Shadows of Progress Documentary Film in Post-War Britain

This unique book combines an overview of British documentary cinema from 1945 to the early 1980s with profiles of major filmmakers of the period, outlining their career histories and key themes of their work, alongside useful resource information about how films from the period can be viewed.

PATRICK RUSSELL is Senior Curator (Non-Fiction), BFI National Archive, UK. His job encompasses both the collections management and interpretative aspects of the curatorial role. In the latter capacity, he is author of 100 British Documentaries (BFI, 2007) and co-editor of The Lost World of Mitchell and Kenyon (BFI, 2004). He is a regular contributor to BFI screenonline, and to other web resources. His programming work has included the following major National Film Theatre / BFI Southbank seasons: John Krish  - Shooting the Message (2003), Michael Grigsby and the Documentary Tradition (2004), Documentary Centenaries (2007). The latter fed into the highly acclaimed 2008 DVD release Land of Promise: The British Documentary Movement 1930-50, to which he also contributed many of the booklet notes.
 
JAMES PIERS TAYLOR is currently Curator (Mediatheque), BFI National Archive, UK. His job involves researching, developing and producing content for the UK-Wide Mediatheques making archive film and television publicly available across the country. In the past he has worked in the archives of Amnesty International, the BBC, the Imperial War Museum, ITN, ITV, the Media Archive for Central England and Reuters. He is a regular author of reviews and contextual text in BFI DVDs and has recently written about The Animals Film, Secrets of Nature, the documentary and experimental work of Don Levy, and films produced by the NCB and GPO film units.

Acknowledgments
Notes on Contributors
Introduction: Whatever Happened to the Documentary Movement?
PART ONE: BETWEEN THE TIDES: MAPPING POST-WAR DOCUMENTARY
The Long Tail
Documentary Culture: Groupings, Gatherings and Writings
Films Nobody Sees?: Distribution and Exhibition
Production
Sponsorship
Themes
PART TWO: THE NEW EXPLORERS: CAREERS IN POST-WAR DOCUMENTARY
Introduction
People, Productivity and Change: P.Bradford & T.Boon
The World Still Sings: J.Howells & D.Berry
'I Don't Thing He Did Anything Else: P.Dickson & L.Enticknap
Conflict and Confluence: Michael Orrom & K.McGahan
Documentary on the Move: T.Thompson, B.Mason, G.Jones & S.Foxon
Pictures Should Be Steady: J.Hill & J.Piers Taylor
Less Film Society  - More Fleet Street: P.Hopkinson & J.Piers Taylor
Science and Society: P.Noemanville, S.Erulkar, R.Cranston & K.McGahan
Shooting the Message: J.Krish & P.Russell
Who's Driving?: P.Pickering & P.Russell
The Passing Stranger: A.Simmons & M.Brooke
Meet the Pioneers  - Early; L.Anderson & E.Hedling
A Person Apart: G.Brenton & R.Cranston
Tracts of Time: D.Williams & P.Russell
Savage Voyages: Eric Marquis & R.Vick
Between Two Worlds: D.Knight & B.Hogenkamp
Index