Film and events programmer, BFI Southbank
After beginning her career as a cinema usher, Kimberley Sheehan worked in admin at the BFI and co-founded the Forever Young Film Club — all while volunteering at festivals, working in production roles at BFI London Film Festival and earning her masters in film programming and curation at Birkbeck. In 2019 she moved into her current role of film and events programmer at the BFI, concentrating on the BFI Southbank offerings.
“BFI Southbank is a great fit for me because the programme is so diverse and bursting at the seams,” says Sheehan, who sees herself as an all-rounder in terms of taste. “I am as equally interested in Wang Bing documentaries as I am in The Fast And The Furious franchise.”
In addition to programming new releases and events at BFI Southbank, she has curated a programme this summer called Discomfort Movies, which, she explains, “examine the films that trigger fear, stress and anxiety — it crosses genres, countries, eras and form, with films like Titane and A Woman Under The Influence sitting alongside Threads.” She also enjoys being able to showcase other curators at the BFI, recently collaborating with Nia Childs and TAPE Collective.
“My favourite part of the job has been and will always be the audience,” says Sheehan. “When we have sold-out screenings in our biggest screen at BFI Southbank [450 seats], I like to lurk in the back and soak up the audience’s reaction. Hearing a crowd laughing at the restaurant scene in Rye Lane, or gasping in unison when Bette Davis steps off the boat in Now, Voyager — there’s nothing like it.”
Contact: Kimberely Sheehan
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