The British Film Institute, the Government and Film Culture, 1933-2000
Edited by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith and Christophe Dupin
(0 vote)Average rating:
| 0 | rating |  = We can do without |
| 0 | rating |  = Good book |
| 0 | rating |  = Excellent book |
| 0 | rating |  = Unique / a reference |
Your rating: -
Book Presentation:
The British Film Institute (BFI) is one of the UK's oldest and most important government-supported cultural institutions. From a modest start in the 1930s it grew rapidly after the war to encompass every kind of film-related activity from production to archiving to exhibition to education. At the beginning of the twenty-first century its turnover was approaching £30m and it had become a central point of reference for anyone whose interest in film stretched beyond what's on at the local multiplex.
There was nothing straightforward about this rise to prominence. It was achieved in the face of government indifference, active obstruction from the film trade, internecine warfare within the organisation and fierce contestation on the part of the BFI's own core public.
Based on intensive original research in the BFI's own voluminous archives and elsewhere, this book examines the interplay of external and internal forces that led to the BFI's unique development as a multi-faceted public body.
This volume will be a treasure trove for anyone interested in film and the workings of cultural institutions, or more generally in twentieth-century British film history.
About the authors:
Geoffrey Nowell-Smith is an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the School of History, Queen Mary, University of London Christophe Dupin; Senior Administrator, International Federation of Film Archives in Brussels
Press Reviews:
The book is wide ranging in scope, covering not only the BFI, but 75 years of British cultural life, including film societies, the film archive movement and the Museum of the Moving Image."
"This volume will be a treasure trove for anyone interested in film and the workings of cultural institutions, or more generally in 20th century British film history.
> From the same authors:
Lindsay Anderson Revisited (2016)
Unknown Aspects of a Film Director
Dir. Erik Hedling and Christophe Dupin
Subject: Director > Lindsay Anderson
Roberto Rossellini (2000)
Magician of the Real
Dir. David Forgacs, Sarah Lutton and Geoffrey Nowell-Smith
Subject: Director > Roberto Rossellini
> On a related topic:
The Ministry of Education Film Experiment (2016)
From Post-War Visual Education to 21st Century Literacy
Subject: Countries > Great Britain
The History of the British Film 1929 - 1939 (2011)
Volume V: Documentary and Educational Films of the 1930s
Dir. Rachael Low
Subject: Countries > Great Britain
Nasty Business (2020)
The Marketing and Distribution of the Video Nasties
by Mark McKenna
Subject: Economics
Back
