The Interface of Documentary and Fiction: The Amber Film Workshop and Regional Documentary Practice

The Interface of Documentary and Fiction: The Amber Film Workshop and Regional Documentary Practic

Structure and agency: Shane Meadows and the new regional production sectors

What is it that changed in the British film industry in the mid-1990s that allowed a young, working class guy with a regional accent to develop a career making films almost exclusively set and shot in the Midlands? Part of the answer to this question must, of course, include Meadows’ personal agency – his determination, his creativity, his proficiency as a director, and so on. However, while these qualities should not be underestimated they are only half the answer. While Meadows and his collaborators have utilised the opportunities and resources available to them this chapter is focussed on what created those opportunities and what this means for British cinema. As such, this chapter takes an approach to Meadows’ film-making that is different to many of the other contributions to this volume by seeking to understand it within an institutional-industrial context

The ‘Cultural Burden’: regional film policy and practice in England

This article looks at the development of film policy and practice in the English regions. It asks: how has the ‘territorialization’ of film policy and funding affected regional modes of film production? And further, how is film as a cultural practice manifested in contemporary regional film production? The article is divided into two sections. The first outlines the development of regional film policy and practice from the 1970s, paying particular attention to the model of regional filmmaking that emerged from the film workshop movement and the changes in regional film policy instituted by the New Labour government since 1997. After this broad historical framework has been established, the second section analyzes regional film policy and practice through a case study of the East Midlands region. It is argued that, while ideas concerning cinema as a cultural practice are still present at a rhetorical level, commercial interests have become ascendant in regional film funding policy, restricting the space for creative autonomy that once defined regional production sectors

Identity Policies: Regional Film Policy and Regional Identity in England

About the book: Cinemas, Identities and Beyond examines different modes of representing and constructing identities in and through the medium of film, transcending the narrow confines of the local / national / regional, and challenging spatial and temporal boundaries. It gathers fifteen essays that explore different dimensions of identities in contexts ranging from domestic spheres, urban milieus, socio-political environments, diasporic film-making issues, anthropology, film festivals, and psychoanalysis, to the examination of stardom in society. Engaging with cinematic representations, narrative conventions, film form, industry concerns, and other socio-cultural-economic-political factors relating to the production, distribution, exhibition and consumption of film, Cinemas, Identities and Beyond contributes to one of the most thought-provoking contemporary debates on cinemas and identities in film studies. Revisiting films such as Farewell My Concubine, The Matrix trilogy, The Straight Story, El Topo, and Days of Being Wild, this anthology establishes a framework that actively queries stabilised, ideological paradigms. The book discovers new frontiers and discourses to help us better understand ourselves and our surroundings when another decade of the new millennium is about to begin. Cinemas, Identities and Beyond will prove to be of value to a broad range of scholars, critics and students who are interested in issues pertaining to identities, and their construction in and beyond film

British film policy in an age of austerity

British film policy in an age of austerit

Performative resilience: How the arts and culture support austerity in post-crisis capitalism

Resilience is a key theme in contemporary post-crisis capitalism, prominent across government policy, popular discourses, business and management thinking and academia. This article is about the deployment of the concept of resilience in cultural policy and practice under conditions of austerity. It is based on an extensive engagement with literature, an analysis of cultural policy discourse, and qualitative data drawn from 23 indepth interviews with freelance cultural practitioners. The findings contribute to the literature on the politics of resilience in policy and society (Allen et al., 2014, Diprose 2014, Burman 2018, Gill & Orgad 2018, Harrison 2012) and the effects of austerity on culture (Felton et al. 2010, Pasquinelli & Sjöholm 2015, Pratt 2015). We adapt Robin James’s (2015) concept of resilience to show how arts leaders and practitioners generate performative narratives that seek to publicly represent their capacity to adapt to austerity, and we explore the different versions of resilience thinking that these narratives mobilise. We argue that resilience in cultural policy and practice unwittingly produces a discursive surplus which becomes reinvested in institutions, providing subsequent justification for the processes of post-crisis austerity itself

Disabled children and young people: Engagement in arts and culture in the East Midlands in an environment of restrained resources

This research was commissioned by The Mighty Creatives in response to the funding cuts to the arts and cultural sector in the East Midlands, including Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland. It describes how funding cuts have impacted disabled children and young peoples engagement with the arts. The project was funded as a partnership between the University of Leicester and Attenborough Arts Centre who, championed by Lord Attenborough, are committed to the promotion and encouragement of engagement in the arts by disabled people

Arts policy and practice for disabled children and young people: towards a ‘practice spectrum’ approach

This article argues for an approach to the evaluation of arts policy and practice for disabled children and young people that goes beyond the dialogic antagonism between Disability Arts and community arts, and towards a ‘practice spectrum’. Little is known about the extent to which a Disability Arts perspective has extended into arts policy and practice for disabled children and young people. The article aims to redress this knowledge gap. It is based upon two sets of data collected in relation to the East Midlands region of England during 2014. First, a critical evaluation was conducted of official and institutional attitudes to arts practice with disabled children and young people. Second, interviews exploring contemporary practice were conducted with 24 arts organisations. Their practice represents a diverse range of art forms and programmes undertaken in the region, and a range of attitudes and positions taken towards disabled children and young people. We argue that the best way to conceive of current practice is as a spectrum, as opposed to an antagonism between community arts and Disability Arts perspectives. There is, however, little evidence of the penetration of a Disability Arts perspective into policy and practice for children and young people

Workforce Diversity in the UK Screen Sector

The review systematically evaluates the research on workforce diversity in the United Kingdom’s film, television, animation, video games and visual effects (VFX) industries published between 2012 and 2016. It gives the most complete picture to-date of what is known about the screen sector workforce [Taken from Executive Summary

Workforce Diversity in the UK Screen Sector: Executive Summary

Executive Summary of the "Workforce Diversity in the UK Screen Sector" Report. The review systematically evaluates the research on workforce diversity in the United Kingdom’s film, television, animation, video games and visual effects (VFX) industries published between 2012 and 2016. It gives the most complete picture to-date of what is known about the screen sector workforce