BFI Southbank launches the New Year with an offering of thrills and laughter from Woody Allen, a most prolific filmmaker whose career as a director has spanned just over six decades and 40 feature films.
A celebration of his classic comedies will screen throughout January, including Extended Runs of both Zelig (1983) and the multi-Oscar-winning Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). His career began by writing jokes in a local newspaper before progressing to stand-up comedy, then to writing for television and eventually screenwriting and appearing in films, until it was clear, to him, that he needed to direct films himself.
The season starts with Bananas (1971) and the sci-fi Sleeper (1973), through the period pieces Love and Death (1975) and A Midsummer Nights Sex Comedy (1982), to more recent titles such as Bullets Over Broadway (1994), Celebrity (1998) and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), plus the Allen classics Annie Hall (1977) and Manhattan (1979). The season concludes with a screenings of his most recent offering Midnight in Paris (2011), his biggest box office success yet.
Please see below the full line-up for the season. To book tickets, visit the BFI site.
Keep checking back here soon! We may well have some free tickets to give away!
Annie Hall
• 6 Jan 18:30
• 13 Jan 20:45
• 14 Jan 18:30
An erratic New York comedian falls for a scatterbrained singer, played by Diane Keaton.
Bananas
• 8 Jan 20:40
A neurotic New Yorker tries to impress a social activist and finds himself involved with Latin American revolutionaries.
Broadway Danny Rose
• 7 Jan 18:40
• 9 Jan 18:20
A jealous gangster pursues an unlucky talent agent suspected of having an affair with his mistress, played by Mia Farrow.
Bullets Over Broadway
• 14 Jan 16:15
• 18 Jan 20:45
• 21 Jan 20:40
In order to get his film off the ground, a struggling playwright is forced to cast a gangster’s girlfriend in the lead role.
Celebrity
• 25 Jan 20:30
• 29 Jan 18:20
Woody Allen throws a wry glance at the cult of fame.
Crimes and Misdemeanors
• 13 Jan 18:30
• 15 Jan 20:45
• 22 Jan 15:50
Guilt, faith and injustice are explored in one of Woody Allen’s darkest comedies.
Deconstructing Harry
• 11 Jan 18:15
• 28 Jan 18:10
On being awarded a literary prize, a blocked writer embarks on a life-changing road trip.
Everyone Says I Love You
• 15 Jan 18:30
• 20 Jan 18:20
Woody Allen’s musical follows the romantic bonds of an extended family.
Hannah and Her Sisters
• 4 – 19 January
This look at a year in the life of an extended well-to-do Manhattan family sees Woody Allen at the peak of his powers.
Husbands and Wives
• 10 Jan 18:30
• 14 Jan 20:45
• 22 Jan 18:10
Woody Allen’s sharp portrait of relationships in crisis.
Love and Death
• 7 Jan 16:00
• 12 Jan 18:30
Woody Allen takes a satirical look at epic Russian novels.
Manhattan
• 6 Jan 20:45
• 10 Jan 20:45
• 22 Jan 20:45
A divorced comedy writer falls in love with his best friend’s mistress.
Manhattan Murder Mystery
• 12 Jan 20:40
• 16 Jan 18:20
• 17 Jan 20:30
A couple suspect foul play following the sudden and suspicious death of their neighbour.
Melinda and Melinda
• 26 Jan 18:10
• 30 Jan 20:45
Two stories about the same woman, one downbeat, one humorous, explore whether life is essentially tragic or comic.
Midnight in Paris
• 27 January – 8 February
An American in Paris encounters turbulence in his relationship as the city’s literary past revitalises his take on life.
A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy
• 8 Jan 18:20
Woody Allen’s comic take on Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night.
The Purple Rose of Cairo
• 9 Jan 20:45
• 21 Jan 18:40
Woody Allen’s utterly charming love story stars Mia Farrow as a housewife who falls in love with a matinee idol.
Sleeper
• 7 Jan 20:50
• 18 Jan 18:30
Woody Allen’s comedy sci-fi vision of a futuristic totalitarian world.
Sweet and Lowdown
• 25 Jan 18:20
• 29 Jan 20:40
A self-interested Jazz musician (Sean Penn) falls for a mute fan in the 1930s.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
• 27 Jan 18:10
• 31 Jan 20:40
Two female friends are attracted to the same artist while travelling in Barcelona.
Zelig
• 4 – 19 January
Woody Allen’s mockumentary about a long-forgotten ‘human chameleon’.
