Doing our best
Sir: Lawrence Marks's article on the National Film Theatre (Arts, 3 June), which draws rather selectively from the information given to him during our inter- view, gives a highly misleading impression of our work.
For example, the £2 million per annum subsidy he quotes us as receiving is for the whole BFI South Bank complex, not just the NFT. The allegation that 'a reportedly large number of discriminating film-goers' have complained about our work is not borne out by a recent Gallup poll of NFT members, where 97 per cent were either satisfied or very satisfied with the new pro- gramming policies at the NFT.
We also take exception to his description of the NFT schedule as being 'coloured by a taste for the bizarre, the extreme and the perverse'. This summer, alongside Celluloid Jukebox, we are screening the cinema of Graham Greene, science fiction from Georges Wiles to Steven Spielberg, televi- sion from the 1950s and 1960s, a pro- gramme of steam trains in the cinema, and our regular selection of pristine prints of classic films from the Archive.
Indeed, I absolutely refute the assertion that the NFT has abdicated critical respon- sibility for its programming or for develop- ing comprehensive, academically thorough seasons of work. As I said to Mr Marks when he interviewed me, such retrospec- tives are becoming increasingly difficult to do, but we are firmly committed to continu- ing this key strand.
We do not expect to please everyone all the time, but we are content to be judged by the crowds who are returning to the NFT, and who wish to enjoy the many and varied pleasures of cinema we are currently providing.
Adrian Wootton
National Film Theatre, South Bank, London SE1
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