Derek Williams (20 August 1929 – 2 August 2021) was a British documentary film director and writer who was active from the 1950s until 1990. His films received four British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTAs) and five Oscar nominations (four as director and writer and one as writer only) all in the short documentary classification.
Early life and education
Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, he was educated at Newcastle Royal Grammar School and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
Film career
His first film, Hadrian's Wall, was made while he was at university and was self-financed. On the basis of this film he was able to enter the film industry as a trainee assistant for World Wide Films. His first commercial film, released in 1955, was Oil Harbour, Aden, made for the sponsor George Wimpey & Co who had the contract to build a port to service a nearby oil refinery being built by BP. Williams acted as cameraman as well as writer and director during the two year location filming.
His first big break came in 1955 when World Wide Films was appointed by BP to film the British Trans-Antarctic Expedition, under Dr Vivian Fuchs, which BP was sponsoring. Williams became a member of the sixteen-person party the sailed to the Weddell Sea aboard Theron with the intention of establishing an advance base for the main party due to arrive the following year. During the outward journey the ship became frozen is sea ice and also had to depart more rapidly than originally intended, having deposited the shore party who were to stay through the Antarctic winter. The resulting film, Foothold on Antarctica, was released in 1956. It received a private viewing at Buckingham Palace and went on to receive an Oscar nomination. The film was also shown on a number of occasions as part of public events which included a talk from Sir Vivian Fuchs and which raised private donations towards the costs of the expedition.
His next film, Oxford, made in 1956, was commissioned by the Central Office of Information as part of their efforts to attract overseas students.
In 1957 Williams moved from World Wide Films to Greenpark Films. He wrote and directed From the Good Earth in 1957 under the sponsorship of Hovis. This was followed by There Was a Door (1957), which looked at the care of the severely learning disabled and was sponsored by the Manchester Regional Hospital Board. This film represented his first social subject, an area that the British documentary film industry since the 1930s had had a strong track record. The film was subsequently televised by the BBC. In 1959 he made The Road to MIS, a film sponsored by BP to mark its fiftieth anniversary. Following The Road to MIS, Derek Williams became a freelance director and writer.
Subsequent films were Bank of England (1960), Hunted in Holland (1961), The Cattle Carters (1962) and Treasure in Malta (1963), the latter three films being drama documentaries. Hunted in Holland and Treasure in Malta were frequently shown to Saturday morning children's film audiences in the 1960s, and The Cattle Carters was frequently shown on BBC2 as a Trade Test Colour Film.
In 1962 Derek Williams accepted an offer from Films of Scotland to direct a film to commemorate the centennial of Glasgow's appointment of its first Medical Officer for Health. Williams' candid attempts to portray the Glasgow of the times brought him into conflict with John Grierson of Films of Scotland, who wanted a more positive portrayal of Glasgow. Williams was not credited on the release of the finished film, Health of a City (1965).
His next film was sponsored by BP about their attempts to find oil in northern Alaska. The film was released as North Slope - Alaska in 1964 and is notable for its music composed by the composer Edward Williams. His subsequent films were also sponsored by BP. I Do - And I Understand (1964) was on behalf of the Nuffield Maths Project and won a Society of Film and Television Arts (SFTA, the predecessor to BAFTA) award. Turkey the Bridge focused on Turkeys historical and cultural heritage. It was edited by Kevin Brownlow and was Oscar-nominated. His next film, having worked on but not been credited for North Sea Quest (1967), was Algerian Pipeline (1967), made for John Brown Ltd, who were building a pipeline.
1967 also saw the making of Indus Waters sponsored by The World Bank and with original music composed by Wilfred Joseph. The film looked at a project undertaken under an Indo-Pakistani treaty to mutually harness the waters of the Indus for agriculture. This film also won an SFTA award (in 1968).