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The Festival is noted internationally for its fine retrospectives. Our credentials handling rare and fragile prints allow us to screen films that few audiences get to see on the big screen. Discover or re-discover the films and filmmakers that have made world cinema what it is today through our very special retrospective programmes. Click on the programme titles below to find out more information. Fifty Years of Malayalam Cinema Reverence: The Films of Owen Land Blacktop Dreams: Road Movies Special Focus Programmes New Cinema Reloaded: Korean Independent Cinema Lost in Time, Lost in Space: Contemporary Beijing Film Culture 
Most people, when they think of Indian cinema, think Bollywood or Bengal, Ray and Ghatak. Kerala is famous among travellers to India for its lush beauty and serenity, yet it also boasts one of the most cine-literate audiences in the world, one in which taxi drivers refer to arthouse directors by their first names. Tucked away behind the serene backwaters and the swaying palm fronds, even in the remotest areas, are scores of active film societies. Film and politics are two abiding passions of the people of Kerala and they combine in a unique cinema that, except for a few names, has been unjustifiably neglected internationally. In the past, BIFF has screened the films of Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Mirali Nair. This year we are proud to present a survey of 50 years of Malayalam cinema, starting with the extraordinary musical Neelakkyuil. - Anne Démy-Geroe Read more on Malayalam Cinema Titles:  Neelakkuyil
(P. Bhaskaran and Ramu Kariat)
When a young lower-caste girl bears an illegitimate child, the high-caste father lacks the courage to break the taboos of a conservative society.
Chemmeen
(Ramu Kariat)
A tragic, star-crossed romance, adapted from a much-beloved Indian novel, controversial in its time. Olavum Theeravum
(P.N. Menon)
An innocent young woman’s search for love is derailed by her mother’s materialistic ambitions in this starkly realistic drama.  Swayamvaram
(Adoor Gopalakrishnan)
The film that pioneered the New Wave in Malayalam cinema, the tale of a young couple elope to the city to pursue their dreams.
Thampu
(G. Aravindan)
A beautiful, lyrical film chronicling the delight of a visit of a circus to a small village in Kerala. Oridath Oru Phayalvan
(P. Padmarajan)
A wrestler wins the prettiest woman in the village for his success in the ring but he is a failure as a husband. Amma Ariyan
(John Abraham)
A young man discovers a body on his way to Delhi and sets out on a quest to discover the man’s identity. Kadavu
(M.T. Vasudevan Nair)
A young boy with an unhappy homelife finds a new home as assistant on the ferry. From renowned director M T Vasudevan Nair . Vaanaprastham
(Shaji N. Karun)
A lowly kathakali artist and a high society woman become lovers but she is really in love with his character.  Paadam Onnu: Oru Vilaapam
(T.V. Chandran)
A moving, politically-charged film about the plight of teenage girls sold into marriage in a minority community.
