British Film Institute

The British Film Institute is a charity that preserves and promotes film and television in the United Kingdom. It stands on London’s South Bank beside the River Thames, running two cinemas and a library open to the public. The BFI was set up in 1933 to encourage film and television as records of life and to support education about the moving image. It receives funds from the National Lottery and is sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The BFI holds the world’s largest film archive, with more than 50,000 fiction films and over 625,000 television programmes. Its collections include memes, web series and viral videos dating back to 1991, all preserved through the Our Screen Heritage project. The institute also publishes the monthly magazine Sight & Sound and runs festivals such as the London Film Festival and BFI Flare. Its Reuben Library offers free access to books and databases about film and television history. Visitors to BFI Southbank can watch films from around the world, including rare historical works. The IMAX cinema nearby has the largest screen in the UK and shows recent releases in 70mm and 3D formats. The BFI Player streaming service provides niche and art films, while Screenonline offers clips and episodes from British television. The building also hosts talks, exhibitions and artist commissions that connect with the archive’s holdings.