End of "tragic decade" for British Film Institute?

[julian_craster]

Colin McCabe demands end of "tragic decade" for British Film Institute

Geoffrey Macnab in London

10 Dec 2007

From SCREEN DAILY:

Screen Daily - News





Distinguished British academic and producer Colin MacCabe has today (Monday) publicly announced his candidature for the post of Chair of the British Film Institute (BFI).



The current chairman Anthony Minghella is due to step down at the end of the year. Whether or not MacCabe's application is successful, it is bound to provoke debate about the future direction of the BFI.



In a strongly-worded letter to James Purnell, Secretary of State Department of Culture, Media and Sport, MacCabe criticised the decision taken when the UK Film Council (UKFC) was set up in 2000 to "subordinate" the BFI to the Film Council.

This decision, he suggested,"inaugurated a tragic decade in the BFI's history, when it lost its international reputation as a centre of excellence, but also meant that the Film Council was set up without the necessary expertise in film history to function effectively."



MacCabe has called for a "recalibration" of the relationship between UKFC and the BFI.



"This recalibration would need to include a re-assessment of the UKFC's

current business model for film funding," MacCabe wrote in his letter to Purnell.

"In particular it should be an urgent question as to whether a policy which does not include a criteria for additionality is the most productive or appropriate use of Lottery funding.



As important is the necessity for an audit of the training and regional

policies which have as their aim the production of the next generation

of British film-makers."



MacCabe went on to lament "the calamitous state of the BFI as an

authoritative centre of knowledge and expertise."

When he joined the BFI as Head of Production in 1985, MacCabe stated, "there were over 20 globally recognised experts working at various levels of the BFI. Now there are one or two at most."



The BFI received a major boost earlier this autumn when Purnell

announced that the UK Film Council (UKFC) has been awarded £25m to safeguard the future of the UK's national and regional film archives.

Using these funds, UKFC is aiming to preserve and restore the BFI's national and regional collections.



Asked about the current relationship between the BFI and UKFC, a BFI

spokesperson commented: "we work extremely closely with the UK Film

Council. We are absolutely shoulder to shoulder. They fully understand

our needs. We are very much part of their ongoing strategy."

Previous chairmen of the BFI have included such eminent figures as Lord Attenborough and Jeremy Thomas.



A new Chair is likely to be appointed by DCMS/UK Film Council early next year.

A UKFC spokesperson said that there was "a strong field of candidates" who will be interviewed by a panel consisting of the the Chair and Deputy-Chair of the UK Film Council (Stewart Till and Andrew Eaton), BFIi Governor Roger Laughton and Brian Leonard of the DCMS. The interviews will take place in January.



MacCabe's latest film as a producer, Isaac Julien's Derek Jarman, will

premiere in Sundance early next year.

[Mr Dean]

On a personal level, Colin McCabe made several enemies at the BFI and he would not be welcomed by some BFI members as Chair. However, I can't fault the basis of his argument about the disastrous state of the BFI in terms of its relationship with UKFC and its loss of status as an institute with expertise in all parts, respected on an international level.

[penfold]

Does anyone else feel it odd that he's criticised the Film Council knowing that the Chair and his deputy are on the interviewing committee??

[Steve Crook]

name='penfold']Does anyone else feel it odd that he's criticised the Film Council knowing that the Chair and his deputy are on the interviewing committee??

I wonder if he'll manage to shoot himself in his other foot as well



Steve

[DB7]

How much spare time do active filmmakers have to give to the post? Minghella doesn't seem to be as involved as say Kevin Spacey is at the Old Vic.

[ddock54]

The BFI ,a joke...

[Moor Larkin]

The tragic decade for the BFI.......



So, 1997..........



Education! Education! Education!



Except for the BFI........ maybe........

[ddock54]

They employ people with museum curator degrees and no interest in the Brirish film industry what so ever.

[penfold]

name='ddock54']They employ people with museum curator degrees and no interest in the Brirish film industry what so ever.

Name one. I know a lot of the curatorial staff and the library staff personally, they are without exception passionate about Film and Television, devote much of their spare time as well as their work hours promoting the profile of the archive's contents, for a pretty crap wage for Phd's and MA's working in London..

Trust me, thay have been as frustrated as anyone on the lack of resources the BFI have had to continue this work.

[JamesM]

Reality and ddock54's posts seldom meet.

[AdrianTurner]

Let me tell you an amusing and I hope revealing story about the BFI, where I worked from 1977-1988 at the NFT. Generally speaking, the BFI was not a happy ship, riven by internal divisions et etc, just like any ‘company’ out there in the real world. But it could also be an amazing place, staffed by real enthusiasts like John Gillett and David Meeker, whose company I miss.



Anyway, I had to organise these Guardian Lecture things and one of those was Robert de Niro. I persuaded him, much against his better judgement, to do it and the event went ahead. DeNiro brought support in the form of Scorsese and a band called The Clash - there was an incredible Chinese dinner afterwards.



As was the custom, the NFT paid De Niro a First Class air ticket, a week at the hotel of his choice (Blakes) and a chauffeured Jag whenever he wanted one. But a week before his departure De Niro called to say he was now coming to London for talks about The Mission and that Warners and/or Goldcrest would pick up his entire tab. I thanked him profusely, and thought I’d carry the money over to next year to import a certain Kurosawa from Japan. This was a great piece of luck.



The BFI didn’t think so. They thought I had mishandled The Guardian's budget and they might give us less next year. This was rubbish, course, but that's the way they thought. For me, the result was endless memos and, ultimately, a formal warning - a third of the way to getting sacked. Amazing, and that sort of summed the place up, apart from the lunacy of MOMI.



I well remember McCabe. He was the only workable link to Jean-Luc , wrote impenetrable criticism, wore smart clothes and seemed very personable for a bloke who really wanted to turn the BFI into a Marxist paradise.



Frankly, I’ m amazed the BFI still exists.

[Mr Dean]

name='AdrianTurner']I well remember McCabe. He was the only workable link to Jean-Luc , wrote impenetrable criticism, wore smart clothes and seemed very personable for a bloke who really wanted to turn the BFI into a Marxist paradise.

I can remember McCabe wearing a donkey jacket, sitting next to a rather more suave Stuart Hall (not the football commentator!) at a meeting of the Society for Education in Film and Television. Make of that what you will, Adrian's story sounds about right for the BFI, which has always been an odd institution with a poor management record but plenty of dedicated workers on the ground as Penfold's post confirms.