In this special film portrait, in-depth interviews with Angela are accompanied by many clips from the films she worked on as well as rare archive of behind the scenes. This screening will be accompanied by a Q&A with Angela Allen and Ian Christie.

What do such classic films as The Third Man, The African Queen, The Misfits and Labyrinth have in common? Present during the filming of all of them was Angela Allen, acting as “continuity” – noting every shot and memorising all the details before her, working closely with the director, crew and actors to achieve a consistent and convincing world in front of the camera. She is one of the last witnesses to a truly golden age of cinema. Angela – who celebrated her 97th birthday in February 2026 – began her career as a 19-year-old on several British films, and then in 1948 was assigned to the second unit in Vienna for Carol Reed’s The Third Man. She subsequently became a regular aide to three great directors in particular, John Huston (with whom she made 14 films), John Frankenheimer and Franco Zeffirelli, as well as working with such diverse filmmakers as Tony Richardson, Ken Russell, Roman Polanski and Sidney Lumet.

Ian Christie FBA is a media historian and curator, formerly Professor of Film and Media History at Birkbeck, University of London. He was Slade Professor of Fine Art at Cambridge University in 2006 and has been a visiting professor and fellow at universities in Oxford, Tampa, Stockholm, Canberra, Paris and Olomouc, and at Gresham College London 2017-21.