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Barriers to Diversity in Film – A Research Review – Aug 07

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population, though the regional distribution is skewed <strong>to</strong>wards<br />

London and urban dwellers have greater access than the rural<br />

population. <strong>Film</strong>s <strong>in</strong> 30 different languages were released <strong>in</strong> the UK <strong>in</strong><br />

2006 with H<strong>in</strong>di be<strong>in</strong>g the dom<strong>in</strong>ant foreign language <strong>in</strong> terms of<br />

numbers of releases (UK <strong>Film</strong> Council 2006-<strong>07</strong> Yearbook). The<br />

distribution of foreign films, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g Bollywood films, may be very<br />

important for those audiences that are under-served at a local level.<br />

For example, foreign language films averaged 17 sites at their widest<br />

po<strong>in</strong>t of release, compared <strong>to</strong> 162 for English language films. It may<br />

be worth explor<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>terventions which make these films accessible for<br />

local audiences at certa<strong>in</strong> times.<br />

4.2 His<strong>to</strong>rical context<br />

Up <strong>to</strong> the 1950s, c<strong>in</strong>ema was the ma<strong>in</strong> audio-visual medium,<br />

audiences were huge (1.6 billion <strong>in</strong> 1946) and the demographic profile<br />

was different from <strong>to</strong>day. In 1943, for example, women went <strong>to</strong> the<br />

c<strong>in</strong>ema more than men and manual workers and the lower middles<br />

classes went more frequently than the professional /managerial<br />

classes (Hill op.cit.) After the arrival of TV, c<strong>in</strong>ema audiences decl<strong>in</strong>ed<br />

but television itself provided a new means of watch<strong>in</strong>g film and <strong>in</strong> the<br />

1980s video made its appearance. With the multiplex revolution,<br />

c<strong>in</strong>ema audiences <strong>in</strong>creased aga<strong>in</strong>, from 53 million <strong>in</strong> 1984 <strong>to</strong> 171<br />

million <strong>in</strong> 2002 (BFI <strong>Film</strong> and Television Handbook 1994; UK <strong>Film</strong><br />

Council Statistical Yearbook 2006-<strong>07</strong>)<br />

C:\Documents and Sett<strong>in</strong>gs\mcorless\Desk<strong>to</strong>p\Intranet\<strong>Barriers</strong> <strong>to</strong> <strong>Diversity</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Film</strong>_DS_RB 20 <strong>Aug</strong><br />

<strong>07</strong>.doc<br />

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