Colonial Film Unit

British film production organisation

Journey by a London Bus (1950)

The Colonial Film Unit (C.F.U) was a propaganda and educational film production organization of the British government.[1] It produced films for various British colonies including British Guiana and Nigeria. The Jamaica Film Unit was a division for films produced in Jamaica. The Colonial Film Unit was established in 1939 and produced 200 films before being shut down in 1955.[2] It was part of Britain's Ministry of Information.[3] It produced a magazine titled Colonial Cinema.[4] Training filmmakers was also an important part of the unit's activities.[5]

Originally established to produce British war propaganda, the C.F.U. transitioned to making instructional films after World War II.[6]

Tom Rice is a British film historian and educator who has focused his work on studying the Colonial Film Unit, and the American Ku Klux Klan films; as well as the depiction of the far-right in media.[7][8][9]

## Filmography

[edit]

* Learie Constantine, welfare worker and cricketer, a documentary about Learie Constantine's welfare department work
* Springime in an English Village (1944)
* Nigerian Footballers in England (1949)
* Jungle Musicians
* 'mAn African Conference in London (1948)
* Colonial Month in London (1949)
* African Visitors to the Tower of London (1949)
* Journey by a London Bus (1950)
* Towards True Democracy (1951)[10]

## See also

[edit]

* GPO Film Unit
* Crown Film Unit

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Rice, Tom. "British Empire's forgotten propaganda tool for 'primitive peoples': mobile cinema". The Conversation.
2. ^ "Production Companies | colonialfilm". www.colonialfilm.org.uk.
3. ^ Smyth, Rosaleen (15 September 2006). "The British Colonial Film Unit and sub-Saharan Africa, 1939–1945". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 8 (3): 285–298. doi:10.1080/01439688800260391.
4. ^ "Beyond the Colonial Film Archive".
5. ^ "Colonial Cinema". 23 April 2013.
6. ^ Smyth, Rosaleen (26 July 1979). "The Development of British Colonial Film Policy, 1927–1939, with special reference to East and Central Africa". The Journal of African History. 20 (3): 437–450. doi:10.1017/S0021853700017400. S2CID 162516233 - via Cambridge Core.
7. ^ Burns, James (2021). "Films for the Colonies: Cinema and the Preservation of the British Empire by Tom Rice". JCMS: Journal of Cinema and Media Studies. 60 (3): 196–199. doi:10.1353/cj.2021.0037. hdl:2027/spo.18261332.0060.315. ISSN 2578-4919.
8. ^ Tillet, Salamishah (2 August 2018). "Spike Lee Takes on the Klan". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
9. ^ Teague, Matthew (26 December 2015). "Ku Klux Klan's place in history hinges on the power of the spectacle". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 April 2023.
10. ^ "Colonial Film Unit". BFI. Archived from the original on 7 April 2023.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Smyth, Rosaleen (1979). "The Development of British Colonial Film Policy, 1927-1939, with Special Reference to East and Central Africa". The Journal of African History. 20 (3). Cambridge University Press: 437–450. doi:10.1017/S0021853700017400. JSTOR 181124. S2CID 162516233.
* Sellers, O.B.E., W. (1953). "Making Films in and for the Colonies". Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 101 (4910). Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce: 829–837. JSTOR 41365579.

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