Stage, Screen & Radio - December/January 2015 - 15

Books
Celluloid Ceiling: Women film directors breaking through
Edited by Gabrielle Kelly and Cheryl Robson (Supernovabooks, ISBN 978-0-9566329-0-6) 288pp, £15.99 p/b, www.supernovabooks.co.uk
Celluloid Ceiling will set you off
on a journey around the globe
in the company of some
modern-day, pioneering story
tellers. From Africa, to the
Americas, to Asia, Australia and
New Zealand, Europe and the
Middle East, you will hear about
the experiences of women filmmakers, about the voices they
choose to tell their stories and
about the multiplicity of themes
they choose to explore.
This unfettered study into
women film-makers, and into
film-making itself, brings us
both the directors' words and
the informed commentary of
female and male experts.
Wow! How great is this world
of film and how small our

exposure to it.
The search for commercial
success and the so-called risk
averse nature of the industry's
big guns (if so risk averse, why
are there so many bad films?)
mean that women directors
are close to invisible at the
big budget level, although the
editors cite France and Sweden
as countries where a high
percentage of women do
make films which command
investment, either because of
state funding, or a commitment
to equality, or both.
And yet, despite inequality in
terms of power and a glaring
imbalance in the perspective
on life offered by so much film,
Celluloid Ceiling introduces us

to, re-acquaints us with, highly
regarded women film-makers
worldwide.
"Race, class, age, nationality,

income level, education, family
connections and most crucially
luck and talent all play a role in
a woman's chance of directing
a feature film. Each chapter
that follows is a window into
the political, social, cultural,
artistic and financial world in
which women directors work,"
write the editors Gabrielle Kelly
and Cheryl Robson.
Every aspiring film-maker,
every aspiring woman filmmaker, should delve into this
book. Its panoramic view of
film-making can only propel
you forward. BECTU members
save £5 by buying through
aurorametro.com. l
Sharon Elliott
Communications officer

We're getting into the festive spirit! BECTU has two copies of the book to give away. To enter
the draw, email communications@bectu.org.uk by 5 January. Please include your postal address.

Settling Scores: The Media, The Police and the Miners' Strike
edited by Granville Williams (CPBF Media ISBN 978-1-898240-06-8) £6.99

Big Media and Internet Titans Media Ownership:
The Democratic Challenge
edited by Granville Williams (CPBF Media ISBN 978-1-898240-07--5) £9.99
Settling Scores: The Media,
The Police and The Miners'
Strike was published on
the 30th anniversary
of the miners' strike in
1984. It is a collection
of essays edited by
Granville Williams,
author of Remembering
How It Was: Mining in the
Leeds Area (1993) and
editor of Shafted: The
Media, the Miners' Strike
and the Aftermath
published on the 25th
anniversary of the strike.
Former BBC industrial
correspondent Nick
Jones contributes two
chapters on what the
Cabinet papers reveal
about the government's
role in the strike. Mirror
columnist and author
Paul Routledge and
journalist Pete Lazenby
reflect on media
coverage of the miners.
Tony Harcup uses

Freedom of Information
to find out more about
BBC TV coverage of the
Battle of Orgreave on 18
June 1984 and Williams
analyses the impact of
the BBC Inside Out
programme on
Orgreave. These and
other contributors
pinpoint unfinished
business from the strike.
Big Media and Internet
Titans: Media Ownership:
The Democratic Challenge
also edited by Williams,
argues that media
pluralism must be put
back on the political
agenda. It is a timely
publication coming as
the political parties
prepare their manifestos.
"We identify key policy
issues," says Williams,
"and argue that
governments need to
recognise that unless
there are clear rules and

December/January 2015 Stage Screen & Radio

limits on media
ownership, democracy
suffers. The Leveson
Inquiry demonstrated
this unequivocally."
The book also
highlights the
democratic challenges
posed by excessive
media power, both in
the hands of 'old media'
- newspapers, television,
radio - but also through
the emergence of the
four giants of the
internet age: Google,

Apple, Facebook and
Amazon.
The book poses urgent
questions about media
ownership and throws
down the democratic
challenge for politicians
to embrace policies
which will promote
diverse, democratic
and accountable media.
To purchase either
book, go to www.cpbf.
org.uk, where you can
buy them online (you
can pay by PayPal which
accepts credit and debit
card payments as well
as payments from your
PayPal account) or
send £8.50 (incl P&P) to
Settling Scores or £11.49
(incl P&P) to Big Media
and Internet Titans at
CPBF, 23 Orford Road,
Walthamstow, London
E17 9NL. Cheques
payable to the CPBF. l
Barry White

BECTU books
Just a Sound Guy: The Life
of a Film and Television
Sound Recordist
by Ken Mellor (Vanguard Press
ISBN: 9781843867869) £12.99
Seasons of Death by Michael
Charity (Lulu.com ISBN-13: 9781291860696) £6.99
It is no surprise that BECTU
member Ken Mellor ended
up in the film and television
industry: both his father and
grandfather were established
in the local cinema trade.
He had a roller coaster of
a career in the industry, doing
everything from working
with Morecambe and Wise
to covering wars for a news
company.
In stark contrast, fellow
retired member Mike Charity
writes of his experience as a
photojournalist who, being
offered a day's work at the
outcome of the police enquiry
into the Cromwell Street
killings, found himself spending
more hours than any other
newsgatherer involved in
covering the investigation: his
longest-ever news assignment.
15

http://www.supernovabooks.co.uk http://www.aurorametro.com http://www.Lulu.com http://www.cpbf.org.uk http://www.cpbf.org.uk

Stage, Screen & Radio - December/January 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Stage, Screen & Radio - December/January 2015