In pictures and tweets – BFI Presents: Testament of Youth

Baroness Shirley Williams and Alicia Vikander

“Young people today, keep Vera as an icon, who can shape the path,” Baroness Shirley Williams told audiences across the UK following our special preview screenings of Testament of Youth in association with Lionsgate UK, four days ahead of its nationwide release.

The dramatisation of her mother Vera Brittain’s celebrated memoir of her life and losses during the First World War, Testament of Youth played simultaneously in cinemas across the country, as the inaugural event in our new series BFI Presents, designed to help grow audiences for independent British films.

Williams was joined by star Alicia Vikander (who plays Vera), director James Kent and producer Rosie Alison for a post-screening Q&A at London’s BFI Southbank, hosted by Edith Bowman and simulcast into participating cinemas. The team shared exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from the film’s production and fielded your questions from Twitter.

Did you enjoy the film? And did your tweet question get asked on stage? Here’s our roundup of the evening in tweets and pictures.

The simulcast suite in action

Edith Bowman, director James Kent, producer Rosie Alison and BFI CEO Amanda Nevill

Edith Bowman, producer Rosie Alison, Baroness Shirley Williams, Alicia Vikander and director James Kent

Producer Rosie Alison, director James Kent, Baroness Shirley Williams, Alicia Vikander and Edith Bowman