UNITED KINGDOM: LORD RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH HELPS PROMOTE BRITISH NATIONAL SCHOOLS FILM WEEK

Record ID: 390282

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: LORD RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH HELPS PROMOTE BRITISH NATIONAL SCHOOLS FILM WEEK
  • Date: 6th October 2000
  • Summary: (REUTERS- ACCESS ALL) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) LORD RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH "Because of my involvement in "Jurassic Park" I am very aware of the fact initially of going to a movie which had these extraordinary great creatures in them. But at the end of the day my grandchildren and thousands of millions of other grandchildren now want to know when was it, how was it, what we
  • Embargoed: 21st October 2000 13:00
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  • Location: LONDON, UK
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Reuters ID: LVA8TKRN9X5YZDC75GBU0VYB9LRW
  • Story Text: Forgetting the classroom for a day - hundreds of British schoolchildren descended on London's Leicester Square for a very special lesson - they all went to the cinema as part of this year's British National Schools Film Week.
    It's National Schools' Film Week in Britain this week, the largest film and education event for schools and colleges in Europe.
    Thousands of schoolchildren will be able to watch movies across the country, all free of charge.
    The event kicked off in London on Friday (October 6) attended by Lord Richard Attenborough who says film is an important feature in a child's life: "I am involved since the last 5 years in this concept of a National Schools Films' week, " Attenborough told Reuters.
    "I adore the movies I believe that they are the art-form of this century, semi-art-form - not fine art, like music or painting but it IS an art-form and it is exciting in terms of our time, yours rather than mine, in that it is available.
    "It is accessible, it is an artform which has immediate impact on young people."
    The children at the Odeon Cinema in Leicester Square were able to dive into the world of dinosaurs, getting an opportunity to see "Dinosaur" before its official release date in the UK.
    And Lord Attenborough is no stranger to those creatures, having starred himself in Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park". But he says it's not just entertainment that the cinema provides, it's also educational and often motivates children into finding out more about what they have just seen.
    "Because of my involvement in "Jurassic Park" I am very aware of the fact initially of going to a movie which had these extraordinary great creatures in them," Attenborough says.
    "But at the end of the day my grandchildren and thousands of millions of other grandchildren now want to know when was it, how was it, what were they really like, how were they originally created, when did they disappear, what impact did that have? "It's marvellous! "The picture itself is a wonderful piece of entertainment but it has a knock-on effect, a desire by millions of kids all over the world to know more about that natural history," he says.
    So how does the silver screen compete with television, Internet and computer games? "I think that cinema can introduce not only other great works of art but the world and other civilizations whether they be now or x-million years ago," he says.
    "It has the opportunity of exciting us about the world in which we live in a way and to an extent by the concentration that's involved when you go to the movies as against television. This isn't knocking television but it's very hard in the frontroom with talk going on and people coming in and out. The suspension of disbelief is more possible in the movies I think than in any other artform."
    And does Lord Attenborough enjoy taking his grandchildren to the movies - and seeing their reaction? "I do. Their greatest puzzle if they're aged 3 is why is grandpa sitting next to me when he's up on the screen, he can't be doing 2 things at once. WE go to the movies as a family and we go to see the sort of things they should see."
    National Schools' Film Week goes on until October 13 with free screenings in in cities across the UK.
    And while for many children the new animated technology of "Dinosaur" remains a fascinating experience, Lord Attenborough remembers his very first visit to the cinema more than fifty years ago.
    "If you walk down there you come to Piccadilly Circus.
    There used to be a cinema there called The London Pavilion and I was 13 and my Dad took me to see Charlie Chaplin. It was the turning point of my life. I knew that I wanted to be an actor, I knew I was not academically necessarily bent. I left school when I was 16.
    That's my great regret in life - I wanted to go to university. I miss that. I would urge that into every young person if they're able to do it.
    "But I wanted to be an actor. I went to see this genius who would make you cry, then he made you roar with laughter. I thought that was magical because he engaged me for 90 minutes in an excitement and a discovery I had never experienced before."
    ---ENDS---
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