Page 16 - Fujifilm Exposure_17 Africa_ok

SOUL OF THE
Anyone who had suggested 10 years ago that Glasgow would be the heart and soul of the Scottish film industry would at best have been looked at askance. At worst, he would have been invited to take a seat in the rubber room just next to the chap who thought there could be a Scottish film industry.
and putting the city on the map thanks to a fistful of hon- ours at international film festi- vals and awards ceremonies.
So successful has the city become as a centre of film-mak- ing excellence that it was bemoaning a relatively poor year in 2000 - a year in which it only managed to capture 5% of the UK film production market. That’s an enviable figure on its own, but it is considered disap- pointing in the light of 1999 when the city took a 10% share.
At the heart of the suc-
cess story is the Glasgow
Film Office. In common with
other local film commissions and agencies, its prime directive is to attract film makers to the city. Those who have taken advantage of the GFO include Ken Loach, Danny Boyle, Gillies Mackinnon, Bill Forsyth, Lynne Ramsay and Terence Davies.
The Glasgow Film Office nurtures a filmmaking surge north of the border
In the space of that decade Glasgow now does have a film indus- try. Not only that, it is an industry of which Glasgow and Scotland can both be proud earning millions of poundsinboxofficerevenue,gener- ating millions for the local economy,
Unlike other agencies the Glasgow Film Office is effectively a one-stop shop for film-making. Not only can it provide locations, crew and local expertise it can also provide finance.Thesymbioticrelationship between the Glasgow Film Office and
the Glasgow Film Fund means that up to £500,000 in production finance can be available to projects which pass the selection process.
“We were unique when we start- ed this up in 1993,”says GFO director Lenny Crooks. “For many years we led the way in regional film funding
for feature films.”
As Crooks points
out, Glasgow has been a runaway success for such a long time that it was inevitable that others would follow its example. It now faces competition from the likes of Liverpool and Sheffield who are now better placed under EC regulations.
Still, Crooks likes to believe Glasgow
remains the leader of the pack. That’s why, for example, at Cannes last year the Glasgow Film Fund unveiled a £1.5 million partnership between the pub- lic and private sectors. This was the firstofaseriesof “substantiallimited liability partnerships” planned for the
Photos main: William Eadie in Ratcatcher; inset: Luke De Woolfson as Sean and Kate Ashfield as Jody in Late Night Shopping above left (l-r): Ken Loach and Rebecca O’Brien with Lenny Crooks on the set of My Name Is Joe
EXPOSURE • 14 & 15