Lights, camera… You know the rest.
Art of Action is a celebration of action filmmaking through the ages. A high-octane season of screenings and special events which champions silent cinema pioneers, master filmmakers who laid the blueprint for modern action movies, and the maverick directors and performers who redefined the possibilities of the genre.
Art of Action includes a focus on Sam Peckinpah, one of the most influential action directors of all time, alongside a celebration of essential feminist interventions within the genre – from the luchadoras of 1960s Mexican pulp cinema to the long-awaited big screen return of Point Break, Kathryn Bigelow’s 1991 cult classic.
For our grand finale, we present a live score screening of The General – the crowning achievement of cinema’s original daredevil stuntman, Buster Keaton.
Screening as part of Art of Action, a UK-wide film season supported by National Lottery and BFI Film Audience Network.
In this season
Cinema
The General + HarmonieBand live score
Buster Keaton's masterpiece is brought to life by HarmonieBand's live accompaniment.
Previously in this season
Cinema
Point Break – 4K Restoration
Undercover FBI agent Johnny Utah infiltrates the California surfing fraternity to uncover the identity of the ‘Ex-Presidents’, in Kathryn Bigelow's classic 90s action film.
Cinema
The Bat Woman + recorded intro
The Bat Woman takes you on a rollicking ride through 1960s Mexican pulp cinema, where lucha libre meets superheroes meets The Creature from the Black…
event
She Packs a Punch
She Packs a Punch celebrates the action-laden, camp and curious world of 1960s Mexican pulp cinema with two recently restored films from director René Cardona.
Cinema
The Panther Women + recorded intro
The Panther Women plunges into the wild world of 1960s Mexican pulp cinema, where the fierce female wrestlers Loreta Venus and The Golden Rubi find…
Cinema
The Wild Bunch + panel discussion
Arguably the greatest of all modern westerns, Peckinpah’s seminal film made the western genre accessible for a new generation of filmmakers in the 1970s. A…
Cinema
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
When a Mexican land baron puts a million dollars on the head of the man who seduced his daughter, two money-hungry men recruit a small-town…
Cinema
The Getaway + intro
A recently released ex-con and his loyal wife go on the run after a heist goes awry.
event
“If they move, kill ’em” – Sam Peckinpah and Action Cinema
Celebrating the work of Sam Peckinpah; one of the most innovative and influential action orientated directors in the history of cinema.
Cinema
Cross of Iron + intro
Set in 1943, this explosive epic centres on Corporal Steiner, an accomplished but war-weary combat veteran leading a group of German soldiers on the Russian…