The ‘fiery radical’ who’s ‘never been short of ideas’
Karl Francis, seen by many in the film industry as Wales’ best director and cinematic authorial voice, celebrates his 80th birthday today. Political editor-at-large Martin Shipton looks at his career
AS A filmmaker, Karl Francis has never shied away from controversial issues or craved for easy success.
Today, on his 80th birthday, his friends will encourage him to look back with pride on a body of work that has stood the test of time.
Many well-known actors have appeared in his films, including Peter O’Toole, Rhys Ifans, Glenda Jackson and Joely Richardson.
But when it’s been appropriate, Francis has also used ordinary people to depict themselves, most notably in films about the South Wales Valleys mining communities at times of crisis.
Having been born in Bedwas, near Caerphilly, he’s developed a lifetime’s knowledge of the region and its culture.
In his book Encounters with Karl Francis, Jon Gower writes: “He is the most important film director to come out of Wales in the second half of the 20th century.
“While some prominent figures such as Peter Greenaway are Welsh by dint of an accident of birth, Francis has fully taken Wales as its canvas, painting deeply human and affecting portraits of the communities of the south Wales coalfield.
“Social concern and inquiry are hallmarks of the work of Francis, a fiery radical, and almost all of his films are political in some way.”
One third of a century’s film-making allowed him to build up a great variety of work, from slices of gritty reality to lush costume drama such as Rebecca’s Daughters – about the Rebecca riots – starring Peter O’Toole.
Inspired by the likes of Chris Marker and Ken Loach, Francis’ early documentaries were firmly located in the working class communities of villages such as Deri, where social life still revolved around the twin poles of the chapel and the workingmen’s clubs, and working life took men underground in the shadow of the pit head wheel.
The South Wales Echo’s late film critic Dave Berry summed up his work thus: “Subtlety is not his forte, though his work is never short of ideas and the features have a habit of yielding more on each successive viewing.
“His films are confrontational, often have a barbed edge and are unashamedly partisan as he champions communities in thrall to economic exigencies, and charts the decline – physical if not spiritual – of Valleys townships, and the infringing of civil liberties and social and artistic freedom.”
Francis drew on his London media experiences working for Weekend World and Second House, presented respectively by Peter Jay and Melvyn Bragg, to make Giro City (1982), in which Glenda Jackson and Jon Finch star as reporters enmeshed in Northern Ireland political intrigue as well as south Wales local government corruption. The film also shone a light on the machinations of TV boardrooms and their capitulations and spinelessness when push came to shove.
The British Film Institute refers in its profile of Francis to his “raw power”. Many see that best exemplified in Streetlife, made for the BBC in 1994. It’s the heart-rending story of a jilted single mother desperately trying to get by in a drug-riddled council estate which is being laid waste by endemic poverty.
By the 2000s, Francis was taking an interest in the scandal of children trafficked for sex. His research took him into dark places and he ended up getting charged with nine offences including arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.
He had allegedly contacted a woman in the United States to ask for sex with her daughter.
All the charges were eventually dropped, but he says that in order to get back his computer, on which much of his film work was archived, he accepted a police caution.
Francis claimed he had written to the Chief Constable of South Wales Police to inform him that he was conducting research for two film projects, and the relevant letters came to light within the force after he had accepted the caution.
The episode was a huge blow to Francis, who suffered severely from depression for years afterwards.
In 2008 Francis released Hope Eternal. The film tells the story of a Madagascan nurse working in a tuberculosis and Aids hospice in the Congo. It was made in six languages combining both film and poetry simultaneously using subtitles in English. It was submitted as the UK nominee for the category of Best Foreign Language Film, but didn’t make the shortlist.
Former Pontypridd Labour MP Kim Howells, who served as Minister for the Arts during the Blair government, has fond memories of Francis, whom he first met when they were students at Hornsey College of Art.
“I was involved in putting together a rugby team and Karl came along and boldly announced that he was the best uncapped centre in Wales.
“I didn’t know what to think at first, but in fact he turned out to be a bloody good centre. We did well in a universities cup until getting hammered by Loughborough at what was a brand new stadium in Brighton.
“He studied film and we became very close friends.
“Neither of us had much money and we used to hitch-hike together between London and south Wales.
“Sometimes my father, who was a lorry driver, gave us a lift as far as High Wycombe when he was delivering for Dunlopillow.
“Many years later when I was an MP, Karl offered me a room in the flat he owned in London. Something was always happening.
“I remember that on one occasion we went to see an old Marlon Brando film. Both of us were starving so we bought a loaf of sliced bread to eat in the cinema.
“Afterwards there was still some bread left in the wrapping, so at Karl’s instigation we became two 40-somethings running through the posh streets of Notting Hill and the posher streets of Holland Park using the bread as a rugby ball, with Karl shouting out a commentary on our moves.”
Evaluating Francis’ contribution as a filmmaker, Dr Howells said: “He’s very original and has always had a lot of self-confidence.
“He made two very important films about the demise of the mining industry – Above us the Earth and Ms Rhymney Valley, the second of which was about the long miners’ strike.
“Karl is very highly respected in the film industry by both actors and everyone involved on the production side.
“He’s helped many young actors further their careers, offering good advice.
“And he’s always known how to choose the right people to work with.”
Asked why Francis wasn’t better known by mainstream cinema goers, Dr Howells said: “One reason is that he is completely incapable of brownnosing. It’s totally against his nature.
“And he was never interested in making mainstream films. He knew the kind of subjects he wanted to make films about and never deviated from that.”