BFI Distribution has announced that La Haine, the explosive mid-90s French crime thriller directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, will be re-released at BFI Southbank and in selected cinemas UK-wide on 11 September 2020 in a stunning new 4K restoration to mark 25 years since it stormed the film world.

La Haine stars Vincent Cassel (Black Swan, Irreversible) as Vinz, who is Jewish, Hubert Koundé (The Constant Gardener) as Hubert, a black boxer, and Saïd Taghmaoui (Wonder Woman) as Saïd, a young Arab; three friends in an immigrant community who mooch around a rundown banlieue in the Paris suburbs. The action takes place over the course of one day in the aftermath of riots that erupted as a consequence of an attack on a friend by police. With tension rapidly building and the police out on surveillance on the streets of the banlieue, prejudice and hostility inevitably brings about violence.

After a standing ovation, writer/director Kassovitz, just 27 at the time, won Best Director at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival for his visually bold and stylistically inventive black and white film with its cool hip-hop soundtrack. It may be 25 years old, but with its themes of social and economic divide and urban discontent, La Haine is just as distinctive now as it was then – a true modern classic.

Originally slated for UK re-release in May 2020, but postponed due to the closure of cinemas in March, this new release date, in the aftermath of the Black Lives Matter protests, makes the film even more relevant and timely. By coincidence it will also arrive in cinemas a week after the 2019 Cannes Jury Prize-winner, Les Misérables, directed by Ladj Ly. This similarly exciting film, about police trying to maintain order among local gangs in the impoverished suburbs of Paris, has undoubtedly been inspired by La Haine.

Following the cinema re-release, the BFI will re-release La Haine on Blu-ray on 16 November 2020. Full details will be posted nearer to the release date.