In an interview with The Independent, Brian Cox has criticised the film industry and commented on the immense difficulty independent features face in terms of exhibition and distribution.

The Scottish actor, whose recent movie The Escapist is being shown at Tilda Swinton and Joel Coen’s Nairn alternative film festival, weighs in with the view that a great deal of outstanding work goes unseen because the industry fails to push smaller films properly whilst bigger films get disproportionate attention.

Cox states…

“I think people do want to see [independent] films, but it is tough. One time in this town… in one day, Pirates of the Caribbean was played 52 times. A small independent movie played up against that doesn’t have a chance.”

“There is an inequity, a lack of fairness. Film festivals take up the slack but the cinema I grew up with and love is a cinema of films that were visceral and touched the heart… I’m not knocking it, because I earn my living doing it, but I want a reasonable platform to show the work which I consider to be my best work.”

The Escapist, the prison break thriller which also features Joseph Fiennes, has failed to find its way to cinema screens outside the UK. It’s unlikely, however, that a distributor will be found amongst the punters at the Ballerina Ballroom Film Festival in Nairn who’ve paid an entrance fee of £3 and who’ll be watching with fishfinger sandwiches and cupcakes rather than canapés and champagne.

Commenting on the film in which he plays the lead convict, Cox outlined…

“It did very well [at film festivals], but… I am trying to get it seen by more than two people and a dog. I think it is very hard to work at the level we work at making these independent films and not to have recognition.”

Cox’s thoughts and the innovative idea of the Nairn festival certainly resonate and it’s worth wondering if they’ll be any change in the nature of film distribution and the role of film festivals over the foreseeable future - especially as the big events such as Cannes increasingly kowtow to blockbuster and big names possibly at the expense of indie features.

Cox adds…

“It is these little festivals that reignite everything. What is lacking is cinema-going as a community activity…. We are too busy flogging it, making the bucks, as opposed to thinking about what the thing is.”

It might be a bit of a bleak assessment, but at least the likes of Cox and Swinton are actively working to redress the imbalance.

The Ballerina Ballroom Film Festival runs until August 23rd.