30 films the Scala cinema never got to screen
BFI
Writers, critics and filmmakers pick the post-Scala flicks they’d put on the bill were the cinema still open today
BFI
Scala!!! The very name has become synonymous with post-punk transgression and subversion. This most infamous of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll picturehouses, in the heart of King’s Cross in London, was a beacon for weirdos and misfits during the tumultuous Thatcher years.

30 films the Scala never got to screen

1. Sissy-boy Slap Party

2. A Gun for Jennifer (Todd Morris, 1997)

3. The works of Bertrand Mandico (1998-)

4. Velvet Goldmine (Todd Haynes, 1998)

5. Beau travail (Claire Denis, 1999)

6. The War Zone (Tim Roth, 1999)

7. Wild Zero (Takeuchi Tetsuro, 1999)

8. Baise-moi (Virginie Despentes & Coralie Trinh Tri, 2000)

9. Hedwig and the Angry Inch (John Cameron Mitchell, 2001)

10. 24 Hour Party People (Michael Winterbottom, 2002)

11. Rubber Johnny (Chris Cunningham, 2005)

12. Evil Aliens (Jake West, 2005)

13. The Wayward Cloud (Tsai Mingliang, 2005) + Destricted (Various directors, 2006)

14. Amer (Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, 2009)

15. Enter the Void (Gaspar Noé, 2009)

16. Enthiran (S. Shankar, 2010) + The Mermaid (Stephen Chow, 2016)

17. The Act of Killing: Director’s Cut (Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012)

18. The Man Whose Mind Exploded (Toby Amies, 2012)

19. Objects Attack! (Rona Mark, 2013)

20. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer, 2013)

21. Jodorowsky’s Dune (Frank Pavich, 2013) + Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (David Gregory, 2014)

22. The Duke of Burgundy (Peter Strickland, 2014)

23. Hardkor Disko (Krzysztof Skonieczny, 2014)

24. We Are the Flesh (Emiliano Rocha Minter, 2016) + Bad Boy Bubby (Rolf de Heer, 1993)

25. The Ghost of Peter Sellers (Peter Medak, 2018)

26. Mandy (Panos Cosmatos, 2018)

27. Dogs Don’t Wear Pants (J.-P. Valkeapää, 2019)

28. Butt Boy (Tyler Cornack, 2020)

29. King Rocker (Michael Cumming, 2020)

30. Rotting in the Sun (Sebastián Silva, 2023)