Since its release in 1973, The Wicker Man has had an enduring fascination for audiences, commanding a devotion that most films can only dream of. Its unsettling imagery, haunting soundtrack and uncompromisingly pagan outlook have made it something of a unique and timeless cinematic artefact whose power is sure to last.

As the British Film Institute prepares to re-screen the film in all its lost glory, we present this 1995 interview with the film's director Robin Hardy.

The film has had a pretty extraordinary afterlife

It is an extraordinary story, I suppose it seems even more extraordinary now to me because I don't know what happens to other films, but I presume that on the whole it isn't as bad as that, or as difficult as that has been.