experiences of a Bangladeshi woman in London.

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This Is TomorrowThis Is Tomorrow

2007 54 minsDirector: Paul Kelly

The final part of Saint Etienne and Paul Kelly’s London trilogy follows the renovation and reopening of the Royal Festival Hall through 2005-7.

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What Have You Done Today Mervyn Day?What Have You Done Today Mervyn Day?

Documentary 2005 45 minsDirector: Paul Kelly

Paul Kelly’s second collaboration with pop band Saint Etienne traces the hidden history of East London’s Lower Lea Valley before its Olympic makeover.

Currently unavailable

FinisterreFinisterre

Documentary 2003 59 minsDirector: Kieran Evans and Paul Kelly

A journey from London’s suburbs to its heart, charting the influence of the city on indie pop band Saint Etienne.

Rent for £2.50

The Boy Who Turned YellowThe Boy Who Turned Yellow

Children's 1972 54 minsDirector: Michael Powell

A London schoolboy’s surprise transformation marks the final collaboration of great British director Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

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UndergroundUnderground

Romance 1928 93 minsSilentDirector: Anthony Asquith

The BFI National Archive restoration of one of Anthony Asquith's finest silent films set in London's Underground, with a new score.

Rent for £1.00

Heart of the AngelHeart of the Angel

Documentary 1989 40 minsDirector: Molly Dineen

Molly Dineen’s wry, humorous and sometimes touching look at the trials faced by the staff and passengers of London’s dishearteningly dilapidated Angel tube station, before its modernisation.

Rent for £3.50

ElectricityElectricity

Drama 2014 96 minsDirector: Bryn Higgins

Agyness Deyn stars in a powerful story seen through the eyes of a young woman whose epilepsy brings extraordinary hallucinations.

Currently unavailable

London the Modern BabylonLondon the Modern Babylon

Documentary 2012 128 minsDirector: Julien Temple

The story of London told through a century of popular music and film archive treasures.

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PressurePressure

Drama 1978 121 minsDirector: Horace Ové

Hailed as Britain's first black feature film, Pressure is a hard-hitting, honest document of the plight of disenchanted black youths in 1970s London; now available in its new restoration.

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Burning an IllusionBurning an Illusion

Drama 1982 102 minsDirector: Menelik Shabazz

Menelik Shabazz’s pioneering first feature traces the emotional and political growth of a young black couple in Thatcher’s London.

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Bronco BullfrogBronco Bullfrog

Drama 1970 87 minsDirector: Barney Platts-Mills

A fascinating record of 1960s suedehead youth culture which is largely improvised by a non-professional cast of teenagers from east London

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Private RoadPrivate Road

Drama 1971 89 minsDirector: Barney Platts-Mills

A compelling tale about the struggle for personal freedom, starring Bruce Robinson (Withnail and I).

Rent for £1.00

Chelsea Bridge BoysChelsea Bridge Boys

Documentary 1965 31 minsDirector: Peter Davis and Staffan Lamm

Made for Swedish television, a look at a gang of "Rockers" who meet at a tea-kiosk on Chelsea Bridge.

Currently unavailable

DufferDuffer

Drama 1971 75 minsDirector: Joseph Despins and William Dumaresq

A bizarre study of obsession focusing on a teenage boy who is torn between the charms of a fleshly female prostitute and the sadism of an older man.

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The Moon over the AlleyThe Moon over the Alley

Musical 1977 108 minsDirector: Joseph Despins

The Moon Over the Alley is a bizarre and compelling musical exploring the problems of multicultural Notting Hill residents in the early 1970s.

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FaceFace

Crime 1997 101 minsDirector: Antonia Bird

Robert Carlyle and Ray Winstone are members of a criminal gang that tears itself apart after a heist goes wrong, in Antonia Bird’s stylish thriller.

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The Day the Earth Caught FireThe Day the Earth Caught Fire

Science Fiction 1961 100 minsDirector: Val Guest

The BFI’s HD remaster of the British sci-fi classic. A journalist discovers that the Earth has been knocked off its axis and is moving ever closer to the sun. Is the Earth doomed?

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Quatermass and the PitQuatermass and the Pit

Horror 1967 94 minsDirector: Roy Ward Baker

One of Britain’s finest sci-fi films, based on Nigel Kneale’s masterful script, about the discovery of ancient alien craft beneath central London.

