Cinema documentary charts 250-year history and features Fry and other stars calling for rescue of UK institution which is ‘source of learning and nourishment’
• The Safe House, with Stephen Fry - trailer
The public library is “a source of learning and nourishment for young and old and everyone else”, says Stephen Fry in a new documentary tracing the history of the institution in the UK, from its working-class roots in 1752 to its precipitous decline today.
The documentary, launching on Monday evening, is the work of poet and filmmaker Greta Bellamacina and journalist Davina Catt. It is a call to arms for the survival of the embattled public library, more than 500 branches of which have closed since 2010. Backed by names from Fry to Irvine Walsh and Daisy Goodwin, it charts the rise and fall of the public library in Britain, from how the first ever public library was built by Scottish miners in Leadhills in 1752, to the passing of the first Public Library Act in 1850, giving local boroughs the right to establish libraries, and the protests up and down the country at library closures today.
Related: Council closed libraries to cut costs, then spent more to guard them
Related: Sign up to our Bookmarks newsletter
Continue reading...
0 comments:
Post a Comment