BFI Player’s August 2025 line-up
A swashbuckling adventure leads BFI Player's August line-up, alongside a stunning homegrown debut and suite of Sophia Loren classics.
With the looseness of a summer shirt, our monthly slate connects to a theme of summer getaway. We have an excellent homegrown debut of Last Swim, and Aussie comedy Audrey, a woman who knows the sun revolves around her. Things darken in the Turkish heat with Vampyros Lesbos and lighten again with the idlers of Steve Buscemi’s debut behind the camera, Trees Lounge.
Also look out for a focus on Sophia Loren, and a trip through three different eras of French cinema starting with the cinéma du look classic Diva, taking in the early 2000s paranoia of Tell No One, and ending with the new and wonderful The Marching Band, which has industrial strife and brass instruments but ends up being so much more than just Brassed Oeuf.
For a limited time only, enjoy a whole year of streaming for just £50 when you subscribe annually using voucher code SUMMER50 – terms apply. Head to player.bfi.org.uk to take up this offer and start your 14-day free trial.
1 August
The Count of Monte Cristo
2024/France
Subscription exclusive: This rollicking take on Dumas’ swashbuckler, packed with lavish spectacle and high-stakes drama, slayed all Hollywood films at the French box-office.
Audrey
2024/Australia
Subscription exclusive: A frustrated stage mother exploits her star daughter’s unexpected coma for her own artistic gains, in this wickedly dark Australian comedy.
Brokeback Mountain
2005/USA
Ang Lee’s poignant adaptation of Annie Proulx’s short story charts a tender, forbidden bond between two cowboys in the rugged American West.
Marriage Italian Style
1964/Italy
Sophia Loren and Marcelo Mastroianni are irrepressible as a long-married couple in this exquisite and timeless comedy of our all-too-human foibles.
A Special Day
1977/Italy
Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni deliver the finest and most nuanced performances of their careers in this understated masterpiece from director Ettore Scola.
Two Women
1960/Italy
Sophia Loren won an Oscar® for her performance as a mother trying to protect her daughter in wartime Italy, in Vittorio De Sica’s neorealist classic.
4 August
Last Swim
2024/United Kingdom
Subscription exclusive: A day in the life of an ambitious 18-year-old Iranian-British transforms into a universal portrait of youth, hope and fears over an uncertain future.
Diva
1981/France
A postal worker’s secret opera recording sparks a gripping chase through Paris in Jean-Jacques Beineix’s (Betty Blue) stylish crime-thriller.
Manhunter
1986/USA
Michael Mann’s chilling and stylish adaptation of Thomas Harris’ bestseller introduced Hannibal Lecktor to cinema audiences for the first time.
11 August
The Girl on a Motorcycle
1968/United Kingdom
Marianne Faithfull is the eponymous girl in this glorious, richly colourful slice of sixties British cinema.
84 Charlie Mopic
1989/USA
Cult ‘found footage’ war film following a Vietnam patrol unit from the perspective of an embedded combat cameraman.
War and Peace
2002/India
The rise of nuclear nationalism in 1990s India is explored in a powerful and personal documentary from Anand Patwardhan.
Traffic
2000/USA
Steven Soderbergh’s Oscar-winning ensemble drama explores America’s war on drugs at the start of the 21st century.
Tell No One
2006/France
A grieving man becomes convinced he is being framed for murder in Guillaume Canet’s gripping thriller, adapted from the Harlan Coben bestseller.
18 August
The Marching Band
2023/France
Subscription exclusive: An acclaimed conductor strikes up a relationship with a brother he never knew he had in this touching French drama with echoes of Brassed Off.
Eclipse
1976/United Kingdom
Unsettling, little-seen 1970s psychological thriller – a story of sibling rivalry set on the lonely Scottish coast, with Tom Conti and Gay Hamilton.
Vampyros Lesbos
1971/Spain
Jesús Franco’s dreamily seductive, sun-kissed take on Dracula is one of his most famous works; famed for its hip, psychedelic-loungecore soundtrack.
25 August
From Hilde, with Love
2023/Germany
Subscription exclusive: A powerful historical drama inspired by the true story of the Red Orchestra Nazi-resistance group and two courageous resistance fighters.
Trees Lounge
1996/USA
Venerable character actor Steve Buscemi steps behind the camera in this profound character study on a lonely, alcoholic, and unemployed mechanic.
El Mariachi
1992/USA
A travelling mariachi is mistaken for a murderous criminal, in Robert Rodriguez’s infamous ‘no budget’ exemplar of DIY action cinema.