Giving Hollywood a run for its money
The annual Bafta film awards on Sunday evening saw the bookies’ favourite, appropriately titled The Favourite, pick up seven awards, while subtitled movie Roma took the prestigious best picture prize.
In recent times the Baftas have felt less like major awards in their own right and more an appetiser to the main course of Hollywood’s awards season; not so much an exemplifier of the talent of the British film industry as a marketing indulgence for the US studios.
However, The Favourite is a coproduction by producers in Ireland, the UK and the US, while Roma is a Mexican movie which aired on Netflix, marking the firstever Best Film Bafta for the streaming service.
Could it be times are changing and there is finally a move away from the stranglehold Hollywood has on the British movie industry? And within that, could Wales finally be ready to forge its own path and develop a film industry to compete on the global stage?
Certainly, we currently punch well above our own weight when it comes to television. The infrastructure is already in place with a homegrown workforce in situ.
Dragon Studios, Pinewood Studios Wales, Wolf Studios, Bay Studios and the BBC Roath Lock Studios have created high-profile homegrown and exported TV shows such as A Discovery Of Witches, Da Vinci’s Demons, The Bastard Executioner, and His Dark Materials.
The impact of Doctor Who and its spin-offs Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures more than 10 years ago acted as a catalyst that has steadily been built upon. Homegrown hits Hinterland/Y Gwyll and Keeping Faith/Un Bore Mercher – set in Wales with a Welsh tone and biligual outlook – have only validated our reputation as a centre of excellence for TV production in the UK.
Can we now make Welsh movies that could compete for major honours?
Hedd Wyn, nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars in 1993, was the last Welsh film of note to make a statement on the world stage.
Yet we have all of the above facilities and some of the planet’s highest-profile actors in Michael Sheen, Rhys Ifans, Matthew Rhys and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Now we are operating on such a level, it’s high time we delivered on the ambition to sell Wales as not just a small-screen must but as a big-screen destination for talent and locations.