Midland Journey

The reception ebbs and flows as the unfamiliar landscape whirls by the window of a plane or train or car. Communication is delayed, fragmented, interrupted. Memories of a distant country.

An essay film that interweaves meditations on travels with stories of journeys in China across a century: A student expedition into the heart of China in the 1930s, a young traveler's visions of the melancholic landscapes of his homeland, the narratives of movements in early Chinese silent films. Through these fragments of travelogues, the film explores the nature of consciousness in motion and what it means to use archives, images, and cinema as documentations as well as vehicles for travel.

When filmmaker Andy Howlett set out with his camera to document the final days of Birmingham's Brutalist Central Library complex, little did he know the rabbit hole he was stumbling into. Decried by the Council as an eyesore, but hailed by Historic England as an exemplar of postwar design, the story of John Madin's concrete colossus and the fight to save it is a curious one. In this psychogeographic detective story, Howlett weaves together archive footage with on-the-ground explorations in an attempt to figure out why we lost Paradise and how it might be regained.

The Maharajah of Kapurthala and guests travel on elephants and men catch fish on the River Bias.

Inspired by The Seven Valleys, the film follows a solitary wayfarer who steps onto a spiritual journey of self-knowledge, guided not by destination but by transformation. Shot across the historic landscapes of Oxford, the journey unfolds as both an inner pilgrimage and a physical passage that reflects the wayfarer’s movement toward surrender, silence, and submission.

A man's climb up Mount Kilimanjaro leads him through danger, unlikely friendships, and his own inner battles-revealing powerful lessons of resilience and the human spirit.

Documentary detailing a farmer’s visit to the market in Rawalpindi.

　　Originally created as an installation for the third Shenzhen Independent Animation Biennale this film is a gripping diary and travelogue of a trip the filmmaker made through India. She tries to grasp India’s love and thoughts, the sentiments and everyday conditions and the experience of disease and death.

As part of the 2017 UK-India Year of Culture, the British Council and British Film Institute share a unique collection of films documenting the sights and culture of a bygone India. Filmed between 1899-1947, and preserved in the BFI National Archive since then, these rare films capture many glimpses of life in India, from dances and markets, to hunts and pageantry.

This official travelogue of a royal tour follows the Prince on a series of regimental displays and a tiger hunt.

The future Edward VIII visits Malakand, Kapurthala and opens the Royal Military College at Dehra Dun

The future Edward VIII enjoys a stately procession and visits the Taj Mahal before meeting senior Indian royalty.

Hear the Lama band, see the sacred dances: welcome to Sikkim, in the shadow of the Himalayas.

Amateur travelogue of the Kagan Valley and Darband, Pakistan.

A doctor and party visit the villages of eastern Manipur in India's far north east.

The future Edward VIII visits his Empire, with Indian royalty, elephants, palaces and temples.

The future Edward VIII enjoys receptions, playing polo and hunting tigers on his royal tour.

The future Edward VIII enjoys stunning mountain scenery on a visit to the Khyber Pass during his royal tour

Romantic, atmospheric travelogue capturing some of northern India’s most iconic places – not least the Taj Mahal.

Blissful scenes of tourists arriving by boat and then sea bathing on a beach in the Venetian lagoon.