By Lubna Abdel-Aziz In a world of dust and ashes, tributes and awards are among the few means available for recognition of achievement, especially in the frothy, fickle world of show business. In the realm of film awards, Oscar is king. All cinefiles await his blessings (6 March), which marks the close of Award Season, inaugurated 16 January with the Golden Globes. Sandwiched between these two major events, is Britain's Film Awards, sadly neglected and unheeded by the international media and the public at large. Yet, where would Hollywood be without the contribution of the Brits, both in front and behind the camera! It is hard to conceive of a parade of favourite classic films without the captivating presence of such giants as Charles Chaplin, Charles Laughton, Ronald Coleman, Lawrence Olivier, Stan Laurel, or Cary Grant. Together with a myriad others, they have fortified Hollywood with recognisable qualities since the birth of silent film. During the early 1920s, Europe's unique talents of writers, directors, leading men and women, especially the Brits, have served as the solid pillars on which the US film industry was able to stand. Although the British Film Industry is older than Hollywood, the British Academy of Film (1947) was established 20 years after the American Academy (1927). Inspired by their American cousins, a few British filmmakers gathered at the Hyde Park Hotel, 16 April 1947 "to recognise those who have contributed outstanding creative work towards the adventure of British film". With director David Lean at the helm, 13 eminent filmmakers, including Alexander Korda, Charles Laughton, and Carol Reed, established the British Film Academy. The first awards were statues, created by sculptor Henry Moore, in the form of a large bronze lady, valued at �550 at the time, but of much greater value today. The present trophy, a Greek theatrical mask, was redesigned in 1955, by American sculptor Mitzi Cunliffe. The British Film Academy merged with the Guild of Television Producers to form the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). BAFTA's star-studded ceremony was held 19 February at the Odeon Cinema on Leicester Square on a typical London winter night. Justifiably, the BAFTA awards have a British bias, reserving a special award for a British film, The Curse of the Were Rabbit. The love story between two rugged cowboys Brokeback Mountain, was unstoppable, winning four BAFTAs for best film, best director Ang Lee, best screenplay, and best supporting actor Jake Gyllenhaal. Reese Witherspoon won her first BAFTA award for Walk the Line, and Philip Seymour Hoffman got BAFTA's nod for best actor in Capote. British film history goes back to the late 19th century, when British inventor William Friese-Green, became the first to produce moving pictures developed on celluloid, in Hyde Park 1889, while America was still experimenting with the technology. In 1908 another Brit, George Albert Smith, devised Kinemacolor, film's first colour system. The Great War of 1914 brought this speedy progress to a screeching halt, and Americans were left to forge ahead, and take a lead which they would never relinquish. By the mid-1920s the British film industry had come to a dead end, driving British talent to migrate to the US. In the British spirit of "we shall never give up," several British filmmakers were determined to keep their industry alive. Parliament was persuaded to pass the Cinematographer's Trade Bill (1927) designed to guarantee a home market for British-made films, allowing 5 per cent of the total number of films shown to be British. The figure rose to 20 per cent by 1936. Hungarian-born Alexander Korda helped the industry rise from its knees. He established "London Films" and built Denham Studios, the finest in the world, producing such memorable classics as Henry VIII and The Scarlet Pimpernel. Besides Korda, J Arthur Rank also took over Pinewood Studio and increased its space to house his many productions. The British passion for the theatre was happily transferred to filmmakers and filmgoers. By 1936 Britain had produced 220 films in one year. When quantity overtook quality, the boom turned to bust. World War II dealt an almost fatal blow to British cinema. To put new life in the industry following the war years, Korda continued to expand and Rank dominated production and distribution, giving us such classics as Brief Encounter, Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. A hungry and war-weary Britain was served a rich banquet of many courses, but another exodus of British actors occurred in the fifties, leaving Britain to produce such comedies as The Doctor and Carry On series, as well as the popular horror films of the Hammer Studios, by far the most successful studio in the history of the British Isles. More gritty realism came in the 1960s with the new wave, writer John Osborne, directors Tony Richardson, Ken Russell, the "angry" new faces of Albert Finney and Alan Bates, the fire and fury of a Richard Burton, and the incomparable three "Peters", Ustinov, Sellers, and O'Toole. Four of the decade's best pictures and Oscar winners were British-made: Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Tom Jones (1963), A Man for All Seasons (1966), and Oliver (1968). Two other Oscar best films had two Brits leading their casts, My Fair Lady with Rex Harrison, and Sound of Music with the one and only, Julie Andrews. The decade also gave us David Lean's Bridge on the River Kwai, and the beginnings of the James Bond series. The recession of the 1970s affected Hollywood as well as Britain, and Americans who were investing heavily in British-made films, could no longer finance their productions. The shining light of the period was Stanley Kubrick with A Clockwork Orange. The 1980s were even worse, though not a total loss, because of the emergence of Merchant/ Ivory Productions. Some masterworks were Hugh Hudson's Chariots of Fire (1981), Richard Attenborough's Gandhi (1982), and Roland Joffe's Killing Fields (1984). Film audiences continued to rise in the 1990s, and Britain regained popularity and stature with the critical and commercial successes of Merchant and Ivory's Howard's End (1991), and Remains of the Day (1993), not to mention the surprise comedy hit Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), introducing refreshing new talents like Hugh Grant, inspiring a rush of British romantic comedies, like Notting Hill and Bridget Jones. Theatre acting is a long treasured and fostered part of British cultural heritage. The art form has been nurtured for centuries and the public has a profound respect for acting, "a noble art and craft". All actors who had made a transition into film during the 20th century have gone through rigorous training in the theatre. They are disciplined, intense, with a highly developed intellectual and aesthetic taste, and a wide range of capability and versatility, qualities which induced American studios to be partial to English talent. Urbane and well-mannered, the English actor is the epitome of a perfect gentleman. Suave and sophisticated, dignified and honourable, worldly and wise, he possesses great charm and an abundant sense of humour. His dulcet tones caress every word, with deep rich sounds that hypnotise. Think of the mellow honeyed voices of John Gielgud, James Mason, Ronald Coleman, more recently Jeremy Irons, Peter O'Toole, Sean Connery, Anthony Hopkins. The new crop is rich with the likes of Ralph Fiennes, Clive Owen, Jude Law, Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, and English roses are plentiful, Emma Thompson, Kate Beckinsale, Rachel Weisz, and the beguiling newcomers Sienna Miller and Keira Knightly. The new millennium brings a genuine rebirth to film in Britain, with attendance up by one per cent, in contrast to a drop in US and other European markets. British themes and British productions, such as Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia, preserve the indomitable British spirit: "Sharp as Winter, Kind as Spring". Its rich literary treasures provide a solid foundation for future splendours in the industry, and further interest and excitement over the BAFTAs -- maybe enough to compete with big brother Oscar, across the ocean. Courtesy is not dead, it has merely taken refuge in Great Britain -- Georges Duhamel (1884-1966)
