Documentary News Letter (1947-1949)

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134 DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER UNESCO REPORTS By SINCLAIR ROAD 'unesco should as a first and pressing measure appoint three Commissions on Immediate Technical Needs, to examine the requirements of those countries, particularly in Europe and the Far East, where the war has caused serious loss of equipment and personnel, or where rehabilitation and reconstruction are affected by inadequate technical knowledge and facilities.' The first step in constructing the defences of peace was to put the instruments of education back into the hands of the people of Europe and the Far East. Accordingly the first General Conference in Paris instructed UNESCO to survey the main requirements. Executive Committees w.'nt to work, commissions were appointed, and teams of research workers sent out in the early part of this year to the twelve countries selected for immediate investigation. By the end of August, reports were ready, summarizing the technical Press, radio and film needs of France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Greece, China and the Philippines. Conferences have since been held to consider the findings and to make detailed practical recommendations. One of UNESCO's projects for 1947 has been completed. The report on film needs is concise, factual and unique. Apart from meeting the immediate aim of assessing the technical deficiencies of a number of countries, the report does several other jobs. It was also designed to serve another part of the Mass Communication programme which is concerned with removing obstacles to the free flow of information, such as quotas, tariffs and censorship regulations. The material finally collected gives, therefore, the first accurate picture of the rise and development of the film medium in the countries surveyed. Up to now the main source of information about world film activities has been the Motion Picture Section of the US Department of Commerce, which has in turn depended for its intelligence on Hollywood. Its publications are useful though, in reality, they are little more than rough and ready assessments of the marketing prospects for American films. The UNESCO report is of quite a different calibre and with it UNESCO's film department has at least established itself as a world centre for film information. The key to the whole inquiry is a questionnaire of staggering proportions. Nearly 500 questions were prepared on films alone. This was the basis on which the research teams collected their information. The final result is a testimony of thorough and willing co-operation between those who asked and those who answered. Ft is impossible to do the film report justice in so short a space. Very briefly the kind of information obtained is as follows. Full particulars are given of all known projection facilities, 35 mm and Id mm, sound and silent, mobile and static, commercially operated, installed in schools or used in other ways. Approximate attendance figures at the cinemas arc also included. Com mercial distribution machinery is described and the percentages of foreign film imports given. It is, therefore, possible to see, for example, the extent to which American domination of the world screens has declined since 1939 and the distribution of British films increased. Production resources are covered in some detail — studios, personnel, finance, technical development, output. Manufacture of raw materials and equipment and facilities for professional training are dealt with under separate headings. Educational films are also considered apart, and it is interesting to note the relatively large place they occupy. A brief sketch is given of the conditions under which the film industry operates in each country, the legislation which has been introduced and in general the importance which is attached to the film medium. The general impression is of greatly expanded interest in all uses of the film, as revealed by increased cinema attendance and growing official support. We have had first-hand evidence of the zeal of the Czechs, but the report shows just as much urgent attention being given to making and using films in Poland, Norway, Denmark, Yugoslavia and even Luxembourg. Where no contribution can be made in terms of studio-made feature films, because markets or the particular language group are small, there is growing documentary and educational film activity. In the long run the contribution which each country can make to the overall purposes of world education may as a result be even greater, provided there is the willingness and machinery to exchange the films once they are made. Currency difficulties The conclusions which the report comes to summarize the main technical needs. Raw materials — film stock and chemical products — do not present a major problem. Equipment for production and laboratories and for exhibition constitute the principal deficiency. Equipment for exhibition is by far the greater item of expense, and the need is chiefly for 1ft mm and film strip projectors which again emphasizes the growing rise of films in education. Nearly all countries have further expressed their need for first-rate educational films from abroad. They want to receive catalogues, but more particularly they are anxious to establish some kind of exchange system to overcome currency difficulties. This is a question which requires some immediate solution if the regular interchange of documentary and educational films is to be effective. The total needs have been assessed in the report at roughly £5-6 million, of which 10 per cent represents needs for the development of educational film production and for exhibition equipment of all types. Expressed in terms of countries China accounts for more than half the needs, and China, Greece and Poland together for 90 per cent. Equipment and Personnel The report and its findings have in turn been vetted by a further Sub-Commission which has added its own recommendations. The SubCommission is of the opinion that world production capacity for black-and-white film stock, for chemicals and for equipment is sufficient to meet all needs, although it foresees continuing delays in the delivery of certain types of equipment. The problem of how countries are to obtain foreign exchange for their purchases is the subject of a further section in the Sub-Commission's recommendations. The creation of a special UNESCO fund is proposed to assist in re-equipping the Press, radio and film industries in war-devastated countries, and also the flotation of loans. Both proposals will be put before the next General Conference of UNESCO. The Sub-Commission stresses the greatly extended use of 16 mm sound projectors for public film shows and the advantages, not the least being the smaller costs as compared with the use of 35 mm projectors. In passing it also notes a feeling in some countries that there will be strong technical reasons for the adoption of 17.5 mm instead of 16 mm for sub-standard equipment. It recommends UNESCO to investigate. All countries need trained personnel : both more people and people with higher qualifications and wider experience. This is rightly put as a priority requirement. Interchange of personnel and of whole units and scholarships by the more fortunate countries — a scheme which UNESCO has already pioneered — can provide some of the answers. But let us not be too smug about this. At least two of the countries sur\e>ed already operate proper training schemes of their own. It is time we hurried on with training plans for our own industry in Britain. The Sub-Commission recommends that UNESCO should act as an International Clearing House of Information on films, a recommendation which is anticipated bv the very fact and excellence of the report itself. There is a further proposal that UNESCO should maintain a Reference film Library of selected films as a kind of shop window to simplify the job of choosing and \ie\wnc films. Action by UNESCO is also proposed to develop the exchange of educational films between countries without currencv passing between them, and exemption of educational films and equipment from import-tax. Decision next month In November the second General Conference of UM SCO takes place in Mexico City. The recommendations made by the Commission on