NFT NBG
Sir: The two commonest defences of bureaucrats under siege are: a) set up a committee; b) pay for a poll. The first wastes time, the second wastes money; but both shelve the need to answer criticism by devolving responsibility on to others.
I am not surprised Adrian Wootton, head of the British Film Institute South Bank, defends the National Film Theatre's shod- dy programming (Letters, 10 June) by find- ing '97 per cent [of members] were either satisfied or very satisfied with it'. Did Gallup also poll ex-members of the NEC who have departed in disgust?
Wootton refers to Laurence Marks's arti- cle (Arts, 3 June) — rather, he refers to 'Lawrence', Marks, but no matter: typical of the slipshod inaccuracies these days in the NFT booklets — and calls it 'highly misleading'. Wootton's own letter is a fine example of this. He says, for instance, 'we are screening the cinema of Graham Greene' this summer. Correction: the NFT is programming a mere seven films based on Greene novels or screenplays, and omit- ting others like This Gun for Hire, The Stranger's Hand, The Quiet American, The Honorary Consul and, unpardonably, The Heart of the Matter.
To imply such a paltry package consti- tutes 'the cinema' of its subject illustrates exactly what is wrong with the NFL Several artistic events, moreover, that Wootton claims redeem its reputation — a pro- gramme about old steam trains, some tele- vision shows from the 1950s and 1960s are taking place not in the NFT, but in the Museum of the Moving Image: does he know which auditorium he is in?
The NM', which should be the centre of cinematic excellence and scholarship (and once was), is not 'comprehensive'; it is not 'academically thorough'. To provide 'many and varied pleasures' should be merely one of its functions and to judge its success by a head count of audiences for programmes glorifying camp trash (Ed Wood), celebrat- ing sexual deviancy (lesbian and gay cine- ma) or re-running films recently or current- ly showing in the West End is an abuse of a not inconsiderable part of the public sub- sidy, nearly fl.8 million, given the BFI by the Department of National Heritage.
Alexander Walker (BFI Governor, 1988-94),
1 Marlborough, 38-40 Maida Vale, London W9
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