Film Unit Representative Back From Overseas

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30943, 27 December 1965, Page 10

Film Unit Representative Back From Overseas

Methods of production and i distribution of films had been i among the most significant 1 lessons learnt during a tour!' of three months overseas, the i South Island representative j 1 of the National Film Unit i (Mr Frank Chilton) said in an interview. I Mr Chilton recently visited ;1 Britain, Europe. Canada. Aus- t tralia, the United States, and ; l the Far East on a travel ( f grant awarded by the Queen't Elizabeth II Arts Council. is His mission was to try to,; find out how to extend thell functions of the New Zealand ! National Film Unit. He is now preparing a re- 1 port on his discussions with r leading film producers of the t countries he visited. includ! ing Dr. John Grierson, who i is regarded as the pioneer of documentary films and the 2 founder of the film units of i Canada. Australia, and New s Zealand. Discussions with film e

makers attending the Com,monwealth Arts Festival in] . Britain had revealed ways in which the film units of various countries could pool i their resources for the common good. Mr Chilton said. j He had learned some in-1 teresting trends in the distri;bution of films and observed] that in Canada the system] ]had been successfully decentralised. He had also noted i that film units had become! smaller, making for speedand mobility and the produc-i tion of more authentic work! on certain subjects. Mr Chilton met a former New Zealander. Mr John Feeney. who has become a direc-i tor with the Canadian' National Film Unit now working in Egypt. Mr Chilton said that New Zealand ranked about third in the Commonwealth for the, standard of its documentary I films. The Canadians were easily the most advanced. |