Cinema of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has been influential in the technological, commercial, and artistic development of cinema. Despite a history of successful productions, the industry is characterised by an ongoing debate about its identity (including economic and cultural issues) and the influences of American and European cinema.

Art Cinema

The release of Derek Jarman's Jubilee (1978) marked the beginning of a successful period of UK art cinema, continuing in the 1980s with film-makers like Peter Greenaway and Sally Potter. Unlike the previous generation of British film makers who had broken into directing and production after careers in the theatre or on television the Art Cinema Directors were mostly the products of Art Schools. Many of these film-makers were championed in their early career by the London Film Makers Cooperative and their work was the subject of detailed theoretical analysis in the journal Screen Education. Peter Greenaway was an early pioneer of the use of computer generated imagery blended with filmed footage and was also one of the first directors to film entirely on high definition video for a cinema release.

Related Topics:
Derek Jarman's - Jubilee - 1978 - Art - Peter Greenaway - Sally Potter - London Film Makers Cooperative - Screen Education

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With the launch of Channel 4 and its Film on Four commissioning strand Art Cinema was promoted to a wider audience. However the Channel had a sharp change in its commissioning policy in the early nineties and the likes of Jarman and Greenaway were forced to seek European co-production financing. Ken Russell and Nicolas Roeg were two other directors whose highly personal visual styles and narrative themes might class them as 'Art Cinema' directors who also struggled during the nineties to finance their productions.

Related Topics:
Channel 4 - Film on Four - Ken Russell - Nicolas Roeg

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Another account for the decline of 'Art Cinema' is that with the spread of music video there is steady demand for emerging talent without the requirements of seeking feature film funding. Julien Temple and John Maybury are two examples of this. Also the widespread acceptance of video art as a form has made it possible for British artists such as Sam Taylor-Wood and Isaac Julian to make film works outside of the demands of cinema exhibition.

Related Topics:
Music video - Julien Temple - John Maybury - Video art - Sam Taylor-Wood - Isaac Julian

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