Funder closes the curtain
The Cardiff Film Festival has been reviewed out of existence by the Film Agency for Wales. The 2006 festival was the last and obviously failed to fulfil the rather obtuse criteria set for it by is main source of funding. As the Film Agency for Wales says "They are the sole agency for film in Wales." That told you didn't it. The festival managed to last 17 years but maybe struggled to establish a strong enough identity amongst the welter of film festivals that seemed to have flowered over the years. Still it raises the question of why the capital city of Wales is left without what should have been a blue riband event. Is the specific culture of Cardiff, that intersection of Welsh, British and Commonwealth peoples to use an archaic expression, not vital enough to sustain non-grant dependent cultural events on a decent enough scale?For all intents and purposes the festival has been replaced by a yet to be commissioned "International Film Festival Event". One assumes that this will be better suited to the overarching centralising ethos of the Welsh Assemby spawned Creative Industries' Strategy. As that says somewhere or other "Businesses in the creative industries are rooted in the exploitation of creative intellectual property". Ho hum. http://www.cardifffilmfestival.co.uk/index.html http://www.filmagencywales.com/ Jeff Baxter
August 2007
Cardiff Review is created, designed edited and published by Jeff Baxter. Please e-mail cardiffreview@yahoo.co.uk for submissions,criticisms, ideas and general abuse.
