GOOD FILMS DON'T NEED GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES

Here we go again! The world's leading blog on Irish cinema is once more about to slate our state funding system? Except this post's title is taken from an article in The Telegraph* newspaper concerning several British producers begging the paper for continued government film funding. Here are a few quotes from the artice which criticises the letter: Subsidy actually makes art worse; you’ll make something obscure, unpopular and bad; When the first film pioneers set up their cameras in Hollywood, Ealing and Pinewood, they didn’t arrive with their pockets stuffed with taxpayers’ money. In this country of course it's all about keeping the mouth shut. It's like those three monkeys with their hands covering their mouths, ears, and eyes. Sure the Film Board funds mostly rubbish that makes little money but so what? Sure doesn't it give people jobs and brings tourists to our fair land? Nothing will change and all hope is gone! The chances of making a series of artistically or commercially successful Irish films are slim for the forseeable future no matter how many features the IFB supports. In a country full of jobless and lone parents receiving state support it's no wonder that our filmmakers also run to the Government looking for money. The problem with this approach is that they all have to conform. Any originality is filtered out and they end up making films using the same actors and filmmaking style as each other. Films that should be directed by auteurs end up getting directed by a committee! It's all quite sad and careers are sent down the wrong path. I would rather see more films like Anton (no matter how bad they are) instead of cookie-cutter crap like Wide Open Spaces, Perrier's bounty, Film with me in it. Finally, where's an Irish film critic writing an article like this in our papers. Like I said above - it's all about keeping the mouth shut!
*21-6-2010