BFI director Amanda Nevill speaks in the Guardian today about the BFI's poll to find the classic films that are considered worthy to be bequeathed to future generations. The poll is part of the BFI's 75th birthday celebrations and has been reported in national broadsheets.
Fans invited to name the movie they would bequeath to future generations
· BFI seeking out the films that stand test of time
· Public urged to join stars in nominating favourites
* Charlotte Higgins, chief arts writer
* The Guardian,
* Wednesday September 3 2008
Juliette Binoche has chosen Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice. Cate Blanchett, another fan of the Russian director, has nominated his Stalker. Director Terence Davies, on the other hand, picked out Kind Hearts and Coronets for its flawless comedy and impeccable pacing. And the British Film Institute is asking members of the public the question: if you had to choose one film to bequeath to future generations, what would it be?
The scheme, launched yesterday, is part of the BFI's 75th birthday celebrations. It is a young institution, compared with the National Gallery and British Museum. But, says BFI director Amanda Nevill, the organisation is just as important as those museums in protecting and promoting our cultural heritage.
"Film is society's chosen medium," she said. "We still don't value film in the way we do Roman vases or Titian. We give a certain reverence to paintings that we don't give to films. I want film to occupy the same sort of importance as Titian and Turner. It is just as important, and not just some trite entertainment thing."
The BFI has already invited 75 figures from the film industry to nominate the film that they would most like to see passed down to future generations. Veteran actor Leslie Phillips named Empire of the Sun by Steven Spielberg, in which he appeared, because, he said: "I was absolutely knocked out by Steven. He was so sweet, so lovely, and so good." Jaime Winstone, the young actor who has just appeared in Olly Blackburn's horror movie Donkey Punch, picked out Quadrophenia. "It had a real impact on me when I watched it when I was younger," she said. "It has never left me, and it inspired me to go into film."
Members of the public are being invited to nominate films on the BFI website over the next month. The five or 10 films that emerge as the most popular will be shown at the BFI Southbank in London and then at cinemas across the country.
Among the nominations so far, David Lean is an early favourite. Sir Roger Moore nominated Lawrence of Arabia; producer Stephen Woolley Great Expectations; and Ryan's Daughter was also selected.
The films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger have also received an enthusiastic response, with Patrick Marber putting forward The Red Shoes and three nominations for the postwar masterpiece A Matter of Life and Death, making it, perhaps surprisingly, the single most nominated movie so far.
Other British films that were put forward include Lynne Ramsay's Ratcatcher; Shane Meadows's This is England; Lindsay Anderson's If and Ken Loach's Kes. Bill Nighy chose Alan Parker's Mississippi Burning, and Chiwetel Ejiofor nominated Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove.
Those nominating have freedom to chose outside the British canon.
Nevill defended the choice to extend the possibilities to Hollywood and world cinema, saying: "It never crossed our minds to limit this to British films. It is one of the great things about British culture in general that it has always been outward looking and contextualised globally. British film is not so weedy that it needs to be selected out."
Most of the films selected so far are mid-20th century classics: Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal; the musical Singin' in the Rain; Fellini's 8½; Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible; and Carol Reed's Third Man.
But some recent films have been chosen as classics of the future. Composer Michael Nyman, who scored many of Peter Greenaway's films, picked out Mexican director Carlos Reygadas's Silent Light (2007) - a film that has no score. Other more recent nominations include Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man (2005); Noel Clarke's Adulthood (2008); and Clarke's own nomination of Pulp Fiction (1994).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/sep/03/1
Fans invited to name the movie they would bequeath to future generations
· BFI seeking out the films that stand test of time
· Public urged to join stars in nominating favourites
* Charlotte Higgins, chief arts writer
* The Guardian,
* Wednesday September 3 2008
Juliette Binoche has chosen Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice. Cate Blanchett, another fan of the Russian director, has nominated his Stalker. Director Terence Davies, on the other hand, picked out Kind Hearts and Coronets for its flawless comedy and impeccable pacing. And the British Film Institute is asking members of the public the question: if you had to choose one film to bequeath to future generations, what would it be?
The scheme, launched yesterday, is part of the BFI's 75th birthday celebrations. It is a young institution, compared with the National Gallery and British Museum. But, says BFI director Amanda Nevill, the organisation is just as important as those museums in protecting and promoting our cultural heritage.
"Film is society's chosen medium," she said. "We still don't value film in the way we do Roman vases or Titian. We give a certain reverence to paintings that we don't give to films. I want film to occupy the same sort of importance as Titian and Turner. It is just as important, and not just some trite entertainment thing."
The BFI has already invited 75 figures from the film industry to nominate the film that they would most like to see passed down to future generations. Veteran actor Leslie Phillips named Empire of the Sun by Steven Spielberg, in which he appeared, because, he said: "I was absolutely knocked out by Steven. He was so sweet, so lovely, and so good." Jaime Winstone, the young actor who has just appeared in Olly Blackburn's horror movie Donkey Punch, picked out Quadrophenia. "It had a real impact on me when I watched it when I was younger," she said. "It has never left me, and it inspired me to go into film."
Members of the public are being invited to nominate films on the BFI website over the next month. The five or 10 films that emerge as the most popular will be shown at the BFI Southbank in London and then at cinemas across the country.
Among the nominations so far, David Lean is an early favourite. Sir Roger Moore nominated Lawrence of Arabia; producer Stephen Woolley Great Expectations; and Ryan's Daughter was also selected.
The films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger have also received an enthusiastic response, with Patrick Marber putting forward The Red Shoes and three nominations for the postwar masterpiece A Matter of Life and Death, making it, perhaps surprisingly, the single most nominated movie so far.
Other British films that were put forward include Lynne Ramsay's Ratcatcher; Shane Meadows's This is England; Lindsay Anderson's If and Ken Loach's Kes. Bill Nighy chose Alan Parker's Mississippi Burning, and Chiwetel Ejiofor nominated Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove.
Those nominating have freedom to chose outside the British canon.
Nevill defended the choice to extend the possibilities to Hollywood and world cinema, saying: "It never crossed our minds to limit this to British films. It is one of the great things about British culture in general that it has always been outward looking and contextualised globally. British film is not so weedy that it needs to be selected out."
Most of the films selected so far are mid-20th century classics: Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal; the musical Singin' in the Rain; Fellini's 8½; Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible; and Carol Reed's Third Man.
But some recent films have been chosen as classics of the future. Composer Michael Nyman, who scored many of Peter Greenaway's films, picked out Mexican director Carlos Reygadas's Silent Light (2007) - a film that has no score. Other more recent nominations include Werner Herzog's Grizzly Man (2005); Noel Clarke's Adulthood (2008); and Clarke's own nomination of Pulp Fiction (1994).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/sep/03/1
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