Empire of Light

Following his BAFTA Best Film winner 1917, Sam Mendes returns with this majestic, personal work, set in a 1980s English coastal town. Great for GCSE and A Level Film Studies we invite students to watch the film following its European premiere at the festival the night before.

Hillary (Olivia Coleman) manage a seafront picture palace. Once an opulent multiscreen cinema with a dance hall overlooking the sea, now only one screen remains open, albeit a grand one. In preparation for a regional premier of Chariots on Fire, Hilary and her colleagues — played by a heavyweight ensemble that include Toby Jones, Colin Firth, Tom Brooke and Michael Ward — spruce up the venue. Outside, the town itself is crumbling, with a rising far-right presence and Stephen (Ward) regularly harassed by skinheads. Returning to LFF for the first time since his Oscar-winning debut American Beauty, Mendes delivers a stirring ode to the cinema — as a space for collective experience, offering the pleasures and balms of watching films in darkness together.

Alongside regular producer Pippa Harris, Mendes collaborates with an outstanding and mostly British creative team, including legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins, designer Mark Tildesley, editor Lee Smith and casting director Nina Gold. Together they craft a vivid, tactile, sense of 1980s Britain.

With Colman and Ward magnificent at the heart of the film, Empire of Light is an elegant exploration of the potential of both community and cinema to help us find light in the darkness.

This film as not yet been certificated. Suitable for GCSE and A Level Film Studies. Run time 115 minutes.

Tickets are £3 per person. This is a public screening with an allocation for school groups.

To book fill in the booking form below by Thursday 29 September.

If you need more information about the event or booking please contact our Education Programmer Kirsten Geekie kirsten.geekie@bfi.org.uk.

Supported by