The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

154 CINE TECHNICIAN October 1955 lems of making and showing films to children. In this I thought it was successful. A series of performances brought together some of the finest work being done at present for children. In addition to the Czech film I have mentioned, there were films from Poland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Rumania, Japan, France, Norway, Australia, Great Britain and the U.S.S.R. It was encouraging to find that Britain's praiseworthy effort in this field which has produced so much excellent work is beginning to be supported by effort in other countries. When international distribution of these films is possible children should no longer need to put up with films made for adults and only by accident suitable for them. This is one of the problems which will face the International Centre for Children's Films which a conference, convened by UNESCO in Edinburgh during the Festival, decided should be set up. A provisional secretariat is to be established in Paris and the chairman of the provisional governing body is Mary Field, who presided with great skill and tact over the Edinburgh conference. It is good to know that the conference has produced firm practical conclusions. Children's films have been the subject of feckless blethering for far too long. Polish Delegates Delighted The following impression of Edinburgh has been specially written for us by Cameraman Wladislaw Forbert and Scenario Director Jerzy Papaj, the Polish Delegates to the Festival. We were delighted by the interest shown in our delegation and the friendly reception accorded to us during our visit. The Edinburgh Festival is marked by the search for new forms, new media of expression for documentary films. As we were able to observe, the search leads in various directions and assumes various characters. Films ranged from the Hewitson Road of Iron, straight reportage of the building of a railway line in Canada, through Guggenheim's American social propaganda film The Big Issue, to the purely impressionist Moussell film Le Chemin de I'Etoile. In every documentary film that we saw at the Festival it was apparent that its makers had given great thought to the search for lucid expression. At present, documentary film in Poland is going through a difficult period. There is no shortage of subjects, but our film-makers rarely find the best way of presenting them. As yet Polish documentary has not evolved a distinctive style. Our documentary film-makers will have to give meticulous attention to the quality of their film reportage, since this branch of the cinema has, until recently, been afforded rather stepmotherly treatment in our country. Besides the wide range of interests represented at the Festival, the personal contacts established there between directors from various countries have a particular significance. They assumed a really friendly character and achieved an atmosphere of mutual understanding. There was evi dently a sincere wish to be of service to one another in sharing experiences. This exchange is the best proof of the need for such meeting, and of the valuable role of the Festival. We followed up our experiences at the Festival with visits to film units in London and a trip to Pinewood Studios. We were very impressed with the standard of documentary we saw at such places as the National Coal Board, the National Film Board of Canada, British Transport Films, and the Shell Film Unit. We also learned a great deal from the British Film Institute. We should like to take this opportunity of thanking the organisers of the Festival, and the staff of the film units and studios we visited, for their hospitality to our delegations. We have taken back to Poland news of a wide variety of excellent productions. General Secretary (Continued) and utterly unacceptable. It was not based on the B.F.P.A. Agreement, as was promised. Indeed, there were thirteen key clauses omitted altogether and only in about two of the others was there any similarity with the B.F.P.A. Agreement. The employers want to have different terms of employment for different categories of members, but our view is that all members shall be covered by the same agreement. Thev want to abolish the principle of voluntary overtime and deem guiltv of misconduct anybody who refuses to work overtime in a week which they state should be between 6.0 a.m. Sunday and the following Sunday. Whilst we realise that a seven-day public service must operate continuously the employers have failed to distinguish between this essential principle and the fact that the workers themselves should not have to operate continuously. The proposed provisions for overtime payments were comnletely inadequate and well below those set down in the B.F.P.A. Agreement, as also were the provisions for payment on Bank and Public Holidays. We were asked to agree that our women members who became pregnant would be ineligible for sickness benefit, the employers telling: us that the processes of childbirth were under stood by them as voluntary sickness! In fact the only good thing about the draft agreement proposed was the statement that the leave year should run from 1st January to 31st December and as there was no other reference to holiday periods one or two of us rather innocently assumed that our members were to have twelve months holiday each year! But alas we were told this was a typing mistake and they would get no more than two weeks, but even then the principle of holiday credits was not proposed. At a meeting of our TV members to which I reported on our negotiations the view was clearly and firmly expressed that A.C.T. must press the programme contractors to accept the full B.F.P.A. Agreement subject to any necessary amendments which the Executive Committee and Negotiating Committee think fit. That is the mandated course we shall follow. STOP PRESS As we go to press the General Secretary reports that at the resumed negotiations with the Programme Contractors many of the criticisms voiced above were accepted as valid by the employers and although there is still a long way to go progress was made towards the amicable conclusion of negotiations.