The season will run from the 6th July 2023.
The BFI have announced Making Magic: 100 Years of Disney, a brand new season of screenings, talks, special events and singalongs at the BFI Southbank to mark the centenary of The Walt Disney Company.
Making Magic is set to open with the UK premiere of the new restoration of Cinderella (1958) on the 6th July as well as a special panel discussion on the same night to introduce the key themes of the season, which will run until the end of August. The season is set to celebrate 100 years of great storytelling and artistic flair that started with brothers Walt and Roy Disney, but continues to delight today thanks to a numbe of other talented people who continue to deliver their vision.
While full details of the season have yet to be unveiled, it will include big screen outings for masterpieces from Disney’s early years like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Fantasia(1940), Pinocchio (1940) and Bambi (1942) and favourites that have stood the test of time such as 101 Dalmatians (1961), The Jungle Book (1967) and The Rescuers (1977). There will also be screenings of beloved works from Disney’s 90s resurgence like Beauty and the Beast (1991), The Lion King (1994) and Pocahontas (1995) and more contemporary titles made in the last fifteen years including Frozen (2013), The Princess and the Frog (2009) and Zootropolis (2016). All the features screening in the season will be paired with harder to see short films from throughout Disney’s history.
Meanwhile, the season will also cover the company’s breadth of live action (and hybrid) feature films made during its history including Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Sister Act. It will also feature references to beloved Pixar works such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Soul and Turning Red.
BFI Southbank Lead Programmer and Disney season curator, Justin Johnson said: “It would be impossible to imagine a world without Disney. For so many of us, the first time we experienced the magic of the cinema was seeing the latest Disney animation on the big screen, and as new titles come out and we introduce archive titles to each new generation, it’s become an essential part of our cultural landscape with a global reach. With great story telling at its heart and always with an eye to pushing what is possible from a technological perspective, Disney is a Studio that constantly evolves. Here we look back and forward, celebrating some of the great moments of 100 years packed full of magical moments for children and adults alike.”