FORSYTH Hardy, the journalist who campaigned tirelessly to promote the
Scottish film community, has died at the age of 84.
He was a co-founder of the Edinburgh International Film Festival in
1947, and served as the first director of the Films of Scotland
Committee for two decades from 1955, and as the first secretary of the
Scottish Film Production Fund from 1975.
Mr Hardy, who lived in Edinburgh, assisted such international film
luminaries as John Grierson, the Scottish documentary maker, and English
film director Michael Powell.
In his time at the Films of Scotland Committee, he was responsible for
the production and distribution of 140 films on a wide range of Scottish
themes, which were seen by millions of people throughout the world.
Most notable was Mr Hardy's role in overseeing Grierson's Seawards The
Great Ships, a documentary made on Clydeside in 1961, which remains the
only Scottish film ever to win an Oscar.
Born in West Lothian, he initially served as an office bearer with the
Edinburgh Film Guild, the Federation of Scottish Film Societies, and the
Scottish Film Council.
He became The Scotsman newspaper's first film critic in 1932.
Mr Hardy's many books included two on Grierson, and Scotland On Film,
which was published in 1990 after he celebrated his 80th birthday.
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