Free Cinema Documentary Film Movement

The Documentary Film Movement (1929-1950) was a British cinematic movement, pioneered by John Grierson, that used film to address social issues and educate the public. Characterized by a socially conscious and poetic style, it emerged in the 1930s, initially using government and private sponsorship to create films about the lives of working-class people and social conditions, as seen in examples like Housing Problems (1935). The movement aimed to use film as a tool for public communication, social reform, and national unity during a period of economic hardship and rising international instability.

History:

The movement began at the Film Unit of the Empire Marketing Board in 1930. The unit was headed by John Grierson, who appointed apprentices such as Basil Wright, Arthur Elton, Edgar Anstey, Stuart Legg, Paul Rotha and Harry Watt. These filmmakers were mostly young, middle-class, educated males with liberal political views. In 1933, the film unit was transferred to the General Post Office.

From 1936, the movement began to disperse and divisions emerged. Whereas previously the documentary film movement had been located in a single public sector organisation, it separated in the late 1930s into different branches, as filmmakers explored other possibilities for developing documentary film. By 1937, the movement was spread across four different production units: GPO, Shell (headed by Anstey), Strand (headed by Rotha) and Realist (led by Wright).

In 1939, Grierson left Britain to work with the National Film Board of Canada, where he remained until 1945. In 1940, the GPO Film Unit was transferred to the Ministry of Information and renamed the Crown Film Unit.

Key films:

John Grierson: Drifters (1929)

Grierson's initial silent film about herring fishermen, which demonstrated the potential of documentary cinema.

John Grierson: Granton Trawler (1934)

The film is about the "Isabella Grieg" fishing trawler that traveled from Granton Harbour to through the east coast of Edinburgh, then to the fishing grounds between Shetland and Norway.

Basil Wrigh: Song of Ceylon (1934)

A poetic and observational film that explored the production of tea in Ceylon.

Alberto Cavalcanti: Coal Face (1935)

A film that celebrated the work of coal miners.

Arthur Elton and Edgar Anstey: Housing Problems (1935)

Notable for its use of on-site interviews with slum residents to highlight housing conditions.

Harry Watt and Basil Wright: Night Mail (1936)

A famous film that chronicled the process of sorting and delivering mail by train.