Comments about BFI Southbank Cinema in London, GB

PhilipWW on October 13, 2017 at 10:19 am

The main auditorium, Screen 1, is absolutely wonderful. It is just as you would imagine a perfect cinema should be. It caters for all formats (16mm, 35mm, 80mm and digital) and all screen ratios and, to me, is the perfect environment to watch movies in.

Screen 2 I am not so keen on. One senses that you are looking up to the screen, designed that way probably in part to give good sight lines because the floor only gently slopes down.

Screen 3 I like very much. Stadium seating, good sight lines and an impressively large screen for the size of the auditorium. A bit cramped though on the legroom compared to modern cinema standards.

There is now a fourth screen, not detailed in the cinema details above. Named the Studio it has just 36 seats and is equipped for digital projection only. Sadly the screen is only 1.85 ratio necessitating Scope films being shown “letterboxed” with no masking. This is presumably due to architectural considerations when trying to squeeze an extra auditorium in. It may be a pleasant environment with comfortable seats but, in effect, it becomes just like a large TV. I avoid watching Scope films there; this is not how they are meant to be shown.

zanygang on August 20, 2017 at 3:08 pm

Every film buff should visit screen 1 of the NFT at least once