Colonial Film Unit

{{Short description|British film production organisation}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

File:Journey by a London Bus.ogv

The Colonial Film Unit (C.F.U) was a propaganda and educational film production organization of the British government.{{Cite web |last=Rice |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Rice (film historian) |title=British Empire's forgotten propaganda tool for 'primitive peoples': mobile cinema |url=http://theconversation.com/british-empires-forgotten-propaganda-tool-for-primitive-peoples-mobile-cinema-64275 |website=The Conversation}} It produced films for various British colonies including British Guiana and Nigeria. The Jamaica Film Unit was a division for films produced in Jamaica. The Colonial Film Unit was established in 1939 and produced 200 films before being shut down in 1955.{{Cite web|url=http://www.colonialfilm.org.uk/production-company/colonial-film-unit|title=Production Companies | colonialfilm|website=www.colonialfilm.org.uk}} It was part of Britain's Ministry of Information.{{Cite journal|title=The British Colonial Film Unit and sub-Saharan Africa, 1939–1945|first=Rosaleen|last=Smyth|date=September 15, 2006|journal=Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television|volume = 8|issue = 3|pages = 285–298|doi=10.1080/01439688800260391}} It produced a magazine titled Colonial Cinema.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ucpress.edu/blog/46428/beyond-the-colonial-film-archive/|title=Beyond the Colonial Film Archive}} Training filmmakers was also an important part of the unit's activities.{{Cite web|url=https://cinemastandrews.org.uk/archive/colonial-cinema/|title=Colonial Cinema|date=April 23, 2013}}

Originally established to produce British war propaganda, the C.F.U. transitioned to making instructional films after World War II.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/development-of-british-colonial-film-policy-19271939-with-special-reference-to-east-and-central-africa/ABF9129CB75A426C23D8C2D2AB2FE546|title=The Development of British Colonial Film Policy, 1927–1939, with special reference to East and Central Africa|first=Rosaleen|last=Smyth|date=July 26, 1979|journal=The Journal of African History|volume=20|issue=3|pages=437–450|via=Cambridge Core|doi=10.1017/S0021853700017400|s2cid=162516233 }}

Tom Rice is a British film historian and educator who has focused his work on studying the Colonial Film Unit, and the American Ku Klux Klan films; as well as the depiction of the far-right in media.{{Cite journal |last=Burns |first=James |date=2021 |title=Films for the Colonies: Cinema and the Preservation of the British Empire by Tom Rice |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/790123 |journal=JCMS: Journal of Cinema and Media Studies |language=en |volume=60 |issue=3 |pages=196–199 |doi=10.1353/cj.2021.0037 |issn=2578-4919|hdl=2027/spo.18261332.0060.315 |hdl-access=free }}{{Cite news |last=Tillet |first=Salamishah |date=2018-08-02 |title=Spike Lee Takes on the Klan |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/02/movies/spike-lee-blackkklansman.html |access-date=2023-04-06 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news |last=Teague |first=Matthew |date=2015-12-26 |title=Ku Klux Klan's place in history hinges on the power of the spectacle |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/26/ku-klux-klan-history-book-white-robes-silver-screens-tom-rice |access-date=2023-04-06 |issn=0261-3077}}