‘What We’re Trying to Do is Make Popular Politics’: The Birmingham Film and Video Workshop

Rethinking cultural diversity in the UK film sector: Practices in community filmmaking

“…Therefore, we have selected two other English regions to analyse: the South East and the West Midlands. The West Midlands, for example, has a long history of active community filmmaking (Long et al, 2013) and had a strong regional policy commitment to film in the late 1990s and early 2000s (Andres and Chapain, 2013). However, the region has also struggled to establish itself as a film production centre and only accounts for 2.3% of UK film companies and only 0.4% of the UK film turnover (BFI, 2015b).…”

“…Here, diverse filmmakers worked in ongoing collectives, engaging in distinctive creative practices (political, aesthetic and economic) outside of the mainstream film sector and also demonstrating 'a commitment to the local community, and to pressure groups such as trade unions, feminist organisations and anti-racist bodies' (Petley, 1989: 6). This socially responsive and cooperative mode of working helped yield a culturally significant workshop movement during the 1980s, supported by the 1981 Grant-Aided Workshop Production Declaration Act through continuous financial support for those filmmakers working on a non-commercial and non-profit basis (Long et al, 2013).…”

“…The United Kingdom is ranked among the fifth most important feature film producer in the Worldbeing the most important one in Europe (UNESCO, 2016). It has also, significantly, been a precursor in the community filmmaking movement (Long et al, 2013;Malik, 1996;Nigg and Wade, 1980). In addition, 'diversity', in one way or another, has been a key facet of cultural policymaking in the United Kingdom since the 1970s.…”