National Films and an International Theatre
OR some reason, only very meagre news has so far reached this country of what happéned and what was decided at the UNESCO Conference in Paris at the end of last year. However, we print here some extracts from a talk in the Third Programme of the BBC by Sir John Maud, leader of the British delegation at the conference, which give an indication of two specific jobs-of-work _ possibly to be undertaken by UNESCO as a result of the conference. OU might call UNESCO a world club for the enrichment of life, and by "enrichment" I mean helping people to be more intelligent and articulate and creative, more understanding end appreciative of other people and other people's art, better able to enjoy the best things in the world; in other words, this conference has been concerned with two main problems. First with the problem .of inspiration: how can we help to improve the quality of books and schools and films and broad-
casts? And secondly, with the problem of communication: how can we make the best things in each country more widely available across national frontiers? These are tough enough problems in all conscience, and of course they are affected deeply by the present world shortage of food and houses-not to mention hog bristles for making paint brushes for poor artists in Britain and elsewhere who simply cannot get materials to paint with. But the things most needed in order to solve these problems are things of the mind and the heart and the creative spirit. These things can be acquired and enjoyed without any question of rationing; in fact, the more of them that each of us has, the more there will be for other people. A Bold British Scheme Let us consider two examples of the work UNESCO can do if it gets the support of people at home, in the countr.es represented in this conference. The first is one of the schemes put forward by the United Kingdom delegation which everyone here seems to like; it is _a-bold, imaginative scheme, and the purpose behind it is to help countries wh ch are not yet in a position to make their own films, or run a_ broadcasting system of their jown, or develop their own news service. It is wrong, we think, that these countries should be with films from Hollywood or Denham, or with news or broadcasts controlled by the big countries who happen to be technically more advanced; so we pro-' pose to encourage these smaller countries to develop their own press or film or broadcast.ng services and so retain the freedom of their own cultures. But how? By organising on the widest possible scale what the United Kingdom is already doing on a small scale, training technicians from the less favoured countries, a technical training scheme under which Czechs or Poles or Turks or Indians would come with fellowships to Britain, say, or the United States, and there qualify themselves as film producers, or experts in broadcasting or newspaper men. That would be an example of UNESCO meetifig the need for what a few minutes ago I called insp.ration. And finally an example of a scheme for improving what I called communications: the international theatre institute. This is)a plan for making it easier for plays or operas written and -produced say in Britain to go on tour to the cities of Europe and other continents, and for us in Britain to have a better chance of seeing the best plays and operas produced abroad, including those produced in countries like Russia which are not yet members of UNESCO. I’ cannot describe here how that scheme would work, but we believe it is a practical scheme: it would not be too expensive, either in money or men, and it would help to make life perceptibly richer for us in Britain, and for people all over this one world that we live in nowadays, and which we might just as well enjoy as fear. But, of course, like all the other plans we workéd out in Paris, this one will not work unless people like you think it worth while, and insist on finding out how you can help.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 401, 28 February 1947, Page 24
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708National Films and an International Theatre New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 401, 28 February 1947, Page 24
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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