David Farnor | On 18, Oct 2023

BFI Player is a gateway to global film, offering a collection of arthouse and world cinema to subscribers, alongside its pay-per-view rental releases and free archive titles and silent movie shorts.

From Scrapper to Pili, here’s what’s coming to BFI Player’s subscription service in October 2023:

Chameleon Street – 2nd October

 
Extraordinary, fictionalised account of real-life Michigan conman William Douglas Street which won the Grand Prix award at Sundance in 1990.

Mapantsula – 2nd October

Panic works the crime-ridden streets of Johannesburg, serving only his own interests. As the world around him shifts with a burgeoning anti-apartheid effort, Panic is pulled into the fray and his community.
 

Pili – 2nd October

An HIV+ mother has a chance to turn her life around when she’s offered a market stall, in Leanne Welham’s extraordinary drama.

Cairo Conspiracy – 5th October

 
A fisherman’s son is offered a place at a prestigious Islamic school in Cairo and finds himself drawn into a religious and political power struggle.

Joyland – 5th October

 
A conservative family in Pakistan is torn apart when a son falls in love with a transgender erotic dancer, in Saim Sadiq’s riveting queer drama.

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom – 5th October

A city-loving teacher struggling for inspiration travels to the most remote school in the world in this quietly majestic Academy Award-nominated drama.

Autobiography – 9th October

This riveting feature debut from Makbul Mubarak patiently details the journey of a young man as he begins to taste power for the first time.

Klondike – 9th October

Set in Donetsk against the backdrop of the downing of Malaysian flight MH17 in 2014, a Ukrainian family attempts to live a normal life amid the absurdity and futility of conflict, in Maryna Er Gorbach’s visually striking film.

Ida – 9th October

An impressively directed and deeply moving drama anchored by a pair of terrific performances.

Lady Macbeth – 9th October

This suffocatingly intense period drama is one of the best films of 2017, with a jaw-dropping performance by Florence Pugh.

Leviathan – 9th October

Andrei Zvyagintsev’s gripping crime drama is the bleak tale of one man standing up to a corrupt system of power.

Scrapper – 16th October

A gorgeous, colourful and heart-warming debut from Charlotte Regan, one of the best new voices in British film, Scrapper is now streaming exclusively on BFI Player. After her beloved mother passes away, 12-year-old Georgie believes she can get by on her own. She definitely has no interest in getting to know her absentee father Jason (Harris Dickinson), who drops into her garden one day – and back into her life.  

French Cancan – 16th October

Based on the story of Moulin Rouge founder Charles Zidler, Jean Renoir’s tale of an impresario’s commitment to his art is a masterpiece of Technicolor brilliance.

Hotel Spendide – 16th October

 
Music hall veteran Jerry Verno stars as a lowly clerk who gets more than he bargained for when he inherits a hotel, in Michael Powell’s charming comedy.

La Ronde – 16th October

Ophuls’ exquisite, imaginative adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s play about a carousel of erotic encounters involving characters of different social status.

The Beasts – 19th October

Denis Ménochet (Peter von Kant) stars as a small-town farmer whose idyllic lifestyle turns into a living nightmare, in this rivetingly structured, slow-burn thriller.

Abuse of Weakness – 19th October

 
Isabelle Huppert stars a a filmmaker who falls for a conman, in Catherine Breillat’s fearless study in will and perversity, loosely based on events from her own life.

Anatomy of Hell – 19th October

Catherine Breillat’s rigorously intellectual exploration of sexuality, about a woman who employs a gay man to spend days watching her naked.

Sex Is Comedy – 19th October

A director struggles to film a difficult sex scene between two actors who happen to hate each other, in Catherine Breillat’s witty exploration of intimacy coordination.

Black Magic Rites – 23rd October

Renato Polselli’s delirious masterpiece of erotic horror, about a woman who inherits a castle that harbous an occult sect. 

Born of Fire – 23rd October

Peter Firth stars as a musician haunted by visions of a mystical nemesis, in this bold and poetic horror with stunning visuals.

Calvaire – 23rd October

 
An exceptionally creepy Belgian horror, in which a travelling entertainer is taken in by a local who nurtures a dangerous obsession. 

Luz: Flower of Evil – 23rd October

A small farming community is rocked by the arrival of a mysterious young boy, in Juan Diego Escobar Alzate’s harrowing yet beautiful mix of folk horror, acid western and dark arthouse. 

 

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