84th season
Contents
Council MembershipChairman's Report
Review of Season:
EFG New Cinema
Programming
Education
Finance
Audience Reaction Index / Page
3
3
4
8
9
10
11
12
Introduction
This Annual Report covers the Edinburgh Film Guild season 2013/2014.
The Edinburgh Film Guild is a limited company. The Guild was established in 1930 with the following as its main aims:
To encourage the study and advancement of the art of the film, to foster public appreciation and study of it and to endeavour to increase public interest in the progressive applications of the film;
To hold exhibitions of films illustrating or contributing to film development;
To arrange lectures and discussions on relevant film subjects;
To acquire and maintain a collection of films, film literature and film stills;
To stimulate the production in Scotland of films of merit, whether by amateurs or professionals;
To print, publish and distribute any books, journals, leaflets, or similar matter which the Guild may think desirable for the promotion of its objects.
Edinburgh Film Guild
88 Lothian Road
Edinburgh
EH3 9BZ
tel: 0131 623 8027
www.edinburghfilmguild.com
Council Membership
Two members of Council as at 30 April 2013 demitted office in the year to April 2014 – Gil Henderson and Alan Maxwell. We are grateful to them for their contribution to the work of the Guild. Marc David Jacobs who was an observer at 30 April 2013 became a full member and Peter France also joined the Council as a full member. We continued to benefit from the assistance of others who were not members of Council.
I would like again this year to thank all the volunteers who run the Guild for their enthusiasm and uncomplaining hard work which is what makes the Guild the successful organization that it is.
John Aldridge
Members of Council at
30 April 2014
Jim Dunnigan (Chairman)
Andreas Rust (Vice-Chairman)
John Aldridge (Secretary)
Jillian Martin-Brown (Treasurer) Keith Brown
Nadine Fabre
Peter France
Gillian Gloyer
Nicola Hay
Marc David Jacobs
Julia Ossenbrügge
Beatrice Wickens
OBSERVERS
None
Chairman’s Report
Despite the adverse economic climate, Season 2013/14 saw yet another successful season for EFG, as befits our position as one of the premier Film Societies in the country.
The Guild was once again honoured by the British Federation of Film Societies where we once again received recognition from the BFSS in the categories of ( need details here).
I am also very pleased to report on the successful continuation of the EFG Annual Lecture and screening as part of the EIFF where Guild archivist, Marc David Jacobs delivered a fascinating talk on the History of the EIFF. Festival goers were able to hear a very stimulating, and entertaining, lecture from Professor Colin MacArthur on the past , present and future of Scottish cinema.
The Guild, of course, remains committed to film education, and our long association with the University of Edinburgh,and other film education providers, continues to bring a wide range of film courses into the building. There seems to be a growing demand for courses of this nature and we will continue to maintain our position as the place for film education in Edinburgh.
In these times of austerity, the Guild will still face a challenging environment but given the commitment and dedication of your current council members, EFG will remain at the forefront of film culture in the City of Edinburgh.
Finally, I have to thank the excellent team who give up much of their time to bring you an unrivalled cinematic experience.
Jim Dunnigan
Chairman
Review of Season
Sunday evening screenings
A comparison of the 2013/2014 Guild Cinema Sunday evening screenings and those for 2012/2013 reveals that the mean rating fell from 74.6% to 71.6, and the average number voting fell from 20.5 to 17.4. The highest average season score was for our John Sayles season on Sunday evening, at 80%: but the lowest ranking season, Americans in Paris, scored a still reasonable 63%. Our main evening screenings have always contained what we perceive to be our most popular films, so it is unsurprising that we received the largest scores in this time slot.
Newspapers and Newsmen
The newspaper has provided the setting for many classic films, with the drama more often than not stemming from rivalries between reporters and publications (Five Star Final, His Girl Friday and Park Row) and/or matters of journalistic ethics (Ace in the Hole and Scandal Sheet). The remaining film in the season, Page One: Inside the New York Times, presented a somewhat different take, being a documentary about the impact of digital technology on the industry.
