List Of Writers

FRANCIS, KARL

Writer–director. Born in Bedwas on 1 April 1942. He has specialised in films seeking to illuminate aspects of proletarian life and achieve social and political change. His works have generally been set in South Wales mining communities, and for more than two decades he has been one of the most significant English–language filmmakers in Wales. A former TV documentary and current affairs director, Francis made his feature debut in 1977 with Above Us the Earth, which used amateur and professional actors to explore the community impact of a Rhymney Valley pit closure. He drew on his media experiences to make Giro City (1982), one of the first crop of films made by Channel 4. Francis’s mining concerns surfaced again in Ms Rhymney Valley (BBC Wales, 1985), which humorously observed sexual politics in the 1984 Miners’ Strike. Francis attracted both praise and opprobrium for Boy Soldier (1986) an S4C Welsh-language film with English subtitles: set partly in Northern Ireland, it is a fascinating examination of national identity and class warfare. It was followed by The Angry Earth (S4C, 1989), charting South Wales coalfield history, and Streetlife (BBC, 1994), about a jilted single mother on a drug-ridden council housing estate. Francis was for two years Head of Drama at BBC Wales. He is featured in Karl Francis: A Sense of Direction by Steve Freer (HTV booklet, 1990) and Wales and Cinema: The First 100 Years (University of Wales Press, 1994) by Dave Berry.

Selected Publications:
Streetlife (Parthian, 1996)