BFI Rip It Up Film Season

About our events

The 2026 BFI FAN UK-wide season Rip It Up explores and celebrates the changing face of youth rebellion, culture and expression – from joy to heartbreak – on screen in the UK.

The programme has been guest-curated by Birmingham-born actor Enva Lewis (How To Have Sex, Your Fault: London), bringing together working-class, queer, Black and British Asian coming-of-age stories across four decades of British cinema to focus on the defiance, joy and vulnerability of growing up as a city kid in Britain.

Supported by the National Lottery and BFI Film Audience Network.
 

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Are you aged 16–30, based in Birmingham and obsessed with films?
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List of Events

  1. Young Soul Rebels + Q&A

    Cinema
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  2. Ish + Q&A

    Cinema
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  3. A lively birthday party in a warmly lit pub. In the centre, a man in a dark zip-up top leans far backwards with his head thrown back, laughing, as if mid-dance move. Around him, friends crowd in with delighted, open-mouthed expressions, reaching toward him with their hands. A smiling man in a grey t-shirt stands behind him, and a woman in a leopard-print fur coat raises her hands on the right. In the background, other guests look on and one person holds up a phone. A rainbow-gradient foil balloon banner reading “Happy Birthday” hangs overhead. In the bottom-right corner are three colourful badge-style graphics reading “Rip It Up”.

    I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning + extended intro

    Cinema
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  4. A flash-lit group photo of five people squeezed together on a sofa in a dark room with maroon curtains and white vertical blinds behind them. A young man in a brown striped zip-up track jacket leans in front, arm outstretched as if taking the selfie. Behind him, a man with a goatee makes a pouting face and gestures toward the camera. In the center, a dark-haired man in a navy bomber jacket scowls and points a clenched fist at the lens, while a taller man in an olive green jacket leans over everyone from the top right, grinning with his hand held out in a thumbs-down gesture. At the bottom, a woman with a blunt fringe and a leopard-print fur coat lies across their laps, smiling. In the bottom right corner, three round badges in pink, blue, and yellow spell out 'Rip It Up'.

    I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning + Q&A

    Cinema
    More info