In 2023, we celebrate the centenary of the birth of Lindsay Anderson, co-founder of the documentary film movement Free Cinema, pioneer of British New Wave, and a name whose importance to cinema and art has yet to be fully recognised. Anderson’s body of work, which spans four decades, is vital for understanding the social and political system in Britain, addressing as it does the topics of class, oppression, violence and mental health. Few directors or screenwriters worked with actors as he did, and he anticipated issues and ways of seeing that would be explored by the punk movement a decade later. In his films, courage knows no bounds, and nor does his uniquely caustic wit. We pay homage to his work with two memorable films.