‘Beyond The Box Office’ was a presentation and debate which addressed the cultural impact and relevance of film. The discussion centred around Stories We Tell Ourselves, a study conducted by the UK Film Council in June 2009. In 2007, the UK Film Council Board proposed that more material needed to be produced analysing the cultural impact of film, as a great deal of research into the value of film concerned itself with economic rather than cultural capital. The resulting study raised a number of significant questions, such as how we define ‘culture’ and ‘cultural impact’, and whether it’s even possible to measure abstractions of this nature.

The following speakers attended:
(time of appearance in brackets)

Caroline Norbury (00:00:17)
Caroline Norbury has been Chief Executive of South West Screen since the agency’s launch in 2001 and has extensive experience in the Media industry as Producer, Director and Commissioning Executive. Caroline is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a member of BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts).

Mark Cosgrove (00:05:50 & 01:20:01)
Mark Cosgrove is Watershed’s Head of Programme, and has worked in independent film exhibition for 15 years. He began his career as programmer for Plymouth Arts Centre, and has worked as Education Officer at Manchester Cornerhouse. Mark is also Creative Director Encounters Bristol International Film Festival.

Carol Comley (00:08:52)
Carol Comley has been Head of Strategic Development at the UK Film Council since 2000, and has also worked at the British Film Institute as Head of Funding.

Bertrand Moullier (00:18:18 & 00:59:58)
Bertrand Moullier is the owner of Narval Media, a London-based firm that advises companies governments, and non-geovermental organisations on the competition strategies in the film and television industries. Bertrand is the former director general of the International Federeation of Film Producer Association, and is consultant regarding international affairs to the British Producers’ Alliance for Cinema and Television.

Ian Christie (00:38:01)
Ian Christie is a British film scholar and author who is Professor of Film and Media History at Birkbeck, University of London. Ian has written a number of books and studies, and is a regular contributor to Sight and Sound magazine.

Rebecca O’Brien (01:06:17)
Rebecca O’Brien is an independent film producer and board member of the UK Film Council who has produced nine feature films with Ken Loach, including The Wind That Shakes The Barley, Land and Freedom, Sweet Sixteen, and My Name Is Joe. She formed the film production company ‘Sixteen Films’ with Ken Loach in 2002.

Alison Sterling (01:13:40)
Alison Sterling is a producer who founded and ran Moving Target Theatre Company for ten years.  Since moving into film in 2000, she has produced 9 short films (including work for UK Film Council, BBC Films and HTV) and developed feature film projects with funding from South West Screen and Cornwall Film.

Dick Penny (01:47:33)
Dick Penny is Director of Watershed and has worked as the Associate Director then Executive Chair at Bristol Old Vic. He is founding Director of Bristol +, a creative partnership board made up of public sector officials and creative entrepreneurs. In 2010 Dick was awarded an M.B.E. for services to the creative industries in Bristol.

Related Links:
Stories We Tell Ourselves
UK Film Council
South West Screen
iFeatures

Posted on Wed 2 Feb 2011.

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