One point of note in terms of audience reactions was that the lowest rated film in the season was His Girl Friday (a still respectable 66%) and the highest Ace in the Hole. Perhaps people are too familiar with Hawks’ film and need to (re-)acquint themselves with Wilder’s?
John Sayles
With our John Sayles season a few years ago proving successful in both attendances and reactions we decided it was time for another. There were still plenty of good films in his back catalogue and his latest, the critique of US imperialism with particular reference to the American-Philippine war of 1899-1902, had not yet had a UK release and thus had to be substituted at the last minute with Limbo. Certainly the substitution did not appear to negatively affect overall perceptions of the season, which scored both the highest overall rating of any season, 80%, and featured the highest rating film, the mining drama Matewan, at 93%. (This influenced us to programme a season of mining themed films for 2014-15)
Americans in Paris
Influenced by a wonderful exhibition at the Hotel de Ville in Paris, seen in December 2012 by one of the programming committee, this season traced Hollywood’s century long love affair with the eternal city. After an abysmal score for Love me Tonight, it looks very unlikely that a season will be in the offing for its star professional Frenchman Maurice Chevalier… it seems to have been one of the most universally reviled films we have ever shown… the programmer of the film is still a little afraid to own up to suggesting it.
Mai Zetterling
The Mai Zetterling season saw us take a different approach to the person-based season, in that three of the films we showed (Torment, Music in Darkness and Frieda) showcased Zetterling as an actor and three (four Couples, The War Game and Night Games and The Girls) as a director. Interestingly these films did not divide up on simply national grounds, with Zetterling acting and directing in both Sweden and the UK.
For a Sunday evening the season was comparatively poorly attended, with an average audience of 14 compared to 18-19 for the others. This however masks a considerable difference between Loving Couples (9) and Torment (21). Ratings were more consistent, ranging from 63% (Night Games) to 78% (Loving Couples).
Sunday Afternoon screenings
A comparison of the 2013/2014 Guild Cinema Sunday afternoon screenings and those for 2012/2013 reveals that the mean rating rose from 68.3% to 72.8 and the average number voting rose from 17 to 17.5. The highest average score was 77.1%, for our Italian Cinema of the 1960s season; the lowest average was 63.8, for Americans in Paris. The real surprise though was in the attendance – the two seasons with the highest attendance were in this slot: Basil Dearden and Italian Cinema of the 1960s.
Italian Cinema of the 1960s
There is so much good Italian cinema of the 1960s beyond more familiar names such as Visconti, Pasolini and Leone, in part this is because there were so many Italian productions and co-productions! Indeed, for the programmer there was an embarrassment of riches to choose from, even when just considering social drama and comedy, from other filmmakers like Pietro Germi (skewering Sicilian sexual mores in Divorce Italian Style and Seduced and Abandoned), Ermanno Olmi (The Job), Alberto Lattauada (Mafioso), Mario Monicelli (The Organiser) and Marco Bellocchio (the intense, angry Fists in the Pocket).
Our audience would appear to have agreed with us, all six films being well received, with the highest rating being The Organiser, about unionisation in early 20th century Turin, with 85%. (Clearly the programming team’s political sensibilities and the members’ are in overall accord.)
Basil Dearden
In the two decades following the Second World War director Basil Dearden carved out a niche for himself within the British cinema by focusing upon social issues. These included the then laws against homosexuality (Victim; probably the best known of these films and thus the one we chose not to revive), inter-racial relationships (Sapphire), rising juvenile criminality (Violent Playground) and the reduced circumstances of former soldiers in the postwar period (The Ship that Died of Shame and The League of Gentlemen).
There was more to Dearden than this, though, as demonstrated by the other two films in the season, All Night Long, with its adaptation of Othello to the London jazz club scene, and The Mind Benders, in which a scientist agrees to submit to Manchurian Candidate style mind control techniques.
