Brighton Festival Film Unit

Established as part of Frank Cottrell Boyce’s 2024 Brighton Festival, the Brighton Festival Film Unit takes its inspiration from the GPO film unit of the 1930s. This highly innovative team led by John Grierson, who was often credited as the father of British documentary film, was set up to produce sponsored documentary films. At first the aim was to inform the public of the activities of the GPO, often in a propaganda style and with a  gritty realism previously reserved for newsreels; the most famous being WH Auden and Benjamin Britten’s Nightmail, a soaring hymn to the love and labour that goes into delivering our letters. This brief then expanded to create a further series of films made by a diverse selection of writer/directors and musicians that continued to celebrate the day to day life of the United Kingdom. These films were like mirrors held up to the nation.  

Each year Brighton Festival will commission new films with the same mission - to see ourselves as we really are, at work and at play. And to celebrate the whole business of just getting on with life.

We will be making films that illuminate aspects of Brighton life previously unseen and engaging with the film makers of Brighton to bring them to screen. 

Last years Film; The Influence of Ping Pong is Big was directed by Caleb Yule, captured the essence of Brighton Table Tennis Club and premiered to a sold out audience at the Duke of Yorks. It will also be seen at four film festivals around Europe.