LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS (1945), dir Marcel Carné
LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD (1961), dir Alain Resnais
WILD STRAWBERRIES (1957), dir Ingmar Bergman
THE SEVEN SAMURAI (1954), dir Akira Kurosawa
SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952), dir Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen
BELLE DE JOUR (1969), dir Luis Buñuel
THE PIANO (1993), dir Jane Campion
LA DOLCE VITA (1960), dir Federico Fellini
GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1946), dir David Lean
BRAZIL (1985), dir Terry Gilliam
I started going to the NFT in about 1957, to the old building. You had to queue outside to get tickets, in the pouring rain. In those days there were no frills, no popcorn or soft drinks. So it was a spartan commitment to your art; I was very much a part of the black polo-neck brigade. I went to catch up on all the early stuff that I didn't know, which was pretty much everything.
You can educate yourself in cinema at the NFT. It's a film school, largely because of the national archive at the BFI, upon which the NFT can draw. Last year, we did a Godard season, for example, and we're just doing a Kurosawa season now. It's undoubtedly the national library of film, a place for a cool Sunday afternoon. Very romantic, in fact.
