BFI launches on-demand film streaming service

Over 10,000 films from the BFI archive will be made available

A still from Hitchcock's silent film 'The Ring' (BFI/StudioCanal Films Ltd)

The British Film Institute (BFI) is to launch a new online film streaming service that will offer access to over 10,000 films from the institute’s archive.

Describing the launch of on-demand streaming service, BFI chair Greg Dyke said he hoped the BFI player “can do for film what the iPlayer did for TV”.

Around 1000 films will be made available initially, including specialist content such as 28 hours of rare Edwardian film footage from filmmakers Mitchell and Kenyon.

The BFI restoration of The Epic Of Everest (1924) will also be available to stream on the same day as its premiere at the London Film Festival.

Other films that will be made available include The Elephant Man (1980), Apocalypse Now (1979), The Mummy (1959) and The Mistletoe Bough (1913).

The online player will eventually offer access to 10,000 films from the BFI archive, which holds more than 450,000 cans of film off-site in Warwickshire.

Approximately 60 per cent of the content will be free to watch, with the rest charged as pay-per-view. Standard-definition films will cost £2.50 and HD titles £3.50, with new releases at a slightly higher price.

The online film streaming service will be available from 9 October.