BFI National Archive unveils Black and South Asian Workshop remasters project at LFF

The BFI National Archive has announced that a newly remastered 4K version of Ahmed Alauddin Jamal's 1987 film, Hotel London, will have its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on October 16. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director and scriptwriter Ahmed Alauddin Jamal.

The film, which explores the housing crisis of the 1980s and the struggles of a Bangladeshi family seeking a home in London, remains painfully relevant today. It was made for the International Year of the Homeless and blends drama with video activism to tell a deeply personal story. Actor Jonathan Pryce also stars as a rough sleeper, adding another dimension to the film's portrait of homelessness.

The remastering of Hotel London is part of a larger BFI project to restore and celebrate films from the highly influential Black and South Asian British Workshop movement of the 1980s and 90s. These collectives, including Retake Film and Video Collective (co-founded by Jamal), Sankofa, and the Black Audio Film Collective, created urgent, issue-driven films that captured the multiplicity of Black and South Asian experiences in the UK. This movement was instrumental in bringing underrepresented voices to wider audiences and nurturing a new generation of creative talent both in front of and behind the camera.

The BFI National Archive has already remastered 14 films from this era, with Hotel London being the second to premiere at the London Film Festival. The first was The Passion of Remembrance, which debuted in 2022. By restoring these films, the BFI is ensuring that their cultural and political significance and enduring legacy are preserved for future generations.