Screenonline Archive Interactive: The GPO Film

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We have been working with the British Film Institute and BT Archives to produce an online interactive tour of the films made by the GPO Film Unit

BFI Screenonline logoThe tour is due for release in April 2008 and will be part of the series produced by BFI for their educational Screenonline website. We are delighted that the GPO tour will be narrated by Sir Derek Jacobi, and it will be available for viewing alongside Jonathan Ross talking about Ealing Films and Malcolm McDowell on Free Cinema.

The tour allows users to explore the variety of films made by the unit and discusses its pivotal role in the development of the documentary film which culminated in the now classic Night Mail (1936).

The equally revolutionary work by animators such as Len Lye, who pioneered the technique of painting directly onto film negative as seen in Colour Box (1935), can also be viewed.

With BT Archives’ involvement films made to promote the telecoms side of the GPO business can be seen alongside those promoting the postal services, The Fairy of the Phone (1936) being perhaps a particularly quirky example of how new services were once promoted.

View the tour at BFI Screenonline

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