The British Film Institute’s Replay is a free-to-access digital archive uncovering stories from across the UK, its history and its people. The content comes from the BFI’s own archives and those of partner organisations and can be used for enjoyment, research or study. Some of the content might be very familiar to viewers while other content can be very rare and may not have been available to be seen for decades.
In 2025, Caerphilly Libraries became one of 24 new library services allowing their customers access to BFI Replay – meaning there are now 132 public library services in the UK allowing access to this unique film archive. You can now watch Replay in any library across Caerphilly.
On December 3rd Nicky Williams from the BFI and Iola Baines from the National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive came to Risca Library to talk about BFI Replay, answer questions from attendees and to screen the film Blue Kenny. What better place to show the film than Risca Library which opened in 2011 on the site of the former Palace Cinema? The library retains the historic Grade II listed façade of the cinema which had previously occupied the site for nearly a century.
Blue Kenny was set in Blackwood, Caerphilly Borough – the home of the director Kier Alexander. The film tells the tale of a new teacher, trying to connect with the kids through poetry, and clashing with the old school ways. The film won the D. M. Davies Award at the 12th International Film Festival of Wales and was partly funded by the band Manic Street Preachers who had once attended the school.
The film brought back many memories for those attending the talk, some had even been pupils at Oakdale Comprehensive some years before! Other film clips from the archive were also shown highlighting just how much the world has changed in the last 70 years….
The evening was a great success and provided a good grounding in the role of the BFI, what BFI Replay has to offer, as well as allowing attendees to see just a small fraction of the films available in the archive which library customers in Caerphilly Borough can now access for free in their local library.
Thanks to Richard George, Caerphilly Libraries. Photographs courtesy of the British Film Institute.
Discover more about BFI Replay on the British Film institute website