The BFI’s newly restored version of Hitchcock’s The Lodger: A Tale Of The London Fog will world premiere at the Barbican in London and simultaneously in cinemas across the UK.

The BFI is to show the world premiere of the restoration of Hitchcock’s classic, The Lodger: A Tale of the London Fog, at the Barbican in London on July 21, which will be simulcast to over 12 cinemas around the UK as part of the newly created cinema network Cross Artform Venue Network (CAV Network). The films will be simulcast via City Screen.

The film will be accompanied by a newly commissioned score by Nitin Sawhney, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.

The cinemas in the network taking part in the premiere are the Broadway Nottingham, the Chapter Cardiff, the DCA Dundee, the Glasgow Film Theatre, the Manchester Cornerhouse, the National Media Museum, Bradford, the QuadDerby, the Queen’s Theatre Belfast, the Sheffield Showroom and the Tyneside Newcastle.   

City Screen is also programming the premiere into cinemas it manages including the Celtic Community Leisure Centre in Port Talbot, the Electric Palace Bridport, the Gulbenkian Theatre Canterbury, and the Phoenix Leicester.

Members of the network can send and receive data between each other at speeds of approximately 200 times typical broadband download speed. 

Ali Hossaini, chief executive officer of the CAV Network said: “Digital technology has been truly transformative for the arts sector opening new ways of working and opportunities for collaboration.  Now, for the first time, the CAV Network of arts centre cinemas can offer local audiences the chance to participate in a broader range of film events, whether screenings, filmmaker interviews or interactive activities such as workshops.”

Heather Stewart, creative director, BFI, which was responsible for the restoration, said “Alfred Hitchcock is one of the great artists of the 20th century. His contribution to world cinema is immense and it’s important that we make his work as accessible as possible and give people the opportunity to see his early films; they are the foundation of his whole body of work. Now new audiences across the UK will be able to enjoy The Lodger for the first time ever in all its restored glory and with a fantastic new score.”

The BFI will release The Lodger theatrically on August 10.