U.K. cinema a sad story

Press, 10 January 1983, Page 12

U.K. cinema a sad story

NZPA London The once-flourishing British cinema is. in its death throes. There are complaints that seat prices are too high, that cinemas are too uncomfortable, and that there are too few British-made films. The British cinema was at its zenith in the immediate post-war years, when the nation’s ci’nemagoers represented 33 per cent of the total world audience. Today that high rate has fallen to a ridiculous 4 per cent.

Experts in the trade believe that when all the 1982 statistics are compiled they will show that the number of cinemagoers is still falling about 40 per cent. This compares with an expected rise, in France, of 7 per cent and of up to 10 per cent in the United States. More and more cinemas, unable to survive this abandonment, have closed permanently.

Mr Mammoun Hassan, director of the National Film Finance Corporation, a body responsible for helping to finance films, said: “This country’s cinema industry, which is supposed to mirror the English way of life, has almost ceased to exist."

British cinema was caught in a vicious circle because of the way it was financed, a tax on tickets — the main source of funds for new productions, he said. Part of that tax goes to the National Finance Film Corporation and another part to producers, in proportion to the profits they made on films they wholly financed.

In 1982, the tax totalled £4 million (SNZB.B million), compared with £6 million (SNZI3.2 million) in 1980. The shrinking film market thus drives away potential investors, convinced that a film is not a profitable proposition, while poor publicity

for rare British films contributes to their failure. The lack of films “made in Britain" has forced the Government to end its quota system — initially brought in to protect the industry from Hollywood productions — which laid down that cinemas had to. show a certain. number of British-made films each year.

But, even American filmgoers are staying away from cinemas, preferring to watch television in the comfort of their homes. Mr Hassan believes the decline of the British film industry has shown the Government that there is a social need for it and has revealed the vast difference between a film made for cinema and a television production.

Film industry leaders have criticised the “indifference" of the Ministry of Trade and Industry in defending their

interests. The only reply was ’• that the Minister was consid- T' ering abolishing the ticket ;• tax. 1J

The immediate result could mean the end of the National Finance Film Corporation, unless it finds anlalternative source of funds,; ; and perhaps the National Film School.

But the supporters of the abolition of the tax feel it is_ a crutch preventing the inA j dustry from standing on its® own feet, and which should be swept away. The industry is in a mess because it has not been making the kind of films that people want to see. There are exceptions, proof of which is the new film, “Gandhi.” a Richard Attenborough production which is a big hit, and "Chariots of Fire."

Private cinemas, showing selected films, and the National Film Theatre, are Mill thriving.