Documentary Film Movement

The Documentary Film Movement is the name given to the group of British filmmakers, led by John Grierson, who were influential in British film culture in the 1930s and 1940s.

Principles

The founding principles of the movement were based on Grierson's views of documentary film. He wished to use film to educate citizens in an understanding of democratic society.

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.

Further reading

• Aitken, Ian (ed.), The Documentary Film Movement: An Anthology (Edinburgh, 1998)
• Aitken, Ian, Film and Reform: John Grierson and the Documentary Film Movement
• Fox, Jo, 'John Grierson, his "documentary boys" and the British Ministry of Information', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 25 (2005), pp. 345–369
• Hood, Stuart, 'John Grierson and the documentary film movement', in James Curran and Vincent Porter (eds.), British Cinema History
• Sussex, Elizabeth, The Rise and Fall of British Documentary: The Story of the Film Movement Founded by John Grierson
• Swann, Paul, The British Documentary Film Movement, 1926-1946

External links

• BFI Screenonline: Documentary

v t e Cinema of the United Kingdom Culture of the United Kingdom World cinema Films by year (Films A–Z) Pre 1920 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Production companies and studios Active Aardman Animations BBC Films British Lion Films Ealing Studios Elstree Studios Eon Productions Film4 Productions Goldcrest Films Hammer Film Productions HandMade Films London Films Palace Pictures The Pinewood Studios Group (Pinewood Studios Shepperton Studios) S4C Films Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden Warp Films Wimbledon Studios Working Title Films Former Amicus Productions Associated British Picture Corporation British Instructional Films British National Films Company Bryanston Films Denham Film Studios Eagle-Lion Films Eros Films G. B. Samuelson Productions Gainsborough Pictures General Film Distributors Hemdale Film Corporation Ideal Film Company MGM-British Studios Merton Park Studios Rank Organisation Southall Studios Tempean Films Tigon British Film Productions Warwick Films Woolf & Freedman Film Service Organisations BAFTA British Board of Film Classification British Film Institute BFI National Archive BFI Southbank British Society of Cinematographers Children's Film Foundation Cinema Exhibitors' Association National Film and Television School National Media Museum Northern Ireland Screen Scottish Screen UK Film Council People Actors and actresses Cinematographers Directors Editors Producers Production designers Score composers Screenwriters Other British Academy Film Awards British Independent Film Awards British New Wave Carry On Cinematograph Films Act 1927 Documentary Film Movement Eady Levy Ealing Comedies Edgar Wallace Mysteries Free Cinema Gainsborough melodramas Harry Potter History of British film certificates Home Video Charts James Bond London Film Festival Look at Life London in film Telecinema Category Commons