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"Are you proud to be British?" : Mobile film shows, local voices and the demise of the British Empire in Africa
Item metadata
dc.contributor.author | Rice, Tom | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2016-12-04T00:32:51Z | |
dc.date.available | 2016-12-04T00:32:51Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2016 | |
dc.identifier.citation | Rice , T 2016 , ' "Are you proud to be British?" : Mobile film shows, local voices and the demise of the British Empire in Africa ' , Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television , vol. 36 , no. 3 , pp. 331-351 . https://doi.org/10.1080/01439685.2015.1049863 | en |
dc.identifier.issn | 0143-9685 | |
dc.identifier.other | PURE: 195584096 | |
dc.identifier.other | PURE UUID: de8d866f-22cd-45e9-a717-8877ecb5426c | |
dc.identifier.other | Scopus: 84930336896 | |
dc.identifier.other | BibCode: NIS195584096 | |
dc.identifier.other | WOS: 000382335900003 | |
dc.identifier.other | ORCID: /0000-0002-4333-7493/work/77524756 | |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10023/9927 | |
dc.description.abstract | The Colonial Film Unit (CFU) (1939–1955) produced over 200 films, which were exhibited non-theatrically to African audiences through its fleet of mobile cinema vans. While the CFU closely monitored, and theorised on, its film texts, the particular ways in which these films were exhibited and received was afforded far less attention and remains critically overlooked by scholars. In this article, I examine the development of the mobile film show across a range of colonial territories. The London-based CFU sought to standardise film exhibition across the empire, imagining these film shows as political events, as a means of monitoring, addressing and homogenising disparate groups of colonial subjects. The regulation of film space can be understood within this context as part of the broader effort to regulate colonial space. Integral to this process was the local commentator, an often-overlooked figure within African cinema. The local commentator would organise the film show, provide additional talks, answer questions, counter unrest and recontextualise the films for local audiences, often without any direct European supervision. In examining government reports, personal interviews and, in particular, a series of audience surveys, the article repositions the commentator as a pivotal presence in the latter years of empire; a rising voice within African cultural and political life. | |
dc.language.iso | eng | |
dc.relation.ispartof | Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television | en |
dc.rights | Copyright 2015 IAMHIST & Taylor & Francis. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television on 03/06/2015, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/01439685.2015.1049863 | en |
dc.subject | British Empire | en |
dc.subject | Sub-Saharan African cinema | en |
dc.subject | Colonial cinema | en |
dc.subject | Mobile film shows | en |
dc.subject | Audiences | en |
dc.subject | Exhibition | en |
dc.subject | Film commentator | en |
dc.subject | Colonial film unit | en |
dc.subject | PN1993 Motion Pictures | en |
dc.subject | BDC | en |
dc.subject | R2C | en |
dc.subject.lcc | PN1993 | en |
dc.title | "Are you proud to be British?" : Mobile film shows, local voices and the demise of the British Empire in Africa | en |
dc.type | Journal article | en |
dc.description.version | Postprint | en |
dc.contributor.institution | University of St Andrews. Film Studies | en |
dc.contributor.institution | University of St Andrews. School of Philosophical, Anthropological and Film Studies | en |
dc.identifier.doi | https://doi.org/10.1080/01439685.2015.1049863 | |
dc.description.status | Peer reviewed | en |
dc.date.embargoedUntil | 2016-12-03 |
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