Akale
(Shyamprasad)
An emotionally satisfying family drama inspired by Tennesee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie. View entire Malayalam Programme Back to Top Avant-garde cinema is often seen as a difficult, hermetic genre, inaccessible to mainstream audiences. The celebrated films of Owen Land (formerly known as George Landow) use verbal and visual humour to both expand and deconstruct the genre. His highly original works are not averse to poking fun at experimental cinema itself—in one film two giant pandas discuss, and make, an avant-garde film. In other films he mimics his contemporaries mocks the solemn approach of theorists and scholars. Land is renowned for his irreverent wit and the films in this comprehensive retrospective will entertain, challenge, and engage you. ‘Reverence’ presents brand-new prints of the films and is accompanied by the book Two Films by Owen Land, which will be available at the festival screenings. Read more about Owen Land Remedial Reading Comprehension (Owen Land)
Fleming Faloon (Owen Land)
Film in which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc. (Owen Land)
Bardo Follies (Owen Land)
What’s Wrong with this Picture? 1 (Owen Land)
What’s Wrong with this Picture? 2 (Owen Land)
Institutional Quality (Owen Land)
On the Marriage Broker Joke as Cited by Sigmund Freud in Wit and its Relation to the Unconscious or Can the Avant-Garde Artist Be Wholed? (Owen Land)
The Films that Rise to the Surface of Clarified Butter (Owen Land)
Diploteratology (Owen Land)
'No Sir, Orison!' (Owen Land)
Wide Angle Saxon (Owen Land)
Thank You Jesus for the Eternal Present (Owen Land)
A Film of their 1973 Spring Tour Commissioned by Christian World Liberation Front of Berkeley, California (Owen Land)
View entire Owen Land Programme Back to Top The Road Movie is not a new phenomenon. The need to escape, the lure of the open road or undiscovered trail, and the possibility of a new future beyond the curve of the horizon have captured the collective imagination since the days of the first American wagon trains. For the last half-century films from radically different genres have embraced the cultural mythology of the road trip and the rebellious iconoclasm of life on the move. And while the vast spaces of America have provided the backdrop to many road movies, the genre has burned itself into the cinemas of many other nations, including Australia. ‘Blacktop Dreams’ brings together a collection of outstanding road movies. From the love-on-the-run narrative of They Live by Night to the quirky voyage of discovery in Gallivant, we are proud to present an eclectic retrospective that celebrates the call of the open road. ~ Alice Nelson Read more about Road Movies Titles: It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
(Stanley Kramer)
A star-packed cast go on a madcap adventure to be the first to the buried treasure of a dead thief.  Two-Lane Blacktop
(Monte Hellman)
Legendary musicians Dennis Wilson and James Taylor star alongside a hardboiled Warren Oates in Monte Hellman’s drag-racing cult classic.
They Live by Night
(Nicholas Ray)
Classic film noir and tragic romance in Nicholas Ray’s (Rebel Without a Cause) remarkable, gripping debut. Vanishing Point
(Richard C. Sarafian)
Pill-popping ex-Marine Bill Kowalski is racing to drive a Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco in just fifteen hours - to win a bet. Gun Crazy aka Deadly is the Female
(Joseph H. Lewis)
A sexed-up film noir take on the couple-on-the lam-road movie. Badlands
(Terrence Malick)
Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen star in Terence Malick’s acclaimed spree killer road romance.  Don’t Look Back
(D. A. Pennebaker)
A truly fascinating snapshot of Dylan filmed during his 1965 Great Britain tour and still regarded as the definitive portrait.
Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
(Sam Peckinpah)
Sam Peckinpah’s gruesome masterpiece of nail-biting action, following the greedy pursuit of a million dollar bounty. Backroads
(Phillip Noyce)
A young black man and a white drifter hook up and head for trouble in Philip Noyce’s raw and powerful debut feature. Near Dark
(Kathryn Bigelow)
When laid-back cowboy Caleb meets angelic Mae, his seduction leads to a goodnight kiss that condemns him to the life of the undead... Roadgames
(Richard Franklin)
Seventies road movie meets Hitchcockian thriller in this tremendously absorbing forgotten classic. The Road to God Knows Where
(Uli M. Schüppel)
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds tackle endless miles of blacktop in a tourbus full of misfits. Wrong Side of the Road
(Ned Lander)
Engaging and disturbing, a road movie, musical and documentary drama in one, following two Aboirginal bands on tour.  Gallivant
(Andrew Kötting)
A quirky and intensely personal journey around the coastlines of England, Scotland and Wales.
View entire Road Movies Programme Back to Top This programme brings together a wide selection of forms and styles; features and shorts, fiction and documentary, live action and animation, narrative and essay. The films represent the best of a new and exciting image culture and a reflection of a changing political and cultural landscape. Read more on Korean Independent Cinema Spying Cam
(Whang Cheol-mean)
A fascinating, unpredictable character study evolves into a tragic thriller as we learn why two young men are trapped in a cheap hotel room.  Shin Sung-il is Lost
(Shin Jane)
A remarkably original film, a satirical fantasy set in an orphanage where the children are discouraged from eating to save money.
