Inside the Archive #56: Celebrating film and connection with Youth Beyond Borders and BFI Replay

In November 2025, we ran a short session in collaboration with Youth Beyond Borders (YBB), a social enterprise dedicated to fostering connections and mutual understanding between young creative talent and organisations.

A group of young people from the YBB Future Fridays programme was invited to BFI IMAX for a special screening of Sinners (2025) in IMAX 70mm format. The film was introduced by director and writer Ryan Coogler, alongside actors Michael B. Jordan and Miles Caton. BFI IMAX is the only venue outside North America to show an IMAX 70mm print of this title, giving audiences a rare opportunity to experience the film in its intended format. Ryan Coogler has been vocal about his passion for film-on-film, so to precede the screening, we hosted an engagement session to help the group build a deeper understanding of what makes film so special.

For the session, we set up a display of film materials, including different gauges, 16mm and Super 8 viewers, and a 70mm spool. We introduced the various film formats and explored how they relate to exhibition, while also covering the fundamentals of our work and discussed the principles of preserving film.

We explored the evolution of film formats throughout history, tracing the journey from the earliest days of cinema to the rise of amateur filmmaking and into the digital era. It was a chance to reflect on how audiences have connected with these formats and how our relationship with watching films has changed and developed over time.

We spoke about the role of a film conservator, why it is important, and how conservation treatments are carried out. We also discussed the different types of deterioration and damage that can affect celluloid films.

The group were highly engaged – many were new to film preservation and eager to learn. They asked plenty of questions and had the chance to handle film materials in person. We hope they left with a deeper understanding of analogue film and went into the screening with a renewed appreciation for the film-on-film experience.

– Ana Levisky and Milo Holmes, Film Conservators 

In October last year, I facilitated the BFI Replay event Black Queer Lives: Exploring the Archives and Mini Zine Workshop, held at Barbican Library in London ahead of the Black British Book Festival 2025. The event, supported by Replay Engagement Officer Sinéad Beverland, brought together participants for conversations and reflections on works – and the gaps – relating to Black British queer communities across the UK.

The group began by exploring a timeline of early UK queer film and broadcast television, highlighting significant archival gaps and the lack of documentation and preservation of these stories within screen culture. This prompted rich discussions among attendees about their experiences, perspectives and hopes for the future.

The conversation then shifted to celebrating early Black British queer films available on BFI Replay and BFI Player, including B.D Woman (1994), Gay Black Group (1983) and The Homecoming: A Short Film about Ajamu (1995). Later, we created mini zines in response to the day’s discussions, reflecting on our own stories and their significance for archiving Black queer experiences for future generations.

The event was held in collaboration with Tint Library, a Black art-based independent library. Tint Library provided a curated selection of reading materials for attendees to explore during the session and will also preserve the mini zines created during the workshop.

– Tosin Alapafuja, Assistant Curator

The Inside the Archive blog is supported by the BFI Screen Heritage Fund, awarding National Lottery funding.