By Nils Bothmann

As a film nation, Great Britain is suffering more than any other country from the Americanisation of the market; at least that was declared by Mamoun Hassan, former chairman of the National Film Finance Corporation (NFFC) during his tenure. For decades, the audience favoured American productions over domestic films, many talented directors moved overseas. Among them: Alfred Hitchcock, Michael Winner, and Ridley Scott, who left their home country for Hollywood. Even the lucrative Bond franchise completely moved to Hollywood, in spite of certain concessions, e.g. the fact that only a native Brit is to personify 007.

CARRY ON parodies and Monty Python films

Sociocritical filmmakers like Ken Loach have remained true to their British homeland, integrating the so-called (and since known as a dictum) „kitchen sink“ realism in their work and delivering a very vivid close portrait of the English working class. Apart from this ambitious projects, Britain can also look back on a history of  successful genre productions which have become cult films by now. In the 1950s and 60s, Hammer Studios were famous for their Technicolor horror films, and the proverbial British humour was spread by the CARRY ON parodies, and of course the Monty Python films.

1989 – a record low for the British film industry

Among the most important sponsors of the domestic film market is TV: especially BBC and Channel 4 often sponsor film productions. This again shows that for some time, there was no national film promotion available. The aforementioned NFFC (established 1948) stopped working 1985 after considering its privatisation – which was declined by Hassan who referred to the paradox of a privatised national film promotion. Because of this and other developments, the British film industry finally hit a record low in 1989. Since the 90s, British cinema is on the upswing again, enjoying international successes such as FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL, NOTTING HILL and THE FULL MONTY. At the instance of the Labour party, the UK Film Council (funded mostly by the National Lottery) which also promotes – like the NFCC formerly did – short film projects, was established 2000. To promote filmmaking, the UK Film Council spends roughly 17 million British Pounds annually, and it also supports distribution matters and institutions like the British Film Institute (BFI) financially.

Influential festivals

Great Britain has always had a diversified film culture – a proof of this are various renowned film schools and famous academies, among them the London Film School, the National Film and Television School, or the Screen Academy Scotland. In addition to those, the country has several influential festivals, the most traditional of them being the Edinburgh International Film Festival (established 1947) and the London Film Festival (which was held for the first time in 1956). More recent examples of a rich festival culture are the Leeds International Film Festival (since 1986) and the Encounter Short Film Festival (since 1994) which is held in Bristol .

As a film nation, Great Britain has a steady and copious output; other than that, a lot of US/British co-productions were successful – just think of ABOUT A BOY or the HARRY POTTER film adaptations. Especially Britain-based, top-selling company Working Title is responsible for many of those co-operations. Also in the portfolio of Working Title: LOVE ACTUALLY, ABOUT A BOY, and all parts of BRIDGET JONES. January 2009 marked yet another triumph for the British film world: Danny Boyle won an academy award for his film SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE.

Links

• BLUEBERRY (GB 2009. Matthew Sanger)
• MILK MAN (GB 2009. James Rumsey)
• MUMMY'S BOY (GB 2009. Harry Clegg)