Despite being in the Sunday afternoon slot rather than the main Sunday evening slot, achieved the highest attendance of all sixteen seasons, with an average attendance of 24. Responses were also positive, with the best received films being Sapphire and The League of Gentlemen, both with 83%.
Musicals
For years Musicals has always been vetoed in programming meetings as being unpopular… but it scored a respective average of 64%. The earlier classics did well, especially the Astaire & Rogers vehicle Top Hat. The joint lowest were Phantom of the Paradise, a rock opera take on Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, often considered a bona fide classic, its tasteless storyline of kidnapping and forced incarceration led us to re-title it “Stockholm Syndrome: the Musical”.
The American Civil War
Over the past few years seasons based around wars have become a regular part of our programming. This time around we decided to tackle the American Civil War. Besides giving el presidente the opportunity to show another Ford Western (just kidding Jim; you know I’m also a fan), The Horse Soldiers, this also enabled us to show some lesser known films by other directors, including John Huston’s adaptation of The Red Badge of Courage, sadly butchered by the studio, and Don Siegel’s The Beguiled. We were also enabled to introduce our audience to Robert Redford’s little-known The Conspirators, the story of the one woman indicted as part of the conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln. Our decision was a wise one, in that the film proved the highest rated in the season, at 82%, just edging out The Horse Soldiers, at 80%. (And if Ford westerns continue to score like that you can be sure we’ll continue to show them.)
wEDNESDAY screenings
A comparison of the 2013/2014 Guild Cinema Wednesday screenings and those for 2012/2013 reveals that the mean rating dropped from 71% to 61%, alongside a slight dip in attendance from 12.2 to 11.6 Much of the drop seems to be because of one of the lowest scoring and the most poorly attended season for the entire year – New York Underground.
To put these figures in context, our attendances on a Wednesday have never been very high, but we tend to programme the seasons that we think will draw a smaller audience. We also have competition from Orange Wednesdays and various evening classes, not to mention that for many members it’s tricky to fit in the commute from work and an evening meal in before a 7pm screening.
Nagisa Oshima
Though best known in the west for In the Realm of the Senses, Nagasi Oshima had consistently challenged the Japanese film establishment and state from the time of the first film in this season, 1960’s suggestively-titled Night and Fog in Japan. The other films screened drew inspiration from actual events (Death by Hanging, Boy), literary sources (Diary of a Shinjuku Thief) and just contemporary Japanese life (The Man Who Left his Will on Film, The Ceremony). Unfortunately Oshima perhaps proved too challenging, given that attendance notably tailed off after the first two films in the season (both 22) to between nine and 13 for the remaining four and that the first film only achieved a 40% rating. This prompts the question of whether we should start a season with a film that we think is more accessible and enjoyable even if this makes a film-maker’s or a genre’s development harder to trace?
Artists on Film
Artists on Film presented one of our more mixed seasons, with films from all over Europe, including the Swedish/Norwegian Edward Munch, the Georgian Pirosmani and the East German Goya (and a long subtitle...) and with a mixture of fiction and documentary approaches. Whereas we usually show our seasons in chronological order, here we chose to show them in order of when the artists featured (the others being Rembrandt, Picasso and Francis Bacon) lived and worked.
Interestingly the best received film in the season, Edward Munch, at 90%, was also the poorest attended, with an audience of only seven. This said the film is comparatively long at three and a half hours and may just have required that extra bit of dedication to go see on a dark, dreary Edinburgh evening in November.
Von Sternberg and Von Stroheim Silents
It was von thing after another in our season of films of directors who adopted a fake “von” (interestingly Lars von Trier also adopted his as a homage to the two directors) in the-season we examined the silent films of two of the all-time great directors, Erich von Stroheim and Joseph von Sternberg, including both Stroheim’s Greed and Sternberg’s seminal Underworld. Owing to its length, Greed was shown over two weeks, the attendance was exactly the same (unsurprisingly), but apparently the second half is better according to the scores.