My Korean Cinema (Chapters 1-5)
(Kim Hong-joon)
An insight into Korean cinema via a set of charming and engrossing ‘cine-letters’ from director Kim Hong-joon. Camellia Project: Three Queer Stories on Bogil Island
(Choi Jin-sung, So Joon-moon, Lee-song Hee-il)
Three stories of gay life in a culture where homosexuality is not acceptable, all set on a resort island.  Twentidentity
(Various)
Ten films made by graduates of the Korean Academy of Film Arts to celebrate the Academy’s twentieth anniversary.
Anti-Dialectic
(Kim Gok, Kim Sun)
Two funny and adventurous films from the Kim twins, Korea’s most accomplished ‘experimental’ directors. Time Consciousness
(Kim Gok, Kim Sun)
Two funny and adventurous films from the Kim twins, Korea’s most accomplished ‘experimental’ directors.
Things We Shouldn’t Do
(Kim Kyung-man) The Third Tongue
(Son Kwang-ju) Punk Eek
(Son Kwang-ju) Wonderful Day
(Kim Hyeon-pil)
Many people in Korea are making short films. Some are at film schools but others are independents, working in their own time with their own money. Some make films as ‘calling cards’ for jobs in the film industry; others make films because they just want to make films. All types are represented in this selection of four excellent shorts, two by women, two by men. Each of these films is worth seeing in its own right; together, they make a killer programme. Waiting for Spring
(Jung Sue-yeon) W.C. Jungle
(Jeong Choong-hwan) Poetry Class
(Lee Sang-geun) Shave
(Shin Su-won)
A selection of eight recent animated shorts illustrating the widest possible range of work: from line-drawing to computer animation, from stop-motion to integrated live-action and animation, from smart conceptual gags to visions of the ineffable. Iyagi
(Min Dong-hyun)
 Julgui
(Park Si-won)
Hi
(Choi Won-jae)
Hey, Junghyun
(Kang Joon-won)
 Illusion
(Jun Kyung-il, Park Ji-hun, Kim Ji-hye, Jo Mi-yoon, Park So-jin)
O-nu-ri
(Lee Sung-gang)
Time Odyssey
(Jo Se-heon, Jo Seong-yoon)
Region of the Shade
(Jung Byung-mok)
View entire Korean Independent programme Back to Top Lost in Time, Lost in Space: Contemporary Beijing Film Culture Contemporary Chinese cinema has been described as a cinema of loss, struggling to make sense of a society in the throes of an existential crisis, confronting a profoundly disoriented audience, and trying to create meaning in a void. Hurtled from the gaping wound of the Cultural Revolution into the world of capitalism, China seems to be speeding blindly towards an unseen and unknowable future. China’s cultural upheaval has produced a body of film that addresses the bewildering condition of life in a society without a vital link to the past, or a sense of its own future. With a crop of prodigiously talented filmmakers, Beijing has given us a cinema that is vibrantly engaged and aesthetically unique. The films in this programme challenge and question, express frustration and loss, and expose wounds. They summon us to rethink the way that we live. Read more on Chinese Underground Cinema Titles:  The World
(Jia Zhangke)
At World Park, visitors can see the whole world without ever leaving Beijing, but the park’s workers must still deal with real life.
Tang Poetry
(Zhang Lu)
An engagingly bizarre indie feature exploring the taciturn relationship between a retired thief and his apprentice/mistress. Peacock
(Gu Changwei)
The directorial debut by one of China’s finest cinematographers, winner of the Berlinale’s Silver Bear this year. South of the Clouds
(Zhu Wen)
A sweet, surreal tale of an old man attempts to reclaim the dreams of his youth by visiting the mysterious Kingdom of Women.  Letter from an Unknown Woman
(Xu Jinglei)
A visually sumptuous, exquisitely observed tale of unrequited love set in Beijing in the ‘30s and ‘40s.
Good Morning Beijing
(Pan Jianlin)
One night in Beijing, two apparently unconnected stories unfold.
View entire Chinese Programme Back to Top
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