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By Sarah Southerton - 4th December 2003
More care is needed to preserve Britain's film and television archives, an influential committee of MPs has warned.
In its report published on Thursday, the Commons public accounts committee argued it was "unacceptable" that large volumes of the UK's archive are still not available to members of the public due to their not being catalogued by the British Film Institute.
In addition, many images placed onto safety stock for safekeeping are in more danger than in their original nitrate film state.
In their investigation, the MPs also found that the Film Council is yet to assert its authority as the leading organisation in relation to access to and education on film, instead leaving the British Film Institute to its own devices.
As a result, there has not been a sufficient evaluation of the impact of the institute's activities, of which there has been incomplete information, the MPs found.
The committee called on the BFI to include addressing its focus on London and the South East as part of the fundamental review of its activities.
"The Film Council needs to ensure it is the strategic leader in developing film culture in the UK and take a much tighter grip over the public funding it provides to the British Film Institute," said Edward Leigh, chairman of the committee and Conservative MP for Gainsborough.
"London IMAX, for example, is a tourist attraction which should be able to operate without taxpayers' support.
"I am concerned that the BFI does not know how much of the safety film in the National Film and Television Archive might be decomposing or at risk of deterioration, despite the recent discovery that safety film has actually proved more unstable than the nitrate originals.
"To ensure the nation's film heritage does not rot away, the fundamental review of the BFI will need to determine clear priorities for the Archive."
Responding to the report, the BFI said that the recommendations wee already being acted on.
"We welcome this report and are already addressing the key areas raised by the committee through our strategic review and archive review," said director Amanda Nevill."We are actively engaged in refocusing BFI activity to widen access and increase our impact across the UK, while also addressing archive access and conservation issues raised in the report."
The chief executive officer of the UK Film Council, John Woodward, added: ""This report highlights challenges facing the National Film and Television Archive and the BFI is addressing these though the strategic review taking place at the moment.
"The UK Film Council is prepared to contract an extra £1.5m next year to deal with the outstanding issues."
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