Stupid Government

I guess lots of governments make stupid decisions, but I never expected such a stupid decision to come from the British government. Specifically, Britain's Department for Culture, Media and Sport which yesterday announced it was closing down the venerable UK Film Council.

Founded in 2000, the film council donated various amounts of money to help certain British films to be made. The list of films helped by the council is impressive. Just to list a few that I have seen:

The Wind that Shakes the Barley (pictured), Bright Star, Girl With a Pearl Earring, Gosford Park, Hunger, The Magdalene Sisters, Vera Drake; and the documentaries Man on Wire and Touching the Void.

Would these and other films have been made without the council's assistance? Maybe. But then, maybe not.

The council's annual budget was only £15,000,000, and it appears it is being disbanded to help reduce budgets. Really? £15,000,000 is going to help? I would think the money would be better spent making good movies to entertain audiences around the world.

You can read about the decision here.

You can see an interesting review of how much money the film council donated to make certain films, and how much those films made in national and worldwide release here.

You can read reaction to the decision here and here.