Free Cinema

and British
New Wave.
By Amelia Crossley
and Josie Mears
Free cinema
» Emerged in England in
the 1950’s
» Co-founded by Lindsay
Anderson.
» Was a documentary
film movement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Cinem
» The movement began with a
programme of 3 short films, shown in
London at the National Film Theatre.
» ‘The term referred to an absence of
propagandizing intent or deliberate box
office appeal.’
» (The intentions of free cinema were not to
make a profit but to make a good film)
 British New Wave
» The ‘New Wave’ films gave a voice to a
working class that was for the first
time gaining some economic power.
» The action of these films centered
around characters of a working class.
» The action is everyday dramas which
was then given the tag ‘Kitchen Sink’
and the events we see are through the
emotional journey of the characters.
 Background
» This movement emerged as a
result of the rigid ‘division’ of the
1950’s between social classes.
» These films were released
between 1959-1963.
» The first New Wave Film was
‘Room at The Top’ released in
1958, directed by Jack Clayton.
 Room at the top
» http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw0B
Characteristics
» These films focus on
working class heroes
-aggressively
individualistic
-materialistic
- the stress in these
films is
focused on leisure
activities
rather than on their
work.
Example
- The Entertainer- D.
Tony
Richardson- R.
1960.
-(Central
protagonist based
around drinking
socially)
» The films had;-an increased
openness regarding the
representations of sexual behavior
and other subjects previously
deemed unacceptable in the
mainstream cinema.
» All these films featured:
-sexual behavior
-discussions of:
-abortion
-miscarriage
-homosexuality
 Tony Richardson
» Tony Richardson from
Yorkshire, was an influential
director of ‘New Wave’ films.
» Such as:-Look back in Anger
(1959)
-A Taste of Honey (1961)
-The Loneliness of a Long
Distance Runner (1962)
 Influences
» The Italian Neorealism(1944-
1952); films set amongst the
poor and working class.
» Which later influenced the
French New Wave (Nouvelle
Vague) which was applied to
films of:
» Francois Truffaut (Director)
» Jean-Luc Godard (Director)
 Influenced
» The impact of the 50’s/60’s
‘Kitchen Sink’ dramas on the
British film making industry
was enormous.
» Directors such as Mike Leigh,
Stephan Frears and Ken Loach
would go on to make gritty
realist films focusing on the
working class.
» Films like Riff Raff, Naked, and
My beautiful Laundrette were
to inherit the same values as
the ‘New Wave’ films.
» Although Room At The Top (1958) is
trditionally recognised as the beginning of
the British ‘New Wave’, it was Saturday
night And Sunday Morning (1960) when the
‘waves’ effect was felt.
» Directed and produced by ‘free cinema’
pioneers Karel Reisz and Tony Richardson.
 Critical reception
» Critics writing about these films at the time
of their release often related them to the
phenomenon of the ‘angry young men’
-short hand term devised by media for
range of new developments in theatre and
literature
-from the mid 1950’s onwards
- expressing social disenhancement and
rebelliousness.
» These films were often seen as a step
forward for British cinema by critics.