Working through the end of Empire

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

This chapter examines how industrial film was representing, negotiating and managing the loss of the British Empire to colonial audiences. It highlights the centrality of industry and argues that the colonial industrial film was defined, and enacting change, by a specific set of aesthetic values. Therefore, it foregrounds the work of government officials, and subject experts, within industrial film histories. Through the example of different government film units, the chapter foregrounds the performance of work and industry, both on, and off, screen, in the nation-building process. In the immediate aftermath of war film both represents and embodies a new model of industry and economic partnership for colonial audiences, revealing the informal economies of cinema that would often operate beyond independence.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationFilms that work harder
Subtitle of host publicationthe circulation of industrial film
EditorsVinzenz Hediger, Florian Hoof, Yvonne Zimmerman
Place of PublicationAmsterdam
PublisherAmsterdam University Press
Chapter18
Pages493-511
Number of pages17
ISBN (Electronic)9789048537815
ISBN (Print)9789462986534
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Dec 2023

Publication series

NameFilm culture in transition

Keywords

  • Colonial Film Unit (CFU)
  • Industrial film
  • Government film-making
  • Training schools
  • Africa
  • Jamaica

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