The BBC has announced budget cuts and 'Storyville,' its documentary and feature strand, is on the chopping block, with 60% of its budget to possibly be axed. A petition is going around the Internet fighting against this proposed cut to the Nick Fraser-fronted strand. At press time, the petition had already received 2,990 signatures and comments from people all over the world. We asked three doc-makers and distributors for their thoughts on 'Storyville.'
| by: | Oct 1, 2007 |
Jan Rofekamp, President and CEO, Films Transit International [Canada]
Every strong, important public broadcaster should have a primetime slot for filmmaker-driven documentary programming. The 'Storyville' strand is helping to keep the documentary world alive.
Eugene Jarecki, Director of Why We Fight [USA]
Beyond any outcry over the loss of such a vital contributor to our public discourse, it would also simply be a bad business decision to lose 'Storyville' or, more importantly, one of its best and brightest, Nick Fraser.
Don Edkins, Documentary Filmmaker, Steps [South Africa]
To have a major international coproduction strand's budget cut by half is something that will have a huge effect on some of the best documentaries that are made at the moment.