Scotland deserves its own film school
Wednesday 25 June 2014
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SCOTLAND should establish a national film school to rival those in England and abroad, the Edinburgh International Film Festival will be told today.
In a key address to the festival (EIFF), Dr David Archibald, of the University of Glasgow, will say that the Scottish film industry also needs to have its own dedicated agency, and that there is a "disconnection between talent and infrastructure" north of the border.
Scottish film has not had its own dedicated agency since Scottish Screen was merged with the Scottish Arts Council to form Creative Scotland in 2010 and Dr Archibald, a lecturer in film and television studies, will say the present funding situation is a "muddle".
He will also say, in the Forsyth Hardy Lecture, that young and emerging talent would benefit from a dedicated film school which would draw from the knowledge and courses currently being taught at institutions such as Screen Academy Scotland at Napier University, courses at Glasgow, St Andrews and the University of the West of Scotland.
Dr Archibald said: "Instead of having the ambition to have a Scottish Film School which could compete not only with London but internationally, there is a political fear of creating another national institution…”
