Contemporary Films had a global impact and influenced my career as a director | Letters
Ross Devenish says he owes a debt to the British film distributor, while Kal Hodgson invites Mike Leigh to join the Manchester and Salford Film SocietyWith regard to the article...
By Guardian Staff · The Guardian Opinion
Ross Devenish says he owes a debt to the British film distributor, while Kal Hodgson invites Mike Leigh to join the Manchester and Salford Film Society With regard to the article about 75 years of Contemporary Films by Andrew Pulver ( ‘Not just Hollywood crap’: Mike Leigh on the East End communist who brought world cinema to the UK, 1 September ), it was not only in Britain that Charles Cooper’s impact was felt: it spread to many other parts of the world. Contemporary Films made a major impact on me in South Africa before I even went to London to study film-making in 1959. In Johannesburg, as an 18-year-old, I discovered the Johannesburg Film Society. Through Contemporary Films’ distribution systems, the society was able to show Satyajit Ray’s film Pather Panchali, a film that has lived on in my mind while so many others have been forgotten. Continue reading...