By Liv Kessler, cover image Francesca Corno
The BFI Southbank cinema
If you love films, old or new, this is for you. With an unbeatable £3 tickets for the under 25 crowd, this is by far one of the cheapest independent cinemas in London.
The cinema rooms themselves are either grandiose (NFT1) or small and intimate (Studio), thus you can truly find everything your heart desires. At any rate, for a £3 ticket, comfortable seats and a big screen, one can’t complain.
The BFI Southbank’s true beauty lies in its regular showing of classic movies. From musicals to Japanese anime, the BFI is the place to watch the best and cheapest old movies out there. Yes, some of it is niche. Yes, some of it is pretentious. As a whole, it’s one of those places that makes me happy to live in london. It provides a truly original and diverse selection of films, often pushing me to see things I would never have seen otherwise.
Better than the cheap tickets and proximity to LSE (15 minute walk) is the beautiful architecture of the BFI Southbank center itself. The large windows and multilevel configuration always remind me of an open dollhouse, through which you can see the lives of tiny characters looking for their screening room or just enjoying a coffee. Just wandering near the BFI already feels like stepping into a maze of concrete and culture. On the Southbank, you’ll also find the National Theater and the Hayward Gallery, both excellent and too good to pass up on, being such a short walk from campus.
It is also home to the wonderful BFI film festival. Tickets go for about £5 if you have the student account, sometimes up to £15. This year’s edition just closed. You can read all about it in the BFI film festival special, right in the Review section of Flipside.
