Documentary News Letter (1947-1949)

152 DOCUMENTARY NEWS LETTER The first International Festival of Documentary Films was held at Edinburgh from August 31st to September 7th, concurrently with the three weeks' Festival of Music and Drama. Organized by the Edinburgh Film Guild, with the assistance of a widely representative committee and the co-operation of the Central Office of Information the Festival was designed: (1) To present for the first time a world view of documentary achievement by showing examples of the best realistic production from many countries, and (2) To create an opportunity for the reconsideration and re-assessment of the principles and methods of the documentary movement. The Festival was opened by a ceremony at the Playhouse cinema on the first Sunday afternoon. Speeches of welcome were made before the films by the Rt Hon Sir John I. Falconer, Lord Provost of Edinburgh; John Grierson, Director of Mass Communications UNESCO; and Norman Wilson, Chairman of the Ldinburgh Film Guild. Subsequently there was a programme of films at the Playhouse in the evening. During the following week there were twice daily film shows at the Guild Theatre, Film House, a Show at the Central Hall, Tollcross, organized by the Scottish Educational Film Association, and the Festival concluded with an afternoon and evening film show at the Playhouse cinema. In all seventy films from seventeen different countries were shown to an audience totalling over five thousand, a figure which, judging from the numbers turned away daily, would have been very much higher if more accommodation had been available at the Guild Theatre. DNL PRESENTS EDINBURGH IN REVIEW Introductory Note The assessment of foreign films presents a number of problems. Obviously t rue criticism can only be applied in relationship to the conditions prevailing in the country of origin and the audience for which the film is intended. In the absence of such knowledge, and hampered in many cases by an ignorance of language, it is easy to underestimate the significance or effect of a film for the purpose for which it was designed. Viewed under the conditions of the Festival the impact of any film becomes a very individual matter, and it is clear that there will be frequent differences of opinion due to the varying knowledge of each viewer. A relatively unimportant film about a country or people of which one knows little, may, for example, when seen with a number of others seem more interesting than one in which the background is familiar. In making this survey of the films shown at the Festival, the attempt has been tnade to keep these points in mind, but with such a large number of films to cover it has proved impossible to publish full critical reviews of every film. We have therefore been obliged to limit this survey to a short statement of the theme of the film, together with a few comments which may serve as a guide to their value, assessed from the opinions of a number of independent observers. Inevitably such comments must leave much unsaid, particularly as regards British films, many of which will be the subject of longer reviews in our regular columns, but we hope that our readers will be able to get from them some idea of the total picture which the films at the Festival presented. No exact details of length have been obtainable; the running times given should therefore only be regarded as an indication of whether a film is a onereeler or five. Most of the foreign films shown at the Festival are not obtainable in this country. Viewers interested in any particular film are advised to seek information from the Embassy of the country concerned. To the team of reviewers who made this survey possible, documentary news letter extends its thanks. Playhouse. Sunday. August 31st. Afternoon commentary in English, and too frequent reminders of Stalin. This is a record rather than a documentary film, though the attempt is made to relieve the monotony by Opening ceremony. Films from Britain, Denmark and the gHm«ses of the countries from which ^ch g^p comes. USSR Comment. A simple lyrical story with superb photography and commentary. The film gives no real picture of life in Assam — but it was not intended to; within its own terms of reference, it is a fine piece of filmcraft. 1. Cumberland Story {Britain. 50 mins.) Theme. New methods and new machinery can bring renewed life to the coal mines and new hope for the men who work there. The film tells the story of the finding and working of an old seam, lost in a mining disaster a century before. Comment. Well made and in places exciting. Nationalization, it is implied, will do in all pits what was done in this one; but the characters never really come to life and we are left with our doubts. As a story the film holds attention; as a moral for the mining industry as a wnole, it fails to convince, and the ending is flat. Why, if the film is believed, with present good intentions, with nationalization and a five-day-week, is there still so much wrong with the mining industry? There are deeper pioblems which this story does not tackle or even hint at. 2. The Seventh Age (Denmark. 18 mins.) Theme. Old-age pensioners in Denmark. A survey of the system for the distribution of pensions, and arrangements made by the State to house those without resources of tbeir own. Comment. A balanced and satisfying account of its subject, with a commentary in English. Apart from the story it tells of a fine social service, this film is remarkable for its warmth, humanity and simple common sense. The problems of old age are shown with real understanding. 3. The Festival of Youth (USSR. 50 mins.) Theme The parade of national representatives of youth from every part of the USSR before the Soviet leaders in the Leningrad Stadium in 1946. Shot in Agfacolour. Comment. For fifty minutes the eye is dazzled by a whirl of dancing and marching in some of the finest colour yet seen on the screen. But it is loo long and marred by a chauvinistic The Playhouse. Sunday evening Films from Poland, Australia, Britain and France 1. Native Earth (Australia. 14 mins.) Theme. Australian colonial administration in New Guinea. The film discusses the exploitation of the natives before the war; shows the part which they played during it, and ends with the attempts now being made to develop them for selfgovernment. Comment. A frank and fast-moving account, which, though in places faintly self-righteous, makes its points well without over-elaboration. 2. Student of Brcslau (Poland. 11 mins.) Theme. The rebuilding of university life in war-torn Poland. The students themselves repair their halls and lecture rooms. Everything is short, so alongside their studies even the students must work for their living at ordinary jobs. But life is not all work, and there are lighter moments when the students, like youth everywhere, dance and flirt. Comment. Direction and camera-work poor. To British eyes the film is dull and unimaginative. An understanding of the commentary would have helped. In Poland the film probably has a considerable propaganda value. 3. A String of Beads (Britain. 28 mins.) Theme. Love in the tea wardens of Assam. Boy buys beads for his girl in the market. A marriage is arranged and a baby is born. 4. Farrebique (France. 96 mins.) Theme. The life of a peasant family through the four seasons of the year on a farm in south-western France. Every detail is followed, births, deaths, the rotation of crops and the perennial question as to whether the farm shall be rebuilt. Comment. This is a film of the earth earthy. Everything is real even to the pdtois dialect — which apparently the French themselves cannot understand. Sensitive, slow as the people themselves, packed with a lyrical symbolism, this film is redolent of a nostalgia for the land. Whether you like it, is a matter of taste. Either you will think it a piece of arty fandango which goes on too long, or you will think it a masterpiece. Guild Theatre. Monday, 2.30 and 8 Films from Yugoslavia, Australia, France. Britain and the United Nations Organization 1. Youth Railway (Yugoslavia. 40 mins.) Theme. Many regions of Yugoslavia have been unconnected for centuries by any but the most primitive forms of transport. To bring the railway into Eastern Bosnia after the war. youth brigades from every part of the country are mobilized. The film shows how these young men and women succeeded in their job with only the simplest tools. Comment. Wasteful of its natural drama, this film is crude and repetitive, but it impresses by its raw vitality. If the English commentator could have ceased her exhortations for a moment to allow the camera to speak for itself the result might have been a film of major importance. Nevertheless as a record of how something valuable was created, and as a reminder of what can be done by sheer enthusiasm, the film has a lasting effect.