| Nineteen-eighty-five was declared British Film Year, which seemed ironic coming at a time when production was at an all-time low, the cinemas were 90 per cent Hollywood dominated and there was a huge exodus of British talent to America. But 1985 did see the start of an improving trend, if it hadn't, by now there wouldn't be a British film industry to be writing about. As David Puttnam says in Take 10, Chariots of Fire took the British film industry 'a long way from zero'. During the 1980's the gradual increase wasn't marked enough to deserve the term 'renaissance', it is only into the 90's that British film has been in danger of being seen as 'healthy'. National Heritage statistics claim that 'between 1990 and 1994, the UK was one of only four countries among the top 20 film making nations to show an increase in the number of films produced' (in the same period France had a drop of 21% and the US dropped 12%). The 90's have also seen a friendlier government attitude towards film and the recommendations of the Middleton Report, if implemented, promise a more stable British film industry. |