MetaFilter posts tagged with BFI

A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies

vronsky — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:16:59 -0800

"I can only talk about what has moved me or intrigued me," says filmmaker Martin Scorsese at the beginning of this four-hour documentary about his passion for U.S. cinema. "I can't really be objective here." Hallelujah! A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies is the perfect antidote to the forced and artificial doctrine of the American Film Institute's so-called 100 best films. The AFI's English cousin, the British Film Institute, did a brilliant thing in enlisting Scorsese--probably the most famous student of cinema in the U.S.--to open up and speak at length for this project about the history of artistic survival among Hollywood directors. Scorsese takes a highly intuitive and heartfelt approach in describing how a number of filmmakers--some famous and some forgotten--carefully layered their visions into their work, often against the great resistance or eccentric whims of powerful producers. Film clips are plentiful, but they are also more than window dressing for nostalgia buffs." Part 1 1:: 2:: 3:: 4:: 5:: 6:: 7:: 8 Part 2 1:: 2:: 3:: 4:: 5:: 6:: 7:: 8 Part 3 1:: 2:: 3:: 4:: 5:: 6:: 7:: 8 And as a bonus, Scorsese's overview of Italian cinema in another 4 hour documentary, My Voyage To Italy. 1::2::3::4::5::6::7::8::9::10::11::12::13::14::15::16::17::18::19::20::21::22::23::24::25 "This survey of Italian cinema by Martin Scorsese is a worthwhile follow-up to his 1995 documentary A Personal Journey Through American Movies. Packed with insight and film clips, Voyage covers Italian cinema from World War II through the early '60s, the time that the young Scorsese watched these films before starting his career. The heart of the documentary is the Neo-Realism movement--not the lightest of genres, but Scorsese's passion helps considerably. He introduces us to his family and Sicilian ancestors via photos and home movies allowing us to understand how powerfully these films affected him and his family. He talks about how he saw the films, often through inferior prints on television, and calls out details to observe. The filmmaker spends upwards of 15 minutes on a single film, with the bulk of the history centering on five powerhouse directors: Roberto Rossellini (Open City), Vittorio De Sica (The Bicycle Thief), Luchino Visconti (Senso), Federico Fellini (8-1/2), and Michelangelo Antonioni(L'Avventura). Scorsese's four-hour-plus survey should come with a college credit for film history. He examines the major films but also spends time on films that may be hard to find on home video (at least at this time): Rossellini's six-part Paisan, a heart-breaking look at the last days of the war; De Sica's episodic The Gold of Naples; Fellini's atypical I Vitelloni, which was a major influence on Scorsese's own Mean Streets; Antonioni's Eclipse with its radical ending; and Rossellini's Voyage to Italy, an examination of a marriage that failed worldwide as a film but was a touchstone for the French New Wave movement. The final results are not as accessible as Personal Journey but, at worst, a viewer will have working knowledge of more than 20 Italian films (and be able to cheat their way through a discussion). At best, these are four hours that will end too soon and leave you hungry to view these films that have fueled Scorsese's cinematic vision." --Doug Thomas

The British Film Institute on YouTube

feelinglistless — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 03:51:45 -0800

The British Film Institute on YouTube. How we used to live and more [via].

Christmas at the BFI

Rumple — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 19:13:01 -0800

Christmas in the London Blitz, 1940; Making Christmas Crackers, 1910; Santa Claus, 1898; Christmas is coming, 1951: short films from the British Film Institute's wonderful Youtube Channel (including excellent playlists), which you can also explore through Google Earth using the kmz file found here.

Creative Archive Licence Group

TheDonF — Wed, 13 Apr 2005 10:29:34 -0800

Creative archive licence group at The Beeb. Today sees the launch of the Creative Archive Licence Group, a joint venture between the BBC, the Open University, Channel 4 and the BFI to provide legal content to the (initially UK only) public under a series of licences that are quite similar to those by Creative Commons. Although at present only a trial, the project timetable looks as though some good material will be made available.

Never such innocence again

verstegan — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 03:17:52 -0800

The Mitchell and Kenyon collection consists of 800 rolls of nitrate film documenting scenes of everyday life in England between 1900 and 1913. This extraordinary archive, now painstakingly restored by the British Film Institute, includes footage of trams, soup kitchens, factory gates, football matches, seaside holidays and much else besides. Here are some sample images and a short clip of workers at a Lancashire colliery, all astonishingly evocative and reminiscent (to me) of Philip Larkin's poem MCMXIV: 'The crowns of hats, the sun / On moustachioed archaic faces / Grinning as if it were all / An August Bank Holiday lark .. Never such innocence, / Never before or since .. Never such innocence again.'

BFI presents screenonline

jacknose — Mon, 01 Dec 2003 09:41:59 -0800

BFI presents screenonline | The British Film Institute announces the launch of screenonline: "This new site features an unrivalled collection of archive film and television footage from the bfi National Film and Television Archive.... [It] is the first time the bfi has given the public access online to its comprehensive collection of film and television material, giving teachers, students and film enthusiasts an exceptional opportunity to investigate British history, culture and society through cinema. "