Basil Wright, (12 June 1907, Sutton, Surrey – 14 October 1987, Frieth, Buckinghamshire, England), was an English documentary filmmaker, film historian, film critic and teacher.
Basil Wright was the first recruit to join John Grierson at the Empire Marketing Board's film unit in 1930, shortly after he graduated from Cambridge University. Wright's 1934 film Song of Ceylon is his most celebrated work. Shot on location in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) the f...
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Basil Wright, (12 June 1907, Sutton, Surrey – 14 October 1987, Frieth, Buckinghamshire, England), was an English documentary filmmaker, film historian, film critic and teacher.
Basil Wright was the first recruit to join John Grierson at the Empire Marketing Board's film unit in 1930, shortly after he graduated from Cambridge University. Wright's 1934 film Song of Ceylon is his most celebrated work. Shot on location in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) the film was completed with the composer Walter Leigh at the GPO Film Unit in London. At the GPO, Wright acted as producer and wrote the script for Night Mail (1936) for which he received a joint directorial credit with Harry Watt. Wright had introduced his friend W. H. Auden to the film unit and the poet’s verse was included in the film.
Wright left the GPO to form his own production company, The Realist Film Unit (RFU). There he directed Children at School with money from the Gas Industry and The Face of Scotland for The Films of Scotland...
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