Focus: A Film Review (1948-1949)

FOCUS ' 111 CATHOLIC FILM-SCHOOLS IN BELGIUM * By JOZ. VAN LIEMPT DURING the German Occupation, the activity of the Belgian Film Study centre stopped. During this slack period, Fr. William Van den Nieuwenhuysen organised a private study circle of friends in Antwerp. Cardinal Van Roey gave him the task of. carrying on, as far as was possible, the Apostolate of the .Film in Flemish districts, and directed him to prepare for action when the country would be liberated. The Reverend Father, however, was killed by a flying bomb in Antwerp. He bequeathed to us, as the conclusion of his work, the following principle: “The solution of the problem of the cinema resides in the creation of a real Christian cultural approach to films.” Although this was not a new idea, he made it a dynamic idea by founding a “School of Films", whose object was to enlighten people as to the nature of a good film, and to educate them to enlighten others. It also provided an excellent medium for those who wished to devote themselves more exclusively to the Apostolate of the Film. Such a School may be founded wherever there is a practical interest in the work of the Cinema. During the Occupation the most important were founded at Antwerp and Ghent. They are still the most important, and their practical programme is as follows: In winter a course of io to 15 lectures is promoted on subjects such as: the fundamental ideas of “Vigilanti Cura"; the Essence of the Film; Language and Expression in the Film; the History of the Cinema; The Cinema and Catholic Opinion; Cinema and Conscience; Film Production; Film Technique; Camera Work, and so on; the Commercial side of the Cinema; Films and the Public; Youth and the Cinema; the Family and Films; Film selection. There is nothing stiff or formal about these courses. They are often accom panied by the actual showing of films or stills, and are always fdllowed by discussions. The lecturer, therefore, must be well up in his subject and often two lecturers will argue on specialised points in a film with a view to encouraging and directing controversy in the audience. Gradually groups of people really interested in the possibilities of the Cinema will form clubs and committees. These committees manage the sections of the Catholic League of the Film, which is itself organised by the Belgian Centre. Other subjects, if necessary, are added to the course of lectures. It is no exaggeration to say that in Belgium, Catholic “Schools of Film" have won over a large section of the public to good cinema. The Catholic Cultural Review of the Cinema is an off-shoot of the activities of the Antwerp School of Films. Fr. Van den Nieuwenhuysen’s publication “Filmstudien”, appears only in Dutch; but we hope to have soon a French edition of it. At the instigation of the late Canon Brohee, President of the O.C.I.C., who took much interest in our Film Schools, a similar programme for a much wider public was undertaken last winter in Brussels. The ten weekly lectures dealt with various subjects. But though they did reach a wider public, there was not the same amount of personal contact and discussion as in the more compact “Film Schools" we haye described for Antwerp and Ghent. In large towns such as Brussels and Liege there is plenty of scope for “Film Lectures” and for one or more “Film Schools" . Finally, the ideas of Fr. Van den Nieuwenhuysen have been adopted by the State-schools in their film education programme, and as a start five lessons a year may be given in the classes of Poetry and Rhetoric. * Summary of Paper read at the Fourth Catholic International Film Congress held in Brussels last June: