Securing
the Future? Problems of Women's Film/Video Distribution
Presented at the Screen Studies conference, University of Glasgow, 3 July 2004
Since
the setting up of Circles/COW at the end of the 1970s, the
future of women's film distribution in the UK has been seriously
threatened on at least two occasions. Once when the BFI made
substantial funding cuts to both organisations in 1990 - which
resulted in the closure of COW and relaunch of Circles as
Cinenova in 1991. And again a decade later, in 2001, when
Cinenova in its turn lost its remaining LFVDA funding. Across
those two historical moments, certain key issues have recurred
around reliance on grant aid and arts funding policy, funder/client
organisation relations, commercial viability and feminist
practice, and promotional activities and audiences. This paper
will examine these issues in order to argue that while Cinenova's
assessment of the market place in 1991 was largely accurate,
some of the principles/ideas underlying the setting up of
the organisation were fundamentally flawed and often resulted
from conditions imposed by funders. Central to this is a conflating
of the terms 'making money' and 'generating income' on the
one hand and 'self-supporting' and 'commercial viability'
on the other. The paper will also examine the impact of funder
imposed terms and conditions on the functioning of client
organisations. It will conclude that such factors have served
to muddy the waters with regard to devising realistic, long-term
strategies for the survival of distributors like Circles,
COW and Cinenova.
This research
forms part of an AHRB funded research project into independent
film and video distribution in the UK during the 1980s and
1990s.
Julia Knight
Reader and Lead Researcher on the AHRB funded project 'Independent
Film and Video Distribution in the UK, 1980-present', University
of Luton
julia.knight@luton.ac.uk
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