Mamoun Hassan
Writing
Biography
Mamoun Hassan (12 December 1937 – 29 July 2022) was a Saudi-born British screenwriter, director, editor, producer and teacher of film who held prominent positions in British cinema during the 1970s and 80s, frequently backing experimental work. He was the first head of production of the British Film Institute (BFI) and later managing director of the National Film Finance Corporation (NFFC). Mamoun Hassan was born in Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia on 12 December 1937. He began his career in film working as an editing assistant with Kevin Brownlow. He made his first distributed short film 'The Meeting', in 1965, for which he was awarded a best prize award at the Oberhausen Film Festival. He was the first head of production of the British Film Institute from 1971, in which post he instigated the BFI's policy of backing low-budget feature films that charted in new directions; he assisted the director Bill Douglas by securing crew and funding to make The Bill Douglas Trilogy (1972–78), and financially supported the production of Winstanley (1975). Hassan was the first to support film that was made by Black British filmmakers about their experiences in Britain: Horace Ove's Pressure. After leaving the BFI he taught at the National Film and Television School at Beaconsfield. In 1979 he wrote a policy paper for AIP (of which he was a founder member) on the future of the National Film Finance Corporation, which led to him being appointed to the board by the Minister of Trade and Industry. Subsequent to this, he was appointed Managing Director. In this position he backed the film Babylon (1980), Gregory's Girl, Britannia Hospital, Raymond Briggs' When the Wind Blows and again helped Douglas in the production of Comrades (1986). When he wasn't able to support film directly, he would use his influence to ensure they were made. These include Merchant Ivory's Heat and Dust and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence. Despite the "brave funding choices" and renewed creativity of the NFFC under Hassan, it was abolished in 1985. Afterwards he worked as a film producer, screenwriter, consultant, lecturer and teacher in the field of cinema. Hassan died on 29 July 2022, at the age of 84.
Known For
Britannia Hospital, an esteemed English institution, is marking its gala anniversary with a visit by the Queen Mother herself. But when investigative reporter Mick Travis arrives to cover the celebration, he finds the hospital under siege by striking workers, ruthless unions, violent demonstrators, racist aristocrats, an African cannibal dictator, and sinister human experiments.
Britannia Hospital
Three friends are part of a fascist opposition group in the chaotic Chile of the early 70's and together commit a political crime that changes the history of the country and incidentally involves them in a betrayal that separates them forever.
Spider
Santiago, capital of Chile during the Marxist government of elected, highly controversial president Salvador Allende. Father McEnroe supports his leftist views by introducing a program at the prestigious "collegio" (Catholic prep school) St. Patrick to allow free admission of some proletarian kids. One of them is Pedro Machuca, slum-raised son of the cleaning lady in Gonzalo Infante's liberal-bourgeois home. Yet the new classmates become buddies, paradoxically protesting together as Gonzalo gets adopted by Pedro's slum family and gang. But the adults spoil that too, not in the least when general Pinochet's coup ousts Allende, and supporters such as McEnroe.
Machuca
It's New Year's Eve in Thatcher's de-industrialising Britain. The scene is set at a seedy bar in Liverpool where a group of Irish Protestant and Irish Catholic pensioners will gather to clash and bash the new year in.
No Surrender
No description available.
A Tribute To Ismail Merchant
A documentary exploring Bill Douglas' struggle from childhood poverty to acclaimed filmmaker of Comrades and the Trilogy.
Bill Douglas: Intent on Getting the Image
In the city of Santiago, four characters struggle to reach their goals: a psychologist who wants to help other women and save their lives, a hairdresser who wants to buy a car, a musician who wants to play in a philharmonic orchestra, and a young woman who simply survives in the city, but each of them obtains something unexpected and different from what they wanted.
The Good Life
Gerrard Winstanley is the leader of a 17th Century religious group that believes the land should be owned communally. His convictions bring him into conflict with both the state and the church.
Winstanley
An ambitious Indian university graduate has to struggle to live his entrepreneurial dreams against both the British social structure and his own family's stubborn traditional values.
A Private Enterprise
A documentary feature offering a general introduction to the work of the painter J.M.W. Turner.
Turner
The tram system of Glasgow and the last weekend of the service.
Nine, Dalmuir West
A 55-minute documentary directed and edited by Mamoun Hassan when he was stationed with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Lebanon in 1974. The film opens with a day in the life of Dr Murad, a Palestinian doctor appointed by the UNRWA to look after the health of the Palestinian people in a Syrian refugee camp. It progresses to a recently bombed camp in Lebanon to the West Bank, via Jordan.
Some of the Palestinians
A loving tribute to the great American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, filmed entirely at her 700-acre upstate New York farm.
Millay at Steepletop
A young woman's encounter with a mysterious lover. This short film is an extra on the BFI Flipside DVD The Pleasure Girls.