A revamped version of the National Film Theatre (NFT), under the auspices of its broader organisation, the British Film Institute (BFI), is about to be unveiled. The newly named ‘BFI Southbank’ is set to be London’s most integrated home of film and will be staged, as it has been for the last 50 years, under the Waterloo Bridge. This marriage of the the BFI and the NFT joins much more than just their 3-letter acronyms to provide a home for the future of film in the Capital.
Despite the concrete jungle, and location under a major artery of the city, there are certain spots in a city where magic prevails. Under this bridge at Waterloo, many a person has run to faraway places and sought solace with some of the greatest cinematic works in the world. From March 14, this legacy is set to rise hopefully beyond that of the Thames water level, as the previous National Film Theatre steps out like a butterfly from the cocoon at the all new BFI Southbank. It’s like science fiction made out of scaffolding – about £4.6 million worth in fact, made possible by significant investment of from a number of partners, most obviously the DCMS (the Department for Culture and Media and Sport), the UK Film Council, London Development Agency, Heritage Lottery Fund, Garfield Weston Foundation and other generous individual donors.