La Haine (1995) Limited Edition BFI - 4K UHD

Mathieu Kassovitz took the film world by storm with La haine, a gritty, unsettling, and visually explosive look at the racial and cultural volatility in modern-day France, specifically the low-income banlieue districts on Paris’s outskirts. Aimlessly passing their days in the concrete environs of their dead-end suburbia, Vinz (Vincent Cassel), Hubert (Hubert Koundé), and Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui)—Jewish, African, and Arab, respectively—give human faces to France’s immigrant populations, their bristling resentment at their marginalization slowly simmering until it reaches a climactic boiling point. A work of tough beauty, La haine is a landmark of 1990s French cinema and a gripping reflection of its country’s ongoing identity crisis.

Turning the camera away from iconic Paris to the concrete banlieue, Mathieu Kassovitz’s second feature as a director changed the cultural landscape of French cinema when it landed at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995, winning the Best Director prize. 

The film takes place over 24 hours following the police shooting of a young man from a deprived housing estate and shows the world through the eyes of three friends – one North African, one Jewish and one Black – who are frustrated with politicians, the media and police brutality. 

Black-and-white visuals, a thumping hip-hop soundtrack and graffiti-daubed streets underscore the urgency and rebellion at the heart of this game-changing classic. 

• 4K restoration supervised by director of photography Pierre Aїm and presented on UHD in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
• Audio commentary by Mathieu Kassovitz (2004)
• Redefining Rebellion (2020, 5 mins): film critic and programmer Kaleem Aftab explores the spirit of revolution in La Haine
• Screen Epiphany: Riz Ahmed introduces La Haine (2020, 14 mins): the award-winning actor talks about his connection to the film
• Interview with Mathieu Kassovitz (2020, 35 mins): interview with the actor, writerand director
• Three short films by Mathieu Kassovitz: Fierrot le pou (1990, 7 mins): a young man shoots hoops (or tries) in a gym, in an effort to impress a young woman, Cauchemar Blanc (1991, 10 mins): a group of white men carry out a racist attack in the banlieue, and Assassins (1992, 12 mins): Kassovitz’s short film that he later developed into the feature Assassin(s) in 1997
• 10 Years of La Haine (2005, 84 mins): feature-length documentary marking the 10th anniversary of Matthieu Kassovitz’s award-winning film
• Casting and rehearsals (1995, 19 mins)
• Anatomy of a Scene (1995, 7 mins): a look at the shooting of a particularly challenging scene
• Behind the Scenes (1995, 6 mins): Kassovitz, his cast and crew prepare to embark on making La Haine
• Colour deleted and extended scenes (1995, 17 mins): including afterwords by Mathieu Kassovitz on selected scenes
• Original trailers
• 25th anniversary trailer
• 80-page book featuring writing by Ginette Vincendeau and Kaleem Aftab, an interview with Mathieu Kassovitz, archival essays and reviews, and more