Written by Hanif Kureishi (The Buddha of Suburbia), the 1985 My Beautiful Laundrette’s bold exploration of issues of sexuality, race, class and generational difference is compassionate, humorous and entertaining.

On 21 August the BFI will release it in a new Dual Format Edition (DVD and Blu-ray discs) with extensive special features and a booklet containing a variety of new essays by writers including Sarfraz Manzoor and Sukhdev Sandhu.

In director Stephen Frears’ groundbreaking and hugely successful drama, Omar (Gordon Warnecke), the son of a Pakistani immigrant, embarks on a venture to renovate his uncle's laundrette with the help of his childhood friend, ex-National Front member Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis).

A commercial and critical success, My Beautiful Laundrette earned Hanif Kureishi an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay and launched the career of Daniel Day-Lewis, who recently announced his retirement from acting.

The film is being released as part of the BFI’s activity (from June onwards) to mark the 50th anniversary of the Sexual Offences Act 1967. This includes a major two month film and TV season, Gross Indecency, and a one month Joe Orton season at BFI Southbank, a new online BFI Player collection – LGBT Britain on Film, a UK-wide touring programme of archive film and an international touring programme of classic LGBT shorts from directors including Derek Jarman, Isaac Julien and Terence Davies.

My Beautiful Laundrette will be released on UK dual format (Blu-ray & DVD) by the BFI on 21 August 2017 at the RRP of £19.99.

Special features:

• 1986 Q&A at the ICA with Stephen Frears, Hanif Kureishi, Sarah Radclyffe and Tim Bevan (1986, 98 mins, audio only)
• Gordon Warnecke on My Beautiful Laundrette (2015, 25 mins)
• Original theatrical trailer
• Typically British: A Personal History of British Cinema by Stephen Frears (Michael Dibb & Stephen Frears, 1994, 77 mins): the director’s affectionate exploration of British cinema and the films that influenced him
• I’m British But… (Gurinder Chadha, 1989, 30 mins): fascinating documentary on what it meant to be a young British Asian in the 1980s from the director of Bend It Like Beckham
• Memsahib Rita (Prathiba Parma, 1994, 19 mins): a short film starring Nisha Nayar and Meera Syal exploring the physical and emotional violence of racism
• Illustrated booklet with full film credits and essays by Sarfraz Manzoor, Sukhdev Sandhu, Simran Hans, Michael Brooke and Alex Davidson