Winifred Holmes
(English version below)
Winifred Holmes est née le 7 avril 1903 en Inde, où son père travaillait pour l'Indian Civil Service, la plus haute administration coloniale britannique. Après une courte carrière d’institutrice, elle se tourne vers le journalisme et tient une rubrique dans l'Evening Standard où elle répond aux questions des lecteurs sur l’éducation des enfants. Pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, elle travaille pour le service de radio BBC Home Service et anime des programmes culinaires comme Wartime Cookery Book ou The Kitchen Front.
Elle est aussi connue pour ses poèmes publiés dans les années 1930 et compte dans son cercle de connaissances des personnalités telles que T.S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood ou bien Edith Sitwell.
En 1933, elle épouse J. B. Holmes, un réalisateur de films documentaires et éducatifs qui a notamment travaillé pour Gaumont-British Instructional. Il est le réalisateur de The People at No. 19.
En 1936, Winifred Holmes fait ses débuts filmiques en écrivant le commentaire de Cover to Cover, un documentaire sur le monde du livre réalisé par Alexander Show. Elle travaille ensuite avec son mari pour la division cinématographique du General Post Unit.
Après la guerre, elle réalise plusieurs films éducatifs dont Cruel Kindness (1968), Growing Girls (1949) et A brother for Susan (1952). En 1949, elle obtient pour Growing Girls le premier prix au festival du film de Venise dans la catégorie physiologie. Elle a réalisé en tout plus d’une douzaine de films au Royaume-Uni et à l’étranger (Afghanistan, Népal, Indes occidentales). Elle est aussi l’auteure de plusieurs livres pour enfants.
Parallèlement à son activité cinématographique pour divers organismes publics, Winifred Holmes est active au sein du Women’s Council, une organisation à but non lucratif fondée en 1932 pour promouvoir les échanges entre les femmes au Royaume-Uni et en Asie. Elle en devient présidente, ce qui l’amène à parcourir l’Asie. Elle vit dans les années 1960 à Singapour avec son mari. En 1968, au retour d’un voyage dans 14 pays asiatiques, elle est nommée Officier dans l’ordre de l’Empire britannique.
En 1959, elle est chargée par l’UNESCO et le British Film Institute d’établir un catalogue de films asiatiques pour « encourager la diffusion de films qui donnent aux spectateurs occidentaux une idée plus complète et plus précise des modes de vie des peuples orientaux. » Ce catalogue a été publié sous le titre Orient. A Survey of Films Produced in Countries of Arab and Asian Culture [Orient. Un catalogue de films réalisés dans des pays de culture arabe et asiatique].
Winifred Holmes se remarie en 1972. Elle décède le 1er septembre 1995 à l’âge de 92 ans.
Bibliographie :
Variation on a Metaphysic Theme and other poems. London, The Unicorn Press, 1933.
Peace Without Honour. London, Duckworth, 1937.
First Baby. London & Glasgow, Blackie & Son, 1939.
An Introduction to Indian Art. London, David Marlowe for the Royal India Society, 1948.
Seven Adventurous Women, illus. J. S. Goodall. London, G. Bell & Sons, 1953.
She was Queen of Egypt. Hatshepsut, Nefertiti, Cleopatra, Shagaret el Dor, illus. Arthur Hagg. London, G. Bell & Sons, 1959.
Orient. A survey of films produced in countries of Arab and Asian culture. London, British Film Institute, 1959.
Winifred Holmes was born on April 7, 1903 in India and was raised there. Her father worked for the Indian Civil Service. She started a career as a nursery teacher but soon favoured a career in journalism and became a nursery correspondent for the Evening Standard. During World War II, she worked for the BBC Home Office and participated in programmes such as Wartime Cookery Book, The Kitchen Front or Other Women’s Lives.
She was a popular poet in the 1930s’ and was well acquainted with prominent figures like T.S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, Christopher Isherwood or Edith Sitwell.
In 1933, she married J. B. Holmes, a documentary and film maker who directed important educational films for Gaumont-British Instructional. He is the director of The People at No. 19.
In 1936, Winifred Holmes went into films by writing the commentary for Cover to cover by Alexander Show. She then worked at the General Post Office Film Unit with her husband. After World War II, Winifred Holmes directed several educational films like Growing Girls (1949), A brother for Susan (1952), Cruel Kindness (1968), etc. In 1949, she received the first prize at the Venice Film Festival in the Physiology category for Growing Girls. She also scripted several other films both in the United Kingdom and abroad (Afghanistan, Nepal, and the West Indies) and wrote children’s books like Tekhi's Hunting. A story of the Naga Hills or The Voyage of the Indian Brig.
Besides her freelance cinematographic activities for government and public bodies, she was the Chairwoman of the Women’s Council, a non-profit organization founded in 1932 whose ambition was to “foster interest among British women about their counterparts in Asia”. Her position brought her to travel extensively around Asia. During the early 60s, she lived in Singapore with her husband. In 1968, she came back from a visit in fourteen Asian countries. After her return, she received an OBE in the New Year Honours list.
In 1959, she was responsible for compiling a catalogue of Asian films titled Orient. A Survey of Films Produced in Countries of Arab and Asian Culture and published by UNESCO together with the British Film Institute. This survey was aimed at “[stimulating] the presentation of films which might give audiences in the West a fuller and more informed idea of the ways of life of Eastern peoples.”
Winifred Holmes remarried in 1972. She died on September 1st, 1995 at age 92.
Bibliography:
Variation on a Metaphysic Theme and other poems. London, The Unicorn Press, 1933.
Peace Without Honour. London, Duckworth, 1937.
First Baby. London & Glasgow, Blackie & Son, 1939.
An Introduction to Indian Art. London, David Marlowe for the Royal India Society, 1948.
Seven Adventurous Women, illus. J. S. Goodall. London, G. Bell & Sons, 1953.
She was Queen of Egypt. Hatshepsut, Nefertiti, Cleopatra, Shagaret el Dor, illus. Arthur Hagg. London, G. Bell & Sons, 1959.
Orient. A survey of films produced in countries of Arab and Asian culture. London, British Film Institute, 1959.
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Liens externes
- Cranston Ros. “Growing Girls (1949)”, BFI Screenonline, http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1358463/index.html [Accessed on June 26, 2020]
- Ellis, Jack C. “General Post Film Unit” in: Aitken, Ian (Editor). Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film. New York, Routledge, 2006, p. 464-467. [Accessed on June 26, 2020]
- Holland, Steve. “Winifred Holmes”. BearAlley, May 6, 2007. https://bearalley.blogspot.com/2007/05/winifred-holmes.html [Accessed on June 26, 2020]
- Huttunen Miia. “The Enduring Vision of a World without War: UNESCO’s Orient Catalogue 1959 and the Construction of an International Society”. Arts & International Affairs, May 14, 2018, https://theartsjournal.net/2018/05/14/huttunen/. [Accessed on June 26, 2020]
- Menkes, Suzy. “Asian Tour”. The Times, March 4, 1968. [Accessed on June 26, 2020]
- The Times, June 5, 1937. [Accessed on June 26, 2020]
- “Winifred Holmes”. BFI, https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9ef4b02c. [Accessed on June 26, 2020]
