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'''Basil Wright''', ([[June 12]], [[1907]], [[Sutton, London|Sutton]], [[Surrey]] - [[14 October]], [[1987]], [[Frieth]], [[Buckinghamshire]], [[England]]), was an [[England|English]] [[Documentary film|documentary]] film-maker, film historian, film critic and teacher. |
'''Basil Wright''', ([[June 12]], [[1907]], [[Sutton, London|Sutton]], [[Surrey]] - [[14 October]], [[1987]], [[Frieth]], [[Buckinghamshire]], [[England]]), was an [[England|English]] [[Documentary film|documentary]] film-maker, film historian, film critic and teacher. |
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Wright was a key figure in the British [[documentary film]] movement and the first recruit to join [[John Grierson]] at the [[Empire Marketing Board]]'s film unit early in [[1930]], shortly after graduating from [[Cambridge University]]. Wright's [[1934]] film ''[[Song of Ceylon]]'' is his most celebrated work. Shot on location in Ceylon ([[Sri Lanka]]) the film was completed with the composer [[Walter Leigh]] at the [[GPO]] film unit in London. |
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At the GPO he acted as producer, wrote the script for ''[[Night Mail]]'' (1936) and introduced his friend [[WH Auden]] to the film unit. Wright received a joint directorial credit with [[Harry Watt]] for ''[[Night Mail]]'' ([[1936]]). |
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During WW2 Wright worked only as a producer, first at [[John Grierson]]'s [[Film Centre]] before joining [[The Crown Film Unit]] between [[1945]] and [[1946]] as producer-in-charge. Among the best known films he produced for Crown are [[Humphrey Jennings]]' ''[[A Diary For Timothy]]'' [[(1946)]] and ''[[A Defeated People]]'' [[(1946)]]. |
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Wright returned to direction in the early 1950s, his films included ''Waters of Time'' (1951) made for the [[Festival of Britain]], ''World Without End'' (1953) directed with Paul Rotha for [[UNESCO]]and ''Greece: The Immortal Land'' (1958) in collaboration with his friend the artist [[Michael Aryton]]. |
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Writing throughout the 30s and 40s, Basil Wright contributed to the theoretical development of documentary in the movement’s journals ''Cinema Quarterly'', ''World Film News'' and ''Documentary Newsletter''. He was the film critic for ''[[The Spectator]]'' after [[Graham Greene]] and a regular contributor to the [[British Film Institute]]’s ''[[Sight and Sound]]'' during the 40s and 50s. |
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Wright published a small book: ''The Uses of Film'' in 1948 and his personal (extensive) history of cinema ''The Long View'' in 1974. He taught at the [[University of Southern California]] (1962 and 1968), The [[National Film and Television School]] in London (1971-73) and [[Temple University]] (1977-78). He was Governor of the Bfi , a fellow of the British Film Academy and President of the International Association of Documentary Filmmakers. |
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In his films Wright combined an ability to look closely and carefully at a subject with a poetic and often experimental approach to editing and sound. In Britain he is commemorated with a film prize awarded biennially by the [[Royal Anthropological Institute]]. |
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Revision as of 15:33, 15 April 2008
Basil Wright, (June 12, 1907, Sutton, Surrey - 14 October, 1987, Frieth, Buckinghamshire, England), was an English documentary film-maker, film historian, film critic and teacher.
Centenary Celebrations
In honor of Basil Wright's centenary year, his career, and the careers of his colleagues and fellow centenarians: Edgar Anstey, Marion Grierson, Humphrey Jennings and Paul Rotha, were celebrated with a season of films between August and October 2007 at the British Film Institute in London.
Filmography As Director
- Conquest (1930)
- The Country Comes To Town (*Bfi's Screenonline links to the Film. )
- O'er Hill and Dale (*Bfi's Screenonline links to the Film. )
- Liner Cruising South
- Cargo From Jamaica
- Windmill in Barbados
- Song of Ceylon (*Bfi's Screenonline links to the Film. )
- Children at School (*Forthcoming on a New Bfi Boxset DVD)
- The Face of Scotland (*Available from Scottish Screen)
- Waters of Time (*Available from Museum in Docklands, London)
- World Without End Film
- The Stained Glass at Fairford(*Watch at the Arts Council Film Collection)
- Greece: The Immortal Land
- Greek Sculpture: 3000 BC to 300 BC
- A Place For Gold
References
- Basil Wright, (1948), The Uses of Film, Bodley Head, Oxford.
- Basil Wright, (1974), The Long View: An International History of Cinema, Secker & Warburg, London.
- Ian Aitken, (1998), The documentary film movement: an anthology, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press.
- Martin Stollery, (2000) Alternative empires: European modernist cinemas and the cultures of imperialism, Exeter, University of Exeter Press.
External links
- IMDB Entry For Basil Wright
- Bfi's Screenonline entry for Basil Wright
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- Watch Films from the Arts Council Film Collection
- The Royal Anthropological Institute