Watts in the Country: Inclusive Approaches to Rural Film

The Richard Watts Collection is the life’s work of a Nottinghamshire farmer with a passion for film. For over three decades, Watts embarked on an extraordinary labour of love to trace and preserve films of all gauges, amateur and professional, relating to the development of agriculture and allied industries in the UK. Inspired by the demise of 16mm film when video cassettes began to take over, he assembled a collection of over 1,000 reels dating back to 1908.

The collection includes films from organisations such as the Milk Marketing Board and Potato Marketing Board, agricultural manufacturers such as Massey Ferguson and Ford, as well as amateur films documenting everyday work across rural Britain. After Watts passed away, the entire collection was donated to The MERL in 2013 and is now being digitised and catalogued.

To continue the legacy of Richard Watts’ work, the films will be exhibited through a series of community screenings for audiences with additional access needs who are historically underrepresented in museum and film audiences. Working with local film NGO Real Time through focus groups, consultations and feedback from volunteer audiences, the screenings will be tailored to ensure both the viewing environment and the films themselves are accessible.  

Who was Richard Watts?

Richard Watts (1940-2012) was a Nottinghamshire-born farmer and cinephile, as well as a highly knowledgeable and passionate advocate for farming principles. Born on his family’s farm, Watts spent his life working alongside his father and his brother John. He had an early interest in cameras and cinefilm, capturing life on the farm and in the rural communities that were rapidly changing in post-war years. Watts rescued and stored countless 16mm films on farming practices, touring them around local shows and communities. His archive is an invaluable resource for records of agricultural practices, technological advances, and rural traditions.  

As Watts developed relationships with farming companies and organisations, he saved and stored countless 16mm films which would otherwise have been destroyed, leading to the creation of the British Agricultural Film Archive.  

With a deep knowledge of and passion for farming, Watts toured the films at shows and events and would narrate the details for older films which often lacked sound. A highly regarded member of the local and farming communities, his legacy lives on with this archive; through the restoration and digitisation of these films, we continue his work in bringing archival farming films to local communities and audiences.

What next?

We will be running a series of accessible screenings in September and October and look forward to sharing more about the films throughout the project!

Also, look out for stories from the project and the archival films across our social media and podcast.

If you have any enquiries about the project, please contact Engagement Officer Hannah Silver at h.e.silver@reading.ac.uk.

This project is made possible thanks to a grant from the BFI Screen Heritage Fund, awarding National Lottery funding. Find out more about the funding grant.