Title of error

See Help

Science Joins an Industry

The English cloth trade progresses into the postwar world, with research and development pointing the way

1946 17 mins

Overview

From a coracle to the laboratory, the long story of technology prefaces this advocacy for the appliance of science. While the Luddite frame-breakers receive a reference, it’s the virtues of progress that are applauded here. The Shirley Institute in Didsbury delivers the evidence but it takes a Lancashire man from the mill floor to tell the boss why it’s not all just bobbins.

Director James Hill was freshly demobbed but already had a film industry career that began before WWII and included service in the RAF Film Unit. His favouring of a drama-documentary style prefigures his later career directing feature films, including the celebrated Born Free. Hill had some personal affinity with the cloth business via his family’s association with the Yorkshire wool trade.

Director

James Hill

Country

United Kingdom

Language

English

Watch for free

On Falling - Exclusive Q&A On Falling - Exclusive Q&A

Inside Film 2025 30 mins

Writer-director Laura Carreira talks to Nia Childs about her debut feature, On Falling.

Watch for free

Layla - Exclusive Q&A Layla - Exclusive Q&A

Short interview 2025 27 mins

Writer, director and performer Amrou Al-Kadhi talks to Rico Johnson-Sinclair about their debut feature.

Watch for free

All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A All We Imagine As Light - Exclusive Q&A

Short interview 2025 28 mins

Payal Kapadia discusses her Cannes prize-winning and Bafta-nominated drama with Ashanti Omkar.

Watch for free

Khichdi Khichdi

Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 16 mins

The interwoven stories of four best friends who reunite in the UK, thirty-five years after training together as nurses during their teens in Ferozepur, Punjab.