The little guys suffer as London stock burns

WHILE travelling across London on Tuesday, this correspondent managed to avoid being set on fire or torn to shreds by angry rioters. It has emerged, however, that the independent DVD- distribution sector – already in a parlous state – suffered a serious setback during the disturbances. One of the buildings destroyed by fire was the PIAS/Sony distribution centre in Enfield.

It seems that a huge amount of stock, including releases from the British Film Institute (BFI), Artificial Eye and Dogwoof, was destroyed in the blaze. The BFI, whose DVDs tend to be particularly well presented and curated, has lost somewhere in the region of 120,000 units. The destruction has been so great that many distributors are faced with redrawing their release schedules for the next six months.

"Most of the people in the independent film world have been hit," David Wilkinson of distributor Guerilla Films told the Guardian. "Companies larger than mine will have cashflow problems. I have spoken to friends who say they may have to lay off people, because DVDs keep the business going."

Artificial Eye, long seen as the leader in distribution of vintage art-house titles, was also badly hit. “All our stock was there – more than 300 titles in our catalogue,” said Steve Lewis, Artificial Eye’s home-entertainment supremo.

That’s all we need.