NFT reopens after £5million renovation

One of the capital's greatest cinemas will reopen next week after undergoing a £5 million transformation.

The makeover of the National Film Theatre will give Londoners a fresh insight into its unparalleled archive at the renamed BFI Southbank.

The centre - which includes a new studio cinema to go with the three existing NFT auditoria, two art galleries, a new café and a bookshop - will open to the public on 14 March.

The building will become a front door to the British Film Institute and its activities, providing audiences with one of the most wide-ranging programmes of film and screen culture anywhere.

The highlight of the refit is the new "Mediatheque", which gives visitors access to 300 hours of film from the BFI's archive.

Previously, the collection of more than 250,000 films and 500,000 television programmes was available only by request or for special viewings, but a selection - with hundreds of hours planned to be released in the future - will now be on show at the click of a button.

Archive images range from Audrey Hepburn's first silent screen test to RW Paul's 1896 depiction of rush hour on Blackfriars bridge.