No Strings Attached: Puppets on Film season announced for BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX this August

No Strings Attached: Puppets on Film is a new season coming to BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX this summer holiday, which celebrates the craft of puppeteers and the enduring power of practical performance in an increasingly digital age. Highlights from 1 to 31 August will include rare screenings of The Empire Strikes Back at both venues, 40th anniversary screenings of Little Shop of Horrors (Director’s Cut), plus Godzilla, The Dark Crystal, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Alice, Child’s Play, Being John Malkovich, Team America: World Police, Annette and many more. Special events will also feature Fraggle Rock co-creator and writer Jocelyn Stevenson, Yonderland creators Jim Howick and Laurence Rickard, and Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared creators Becky Sloan and Joe Pelling.

From Miss Piggy to E.T. and Basil Brush, puppets have been a fixture of on-screen family entertainment for generations. Yet puppetry has also been used to explore darker themes, made all the more chilling by their childhood association. Bringing together family favourites, cult classics and boundary-pushing comedy, this season curated by BFI Head of Cinema Programme Justin Johnson includes a rare opportunity to watch The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 1980) at both BFI Southbank and on the UK’s largest screen at BFI IMAX. Widely regarded as one of cinema’s greatest sequels, the film also introduced audiences worldwide to Frank Oz’s iconic puppet creation, Jedi Master Yoda.

Special events in the programme will include Muppets and Fraggles: A Celebration on 11 August featuring a Q&A with co-creator and writer of Fraggle Rock, Jocelyn Stevenson. For many people, childhood was shaped by the creative brilliance of Jim Henson and his Creature Shop, whose pioneering work in puppetry and animatronics transformed screen entertainment. At this event, we look back at some of the greatest moments from The Muppets and Fraggle Rock in the company of Stevenson. 

Family favourites playing throughout August will also include the visionary fantasy epic The Dark Crystal (Jim Henson and Frank Oz, 1982) at both BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX, with The Muppets Take Manhattan (Frank Oz, 1984), The Muppets (James Bobin, 2011), E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982), Strings (Anders Rønnow Klarlund, 2004) and The Puppetoon Movie (Arnold Leibovit, 1987) all screening at BFI Southbank. Audiences can also watch several of George Pal’s Horlicks adverts, showcasing his signature ‘Puppetoon’ animation technique, for free on BFI Replay.

We celebrate television puppets with an event on 1 August with a journey through the decades, looking at some of the most memorable puppet personalities to have enlivened our homes. Featuring clips from Basil Brush, Joe 90 and more, we’ll hear from the voices, brains and hands behind them. An event on 2 August will celebrate Yonderland (2013–2016), the comic, fantasy adventure from the creators of Ghosts, featuring a Q&A with Jim Howick and Laurence Rickard. A blend of Labyrinth and Monty Python, the series featured a host of beautifully crafted and skillfully operated puppets. Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared (2011 to 2022) creators Becky Sloan and Joe Pelling join us on 10 August for a special event celebrating the darkly surreal puppet phenomenon, which evolved from a viral YouTube series into a Channel 4 television show. The event follows the programme’s recent addition to the national collection, preserved by the BFI National Archive.

Further films playing in the BFI Southbank programme for older audiences throughout August will include 40th anniversary screenings of the Director’s Cut of Little Shop of Horrors (Frank Oz, 1986), the beloved film based on the off-Broadway musical by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, plus Godzilla (Ishiro Honda, 1954), David Lynch’s surreal debut Eraserhead (1977), sinister thriller Magic (Richard Attenborough, 1978), Czech maestro Jan Švankmajer’s Alice (1988), Chucky slasher Child’s Play (Tom Holland, 1988), The Double Life of Veronique (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1991), Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze, 1999), the South Park creators’ boundary-pushing comedy Team America: World Police (Trey Parker, 2004), and Annette (Leos Carax, 2021).

No Strings Attached: Puppets on Film is at BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX from 1 to 31 August. Tickets for screenings and events in August are on sale to BFI Patrons on 6 July, BFI Members on 7 July, and to the general public on 9 July.