Part of the thrill watching Herbert Ponting's extraordinary record of Captain Scott's doomed race to the South Pole is knowing that its original audiences must have been watching at least some of these sights on film for the first time: killer whales, their dorsal fins menacing up from the sea; querulous penguins; fearsome crystal cliffs of ice. Ponting was the expedition's official photographer, and the BFI has spent years beautifully restoring his footage – which he edited into this silent feature film in 1924.

Sebastiane is a controversial 1976 film written and directed by Derek Jarman and Paul Humfress. It portrays the events of the life of Saint Sebastian, including his iconic martyrdom by arrows. Most of the controversy surrounding the film derives from the homoeroticism portrayed between the soldiers. It is significant for being the first film to be entirely recorded accurately in Latin, which went as far as the translation of some dialogue into vulgar Latin.

Alice In Acidland - by John Donne (1969)

Cute and perky college student Alice and her cute and perky friend Kathy are invited to a "pool party" by Freida, a female teacher who is actually a lesbian and has designs on Alice. At the party Alice gets drunk, takes acid and immediately becomes a lesbian, taking a bath with Freida. Later Alice gets mixed up with LSD-addicted hippies, rape, more lesbians, more LSD, orgies, suicide, and having sex with guys who keep their boxer shorts on while doing it.