Interviewed by Judith Jones, 4 June 2020. Andre Singer on how he joined Granada How did you come to join Granada? Because I don’t think you set out to be a filmmaker, did you? Not at all, absolutely not. I knew nothing about film whatsoever. I was a potentially bad academic at the time, and…
Read More
Andre Singer on how he joined Granada
How did you come to join Granada? Because I don’t think you set out to be a filmmaker, did you? Not at all, absolutely not. I knew nothing about film whatsoever. I was a potentially bad academic at the time, and finishing, or writing up, a doctorate at Oxford and worrying about what might have…
Read More
Andre Singer recalls the first Disappearing World programmes that he worked on
Well, it was odd at the beginning because we were contracted as anthropologists, as consultants almost, for the film, not as filmmakers. And it was a research contract. I mean, it was a straightforward research contract that I had, but the role was to find the stories, help set them up, and be the anthropologist.…
Read More
Andre Singer describes his director’s training
I then got frustrated and said, “I really want to make these myself.” You know, I’ve now learnt enough about what it takes to want to make these kinds of films rather than just keep feeding another director each time. And unlike Chris, who went straight into directing because he had done current affairs and…
Read More
Andre Singer explains why the Disappearing World programme stopped in 1977
I moved from Disappearing World, having been a researcher on Disappearing World to being a director on local programmes, to being then a director on World in Action, because at that time, then there was a lull in what was happening on Disappearing World. Then I went back to work for Brian on Disappearing World,…
Read More
Andre Singer on Denis Forman’s support for Disappearing World – and a lost archive
In 1974, we put together a little brochure of about nine films, the first nine films in the series. Denis wrote the introduction to this, and it was very much explaining why he did it and how he supported Brian, what went on. It’s a two-page introduction. It was very nice, and he touched on…
Read More
Andre Singer on the reaction of other anthropologists to Disappearing World
You’d come from an academic background, and I wondered what your fellow academics made of Disappearing World? Oh, they hated it! Initially. It was seen as populous television then. I mean, it’s changed dramatically ever since, and now it’s almost a staple in every anthropology department around the country. That change has been quite phenomenal,…
Read More
Andre Singer recalls one of his most memorable Disappearing World experiences
The original Mursi film. And at that time, I was then told, that was my research era, I was then told, “Okay, you’ve got to get us…” David Turton was our anthropologist advisor, “Get us to these Mursi. Find some transport from Addis Ababa.” So as a sort of naive researcher, off I went and…
Read More
Andre Singer on taking over the role of series editor for Disappearing World – and then leaving Granada
Well, it was different for me. Brian (Moser) had the wonderful sort of patronage and support of Denis and basically, I think things were challenging but much easier at that time. By the time I took over, we had, besides those union problems which I described, Disappearing World was no longer… it had been going…
Read More
Andre Singer recalls the challenges in making Disappearing World
Were there any countries that you couldn’t get access to? Was there anywhere that you wanted to film but for various reasons you couldn’t? Or was it always usually quite straightforward? Yes, I was a bit stymied with my own area of interest, which was Iran. And I’d done my fieldwork in Iran, and I…
Read More
Andre Singer on the value of Disappearing World to Granada’s reputation
It was hugely respected because it was nominated for BAFTAs every year, 75 to 78. It got one. One series BAFTA, series award, one year. I can’t remember which year that was. And so, do you think it was a film that… I mean, there was a stage when Granada was being touted as the…
Read More