Leigh optimistic about British film

Mike Leigh has admitted that he is optimistic about the future of British film.

Speaking at the Cannes press conference to promote his latest drama Another Year, the director said that digital filmmaking technology will mean character-driven pictures such as his own won't become an "endangered species".

"The reason I don't think it's an endangered species at all is because new technology makes it possible for young filmmakers to get out there and look at the world and distill and record it with little or no cost and without the clutter that is traditionally associated with getting movies up," he said.

"The cinema of the future I feel very positive about, because there is - whilst it may be true that there's still the dinosaur notion that the only valid movies are cynically commercial heavyweight operations - the kind of cinema that is burgeoning and growing will be very evident in the near or perhaps not-so-near future. It is one that is about looking at the world and capturing it and saying things about it - the real world. I am personally optimistic about that."

> Click here to read our Cannes review of 'Another Year'