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NightbirdsNightbirds

Drama 1970 78 minsDirector: Andy Milligan

Dark drama about the doomed relationship of two down-and-outers living in the squalid East End of London in the early 1970s.

Currently unavailable

CarousellaCarousella

Documentary 1965 26 minsDirector: John Irvin

A controversial, well-made documentary that follows the lives of three young striptease artistes working in Soho.

Currently unavailable

PubPub

Documentary 1962 15 minsDirector: Peter Davis

Short documentary originally made for Swedish television which opens the doors a typical working-class pub in East London.

Currently unavailable

StripStrip

Documentary 1966 26 minsDirector: Don Defina, Peter Davis and Staffan Lamm

Documentary about the lives of the women who work at a striptease club called The Phoenix on Old Compton Street, in the heart of Soho in the swinging sixties.

Rent for £3.50

Oliver TwistOliver Twist

Period drama 1948 116 minsDirector: David Lean

Arguably the essential Dickens adaptation, David Lean’s evocative portrayal of Victorian London in sooty black and white features Alec Guinness as a memorably sinister Fagin.

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Seance on a Wet AfternoonSeance on a Wet Afternoon

Crime 1964 111 minsDirector: Bryan Forbes

Bryan Forbes’ stylish psychological thriller about a medium who plans to kidnap a child and help the police solve the crime to bolster her reputation as a clairvoyant.

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The Elephant ManThe Elephant Man

Biopic 1980 124 minsDirector: David Lynch

David Lynch's moving true-life tale of the severely deformed Joseph Merrick and his rescue from the hell of a Victorian circus sideshow.

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She, a ChineseShe, a Chinese

Drama 2010 99 minsDirector: Xiaolu Guo

British-Chinese director Xiaolu Guo’s story of a young woman's journey from a remote Chinese village to London, in an attempt to realise the Western consumer dream.

Currently unavailable

The Lodger: A Story of the London FogThe Lodger: A Story of the London Fog

Crime 1926 91 minsSilentDirector: Alfred Hitchcock

Ivor Novello plays a strange lodger who may be behind a number of Jack the Ripper-style killings in Alfred Hitchcock’s silent thriller.

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Terry on the FenceTerry on the Fence

Children's 1985 70 minsDirector: Frank Godwin

11-year-old Terry runs away from home and is drawn into a gang of bullies, in a gritty Children's Film Foundation drama.

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The Monster of Highgate PondsThe Monster of Highgate Ponds

Children's 1961 59 minsDirector: Alberto Cavalcanti

A boy receives a mysterious egg, but when it hatches a baby monster, mayhem ensues.

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The Salvage GangThe Salvage Gang

Children's 1958 52 minsDirector: John Krish

John Krish directs this beautifully photographed Children’s Film Foundation caper about four children scavenging bomb-damaged London for scrap metal.

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Operation Third FormOperation Third Form

Children's 1966 58 minsDirector: David Eady

John Moulder Brown (Deep End) fronts a crack children’s spy unit in this ripping boy's own adventure.

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Hide and SeekHide and Seek

Children's 1972 61 minsDirector: David Eady

Gary Kemp (The Krays) becomes entangled with a borstal escapee known as the Deptford Dodger in this cracking drama from the Children’s Film Foundation.

Rent for £3.50

Soapbox DerbySoapbox Derby

Children's 1957 64 minsDirector: D'Arcy Conyers

Children’s Film Foundation adventure that sees a young Michael Crawford scrapping with a rival South London gang in Battersea.

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It Always Rains on SundayIt Always Rains on Sunday

Drama 1947 88 minsDirector: Robert Hamer

Austerity noir: Ealing's downbeat but compelling East End thriller.

Currently unavailable

SwandownSwandown

Documentary 2012 107 minsDirector: Andrew Kötting

Filmmaker Andrew Kötting and writer Iain Sinclair embark on a quest from Hastings to East London by pedalo.

Rent for £3.50

Welcome to BritainWelcome to Britain

Documentary 1976 73 minsDirector: Ben Lewin

Ben Lewin’s 1976 film captures a moment in Britain's evergreen immigration debate, focusing on new arrivals at Heathrow as they wrestle with immigration law.