BFI: Powell & Pressburger
We invite you to rediscover this work with us and celebrate a key component of their films, Welsh legend Roger Livesey, as we dive into the themes and glorious artistry of the greatest British film studio.
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The partnership of writer-director-producer duo Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger and their extended creative family The Archers resulted in a creative manifesto and some of the most iconic and influential images ever committed to film. These bold and original filmmakers came together by chance: Powell originally a journeyman director who had worked his way up through various roles in film studios; Pressburger a Hungarian journalist turned screenwriter fleeing the Nazis.
Meeting on a film set in 1939 they merged their British and European sensibilities to create progressive and stylish cinema deeply interested in truth, beauty and love. Profoundly influential and loved by filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese (whose editor Thelma Schoonmaker is the widow of Michael Powell), Wim Wenders, Wes Anderson and Greta Gerwig, whose blockbuster hit Barbie was directly inspired by their work.
Screening as part of Cinema Unbound: The Creative Worlds of Powell + Pressburger, a UK-wide film season supported by National Lottery and BFI Film Audience Network. bfi.org.uk/powell-and-pressburger
